The Road to Confederation

At the end of Chapter 2, British North America was still a patchwork.

Separate colonies.

Separate governments.

Different economies.

Different interests.

No federal Canada.

So why would any of those colonies want to change that?

By the early 1860s, several problems were colliding.

Four were especially important:

POLITICS

ECONOMICS

TRANSPORTATION

DEFENCE

Confederation did not appear because everybody suddenly felt Canadian.

Some political leaders began considering union because the existing system was becoming harder to manage.

PROBLEM 1 · POLITICAL INSTABILITY

The Province of Canada contained:

CANADA WEST

and

CANADA EAST.

Both sections elected the same number of representatives to the legislature.

Earlier, that arrangement had protected Canada West when it had the smaller population.

Then the population balance changed.

Canada West became more populous.

Many politicians in Canada West began demanding:

REPRESENTATION BY POPULATION

or:

REP BY POP.

The argument was straightforward:

If Canada West has more people, why should the two sections still elect equal numbers of representatives?

George Brown became one of the strongest supporters of rep by pop.

But many politicians in Canada East saw a serious danger.

French-speaking Canada East could become a permanent minority inside the shared legislature.

That raised concerns about political protection for:

language

religion

education

civil law

and other important institutions.

SAME IDEA. DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.

CANADA WEST:

“We have more people. Representation should reflect that.”

CANADA EAST:

“If your larger population controls the legislature, what protects us?”

This is one reason Confederation becomes interesting.

A reform can look fair from one position and threatening from another.

THE FEDERAL POSSIBILITY

What if both sections could get part of what they wanted?

A new political system might have:

ONE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

for shared national issues

and

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS

for important regional issues.

Population could matter in the main elected federal house.

Provincial governments could retain significant authority over local matters.

This is the basic logic of:

FEDERALISM.

Not everyone agreed about exactly how strong each government should be.

But federalism gave politicians a possible way out of the representation crisis.

PROBLEM 2 · ECONOMICS

The colonies traded with:

Britain

the United States

and one another.

Those relationships were changing.

Britain had reduced older trade protections that had once given colonial goods special advantages in British markets.

Then, in 1854, Britain and the United States signed the:

RECIPROCITY TREATY.

Many natural products from British North America could enter American markets without tariffs.

Cross-border trade grew.

But the arrangement depended on American political decisions.

By the 1860s, there were serious doubts that the treaty would continue.

The United States eventually ended it in 1866.

That did NOT start Confederation.

Confederation negotiations were already underway.

But economic uncertainty strengthened another argument:

What if the colonies created a larger internal market of their own?

A political union could make it easier to coordinate:

trade

tariffs

transportation

investment

and economic development.

PROBLEM 3 · THE RAILWAY

A political union is easier to imagine than to travel across.

The Province of Canada stretched along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia faced the Atlantic.

There was no continuous railway connecting them.

The proposed:

INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY

could connect the colonies.

It could move:

goods

mail

people

troops

supplies.

That made it both:

ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE

and

DEFENCE INFRASTRUCTURE.

The problem was cost.

Railways were enormously expensive.

Who would pay?

Which route would be chosen?

Who would benefit?

A larger political union could turn the railway into a shared commitment.

ENLARGE SOURCE

PROBLEM 4 · DEFENCE

And then there was the United States.

It was:

much larger

more populous

economically powerful

and expanding across the continent.

British North America had already fought the United States during the War of 1812.

By the 1860s, American military power was becoming impossible to ignore.

The American Civil War would make that concern even more serious.

Supporters of political union could argue that separate colonies were harder to defend than a federation capable of coordinating:

money

militia

transportation

fortifications

and military planning.

Defence did not make Confederation inevitable.

It made political union look more useful.

FOUR PROBLEMS ENTER THE GROUP CHAT

POLITICAL DEADLOCK:

Another government fell.

ECONOMY:

Our trading relationships are changing.

RAILWAY:

Hello. I cost an absurd amount of money.

DEFENCE:

Have any of you looked south lately?

CONFEDERATION:

Maybe we should talk.

COLONIES:

About the terms.

HISTORIAN:

Exactly.

In 1861, civil war began in the United States.

The Union fought the Confederate states that had seceded.

Slavery stood at the centre of the crisis, along with political struggles over its expansion and the power of states and the federal government.

The war became enormous.

Millions of men served.

Industries produced weapons and supplies.

Railways moved armies.

The federal government mobilized resources on a scale British North Americans had never seen next door.

When the war ended in 1865, the United States remained intact and militarily powerful.

From British North America:

that mattered.

MANIFEST DESTINY

Throughout the nineteenth century, many Americans embraced an idea often called:

MANIFEST DESTINY.

It was the belief that the United States was destined to expand across North America.

American territory had already grown dramatically westward.

