After moving to Dundee, William, who went by the names Willie or Lyon, entered the Dundee Parish School at the age of five, with the help of a bursary. At fifteen, he was the youngest member of the

commercial newsroom of the local newspaper. He also belonged to a scientific society, where he met Edward Lesslie, and his son, James. These two would be William's patrons throughout most of his life.

In 1820, William sailed to Canada with John, another son of Edward Lesslie. Mackenzie was immediately impressed with Upper Canada. Before the end of the year, Mackenzie was writing for the York Observer under the name of "Mercator"

In 1824, Mackenzie started his most famous newspaper, the Colonial Advocate. The first edition appeared on May 18, 1824. The sole purpose of this paper was to sway the opinions of the voters in the next election.

In January of 1839, Mackenzie moved to Rochester. Later in that year, Mackenzie, beset by personal problems and discouraged by American attitudes and the failure of association, turned his mind from

In the provincial election of October, 1834, months before his term as mayor was completed, Mackenzie won Second Riding of York, and the Reformers a majority in the assembly. In November, sure his seat

In May of 1839, generous supporters lent Mackenzie enough money to form a new newspaper, which he named Mackenzie's Gazette. This paper was where he first sided with the Americans; he attacked the Whig banking policy. He continued to attack British topics, such as Martin Van Buren being a British tool in a democratic government. Gradually, such comments, and lagging interest cut the number of readers, and left Mackenzie in even more serious financial difficulty.

At the by-election on January 2, 1832, Mackenzie was voted back in on a vote of 119 to 1. He was presented with a gold medal valued at over $250, and to the accompaniment of bagpipes, a victorious procession of 134 sleighs made its way down Yonge St. A grand re-entrance back into parliament for one such as Mackenzie.

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Approximate Word count = 1492
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)