Confederation Achieved SS9 – April 18, 2017

(two of) The Maritimes Come Around In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the repeal of the Corn Laws caused their economies to crash, because they depended on shipping Canadian grain to England This led to pro-Confederation people to take power in its legislature They believed that by joining Confederation, it would provide a new market for their goods The other important factor were the Fenian Raids

The Fenian Raids The Fenians were Irish-Americans who had fought in the US Civil War; they wanted to force Britain to give Ireland independence by attacking Canada Starting in 1866, they attempted several raids against Canada, hoping to capture it and somehow exchange it with Britain for Irish independence However, they were poorly organized and were easily defeated each time they attempted to invade Despite their failures, they convinced the Atlantic colonies that they needed to unite to defend against external threats, particularly from America

The Great Coalition What were some of the issues facing Canada East and West that we discussed last week? Economic depression and political deadlock because of rep by pop pushed some leaders from Canada East and West to work together and try to unite the country Though they disagreed on many issues, George Brown, George-Etienne Cartier, and John A. Macdonald agreed to work together to try and achieve Confederation; they were called the Great Coalition

The Conferences: Charlottetown Now that Confederation was a much more popular idea, leaders of the colonies held a series of conferences (meetings) to work out the details of what Confederation would look like The first of these was the Charlottetown Conference in 1864; it was originally meant to be just for the Atlantic colonies to discuss their union, but the members of the Great Coalition attended and convinced the Atlantic provinces of Confederation by promising them a railway and that Canada East/West would buy their fish and coal These promises, along with the threat of the Fenian Raids, helped convince most of Atlantic Canada to support Confederation instead of a Maritime Union

The Conferences: Quebec The next conference was held in Quebec City; this was the first conference where all the colonies attended, and its main goal was to figure out what Confederation would actually look like They agreed on the Seventy-Two Resolutions, the ideas on which Confederation would be founded on and what the new country’s rules and government would look like The most important of these were that there would be a strong central government to handle issues that affected everyone, while each individual province would handle local issues This frustrated Macdonald, who wanted an even stronger central government, but it pleased Quebec and the Maritime Colonies, since they would not be completely powerless It also made sure that there would be a parliament for all the colonies, and that its members would be chosen by rep by pop

The Final Conference: London Finally, representatives from Canada East/West, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick went to London to present their proposals to the British The official bill was called the British North America (BNA) act, and contained all of the 72 Proposals from the Quebec Conference The British Parliament quickly approved it, and on May 22, 1867, Queen Victoria declared that the four colonies that signed on would become a nation On July 1st, 1867, those four colonies were united as the Dominion of Canada; formally achieving Confederation with John A. Macdonald as the first Prime Minister

Confederation for Whom? Newfoundland rejected Confederation; it did not feel connected to the other colonies and decided to remain an independent colony 01 Though Quebec had managed to secure language rights and control over local issues, many French-speakers felt like they were still under the control of the British; the central government was still more powerful than provincial governments 02 The BNA act also made little reference to Aboriginal people and other minorities; they still could not vote and were expected to live by whatever the majority of the population wanted for them 03