Do not exaggerate this.

Manifest Destiny does NOT mean:

“The United States definitely planned to invade British North America.”

But American expansion had been real.

British North American politicians had legitimate reasons to pay attention.

ENLARGE SOURCE

BRITAIN, AMERICA AND THE COLONIES

Britain remained officially neutral during the Civil War.

Relations with the United States were still tense at times.

Disputes arose involving ships, trade and links to the Confederacy.

British North America remained part of the British Empire.

That meant a serious conflict between Britain and the United States could threaten the colonies even if colonial politicians wanted no part in it.

At the same time, Britain increasingly expected the colonies to carry more responsibility for their own defence.

Again:

political union began to look more useful.

THE FENIAN RAIDS

Then the border was actually crossed.

The Fenians were Irish nationalists, many based in the United States, who wanted to end British rule in Ireland.

Some believed attacks on British North America could pressure Britain.

In 1866, Fenian forces crossed into British territory.

The best-known clash occurred near:

RIDGEWAY

ENLARGE SOURCE

in Canada West.

Canadian militia fought Fenian forces that included veterans of the American Civil War.

The Fenians eventually withdrew.

But the political meaning mattered.

WATCH THE CHRONOLOGY

Charlottetown:

1864

Quebec:

1864

Fenian Raids:

1866

Therefore:

The Fenian Raids did NOT start Confederation.

Confederation negotiations had already begun.

The raids strengthened an argument already being made:

THE COLONIES FACED REAL SECURITY PROBLEMS.

THE BORDER HAS MORE THAN ONE HISTORY

In Chapter 2, the American border could represent safety for Black freedom seekers.

Here, it also becomes:

a trade route

a political boundary

and a military-security problem.

The same geography can matter differently depending on:

WHO YOU ARE

WHEN YOU ARE THERE

WHAT PROBLEM YOU ARE FACING.

By 1864, the political system in the Province of Canada was again in crisis.

That crisis involved two of the most important politicians in Canada West:

GEORGE BROWN

and

JOHN A. MACDONALD.

They were not friendly rivals.

They had spent years fighting bitterly.

Brown was a Reform politician and the publisher of The Globe, one of the most influential newspapers in British North America. The Globe regularly attacked Conservative governments and Macdonald's politics. Macdonald, in turn, had publicly made serious accusations against Brown over Brown's earlier work with a penitentiary commission. Brown demanded an investigation and was substantially cleared, but the episode deepened their personal hostility.

ENLARGE SOURCE

Their political rivalry became even uglier in 1858. Brown finally formed a government with Antoine-Aimé Dorion. It lasted only about two days before losing confidence. Macdonald and Cartier then returned to power using the famous Double Shuffle, a legal political manoeuvre that allowed them to avoid the by-elections Brown's ministers had faced. Brown saw the episode as another example of a political system that rewarded manoeuvring instead of stable government.

They kept fighting for years. Brown pushed representation by population and constitutional reform. Macdonald continued building governments through alliances, especially with George-Étienne Cartier and Cartier's powerful supporters in Canada East. Brown and Macdonald had major ideological disagreements, years of personal hostility and every political reason to want the other defeated.

Then the system broke down again in 1864.

And this is the point that matters:

BROWN AND MACDONALD DID NOT BECOME FRIENDS.

THEY REALIZED THEY NEEDED EACH OTHER.

Brown could not achieve major constitutional reform without political support beyond his own movement.

Macdonald could not make the representation crisis and instability disappear.

Cartier's support in Canada East was indispensable.

The political situation had become bad enough that old enemies decided replacing the system mattered more than winning the next round of their feud.

THE GREAT COALITION

In June 1864, Brown agreed to cooperate with Macdonald, Cartier and their allies.

This became known as the:

GREAT COALITION.

It brought together political forces that had spent years fighting one another.

The coalition's purpose was not simply to create another temporary government.

It committed itself to major:

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE.

If possible, that change would include a wider union of British North American colonies.

That opened a door.

And another group of colonies happened to be planning a conference.

THE MARITIME PLAN

Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

and

Prince Edward Island

planned to meet in Charlottetown in September 1864.

Their original purpose was to discuss:

MARITIME UNION.

Politicians from the Province of Canada asked if they could attend.

The Maritime delegates agreed.

The Province of Canada arrived with a much larger proposal:

A BROADER FEDERATION.

CHARLOTTETOWN · SEPTEMBER 1864

There were 23 delegates from:

Prince Edward Island

Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

and the Province of Canada.

Newfoundland did not participate at Charlottetown.

The delegates discussed whether a larger political union might work.

Questions included:

How would representation work?

What powers would a central government hold?

What should local governments control?

How could smaller colonies protect their interests?

Would the union help solve transportation and defence problems?

The meeting did not produce Canada's final constitution.

Its importance was simpler:

THE DELEGATES AGREED A BROADER FEDERATION WAS WORTH PURSUING.

They would meet again.

This time in:

QUEBEC CITY.

ENLARGE SOURCE

Delegates met again in Quebec City beginning:

OCTOBER 10, 1864.

This time:

33 DELEGATES

attended.

They represented:

the Province of Canada

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland.

The conference lasted:

16 DAYS.

At Charlottetown, delegates had agreed to keep pursuing the idea.

At Quebec, they had to answer the difficult question:

HOW WOULD THIS COUNTRY ACTUALLY WORK?

DESIGNING A FEDERATION

Imagine building a new country.

Immediately you have questions.

REPRESENTATION

Should larger provinces have more seats?

SMALLER REGIONS

How can smaller provinces avoid being dominated?

LOCAL POWER

What should provincial governments control?

CENTRAL POWER

What needs one government?

LANGUAGE / LAW / EDUCATION

How can major regional institutions be protected?

MONEY

Who collects revenue and carries debts?

RAILWAYS

Who pays?

DEFENCE

Who coordinates it?

That is constitutional design.

FEDERALISM

The delegates proposed a federal system.

There would be:

A CENTRAL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

and

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS.

This attempted to combine:

UNION

with

LOCAL AUTONOMY.

The future elected House of Commons would use representation largely based on population.

Provinces would still possess important constitutional powers.

The Senate would provide regional representation.

No major side got everything it wanted.

That is what made the settlement a compromise.

THE 72 RESOLUTIONS

After days of negotiation, the delegates agreed on:

THE QUEBEC RESOLUTIONS

also known as:

THE 72 RESOLUTIONS.

They were not yet law.

They were the blueprint.

They addressed:

representation

Parliament

provincial governments

federal powers

provincial powers

finance

courts

and other parts of the proposed constitution.

ENLARGE SOURCE

NOT EVERYONE SAID YES

The Quebec plan did not produce universal agreement.

Prince Edward Island did not join in 1867.

Newfoundland did not join.

Opposition existed inside colonies that eventually entered.

People worried about:

taxes

debt

railway costs

representation

local control

and whether a distant central government would actually serve them.

New Brunswick even elected an anti-Confederation government in 1865.

That alone should tell us:

CONFEDERATION WAS NOT INEVITABLE.

Political circumstances later changed.

Security concerns increased.

Pro-Confederation forces returned to power.

New Brunswick eventually joined.

History could have gone another way.

LONDON · 1866

Delegates from:

the Province of Canada

Nova Scotia

and

New Brunswick

went to Britain for final negotiations.

These were still British colonies.

The final constitutional law therefore had to pass through:

THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT.

The result was originally called the:

BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1867.

Today it is called the:

CONSTITUTION ACT, 1867.

ENLARGE SOURCE

ENLARGE SOURCE

JULY 1, 1867

Three British colonies entered the new federation:

THE PROVINCE OF CANADA

NOVA SCOTIA

NEW BRUNSWICK.

But Canada began with:

FOUR PROVINCES.

Why?

The Province of Canada was divided.

Canada West became:

ONTARIO.

Canada East became:

QUEBEC.

Therefore:

ONTARIO

QUEBEC

NOVA SCOTIA

NEW BRUNSWICK

formed the new:

DOMINION OF CANADA.

WHAT 1867 DID

It created:

a federal Canada

a federal Parliament

Ontario

Quebec

a new federal/provincial constitutional system.

WHAT 1867 DID NOT DO

It did NOT:

create today's complete map of Canada

include every British North American colony

make Canada fully independent from Britain

erase Indigenous nations or rights

end political disagreement

make political power equal for everyone.

July 1, 1867 is the beginning of the federal country.

It is not the end of Canada's political development.

THE POINT OF THE CHAPTER

At the beginning:

British North America was divided.

The Province of Canada was politically unstable.

Economic relationships were changing.

Transportation was weak.

American power looked increasingly important.

And some of the politicians who would have to solve those problems despised each other.

Then something changed.

Not their personalities.

Not all their beliefs.

THE POLITICAL INCENTIVES CHANGED.

Brown needed Macdonald.

Macdonald needed Brown.

Both needed Cartier.

The colonies needed negotiation.

Charlottetown opened the possibility.

Quebec designed the system.

London turned the agreement into constitutional law.

And on July 1, 1867:

Canada existed.

Not because everybody agreed.

Because enough competing interests finally found a compromise they could accept.

Nothing here is new. This section makes you use what you already learned.

CHECK 7 · MAP REASONING

Which TWO features best explain why transportation and defence both mattered?

Enlarge map

Distance between the coloniesProximity to the United StatesThe Rocky MountainsHudson Bay sea ice

Check the pair