Transcript The Confederation Waltz

The Confederation Waltz
6)
1)
Change in British attitudes
2)
Fear of American invasion
3)
Loss of free trade with the Americans
4)
Rail construction
5)
A United Canada did not work
“The glory argument” creating something Bigger and
Better
The Causes of Confederation
• Great Britain had changed, no longer wanting to be military master of
the world
• Britain wanted profit and trade
• Imperialism but no longer military imperialism but economic
imperialism
• Colonies were a “burden”
• A self-governing Canada with final authority in Britain was the
answer
• Second reason was the American Civil War between 1861-1865
• The war between the North and the South
• Canada supported the North or “Union” or “the Blues”
• Britain supported the South or “Johnny Rebs” or ‘The Grays”
More Causes
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Just as in the War of 1812 the US
could not attack Britain so Canada
was the victim
Remember back in the War of
1812 how the British stopped
neutral trading ships (American)
Remember how upset the
Americans were
Well during the American Civil
War Britain was the victim and
the USA the oppressor
The British steamer Trent was
boarded in neutral waters
Britain wanted war and sent
14,000 troops to Canada
• Britain was neutral but helped
the South
• The Confederates had the
warship “Alabama” built in
Liverpool
• The Alabama sunk many
Union ships
• After the war the US gave
Britain a bill for 4 billion
dollars
• Claiming that if Britain did not
want to pay they could always
hand over Canada
Raids on Canada
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The Union Army marched through
the south
Southerners came to Canada and
attacked the US through Canada
They raided the town of St.
Alban’s Vermont and sold
$200,000
They were captured in Montreal
but let go by the judge and the
money returned to them
This destroyed any chance of “free
trade” with America
Could have even lead to war with
Canada
RECIPROCITY
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The Reciprocity Treaty that the
colonies had signed with the US
was open to be renewed in 1865
Because of the bad feelings the
Americans let the treaty lapse
The Americans believed that this
would force the British colonies to
join the US
In fact without reciprocity it
forced the British colonies to unite
The Railway Revolution made the
Canada union possible
Railways could unite all the
regions of the confederation by a
band of steel
RAILWAYS
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Railways had great dreams and
great profits could be made
It was no accident that most of the
loudest voices for confederation
were railway men
Profit was not the only dream with
attack from the US growing daily
a united colonial army could be
moved to any part of the
confederation by rail
Stalemate in the Province of
Canada was another problem
The Union of Upper and Lower
Canada had lead to political
deadlock
A UNITED CANADA
“did not work”
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The Act of Union did not swamp
French-Canadians with EnglishCanadians as Radical Jack had hoped
Rather the Province of Canada was
split right down the middle
The number of seats was equal
between each
English and French
Therefore anyone that wanted to rule
had to have a majority of FrenchCanadians
The Act of Union had made the
French-Canadians stronger not weaker
In 1851 Louis LaFontaine and Robert
Baldwin had retired
Reformers replaced by
Conservatives
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A new alliance of John A. Macdonald
and George-Etienne Cartier
The Province of Canada was divided
into two camps
Conservatives:
In Canada West John A. Macdonald’s
“Liberal-Conservative Party”
In Canada East George-Etienne
Cartier’s “Parti Bleu” (supported RC
Church, pro-British and antiAmerican)
Reformers:
In Canada West George Brown’s
Reform Party and a radical group of
farmers called the “Clear Grits”
In Canada East Antoine-Aime
Dorion’s radical “Parti Rouge”
REP by POP
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The population in the province of
Canada was increasing
Mostly for the English speaking
But the seats in parliament was
still 50/50
The British had under represented
the French how it was the English
who were hurt
George Brown and his reformers
“howled” “rep by pop”
Canada East or Quebec refused to
except Rep by Pop
The solution separate Canada East
and Canada West
The Great Coalition
• On June 24th 1864 George
Brown crossed the floor of
parliament and joined his
enemy John A. Macdonald to
help create Canada
• He had 3 conditions:
• 1) a creation of one nations
from all British Colonies
• 2) the government of Canada
be based on REP by POP
• 3) that the new nation expand
westward and northward
• “The Americans are coming!”
Great Coalition
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The new Canada had the support
of 3 of 4 groups
John A. Macdonald’s EnglishCanadian Conservatives
George-Etienne Cartier’s FrenchCanadian Conservatives
George Brown’s English-Canadian
Reformers
Shut out was the French-Canadian
Reformers “parti rouge”
Brown MacDonald and Cartier
were the driving force of
confederation
Maritime Union
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Charles Tupper of Nova Scotia
Leonard Tilley of New Brunswick
John Hamilton Gray of Prince
Edward Island
Were also worried about the
Americans
Their solution was a union of the
“maritime colonies”
When the Canadians caught wind
of these talks they came up with a
union of all of British North
America
Conference was set for
Charlottetown PEI September 1st
1864
The Charlottetown Conference
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Led by Brown, Macdonald and
Cartier the Charlottetown
Conference was an attempt by
smooth talking Canadians to
seduce their Maritime cousins into
marriage
According to historian Donald
Swainson “Confederation was
floated through on champagne”
Cartier and Macdonald gave
arguments for confederation
George Brown outlined the
constitution Rep by Pop, federal
system, strong central gov’t
The Charlottetown Conference
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Alexander Galt Minister of
Finance gave an economic
overview
Thomas D’Arcy McGee an Irish
poet master of the glory argument
spoke of a “New Nation” a “New
People” a “New Vision”
It was a tag-team sales pitch and it
worked
A new meeting was set in Quebec
City to work out the details of
union
Charlottetown is “the Cradle of
Confederation”
The Quebec Conference
72 Resolutions
• More than anyone John A. can
claim to be the main “author”
of the Canadian Constitution
• Britain and France are “unitary
states” with a single strong
central government
• Macdonald wanted this form of
government
• But the other leaders destroyed
this idea
• The new country would have a
“federal system’
• Two levels of government
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A central one to manage matters of
common national interest
Provincial ones to handle local and
regional matters
This was the American model for
state and national government
Canadians rejected the American
Presidential system of government
and chose the British
parliamentary system
The leader of the country is the
leader of the political party that
has the most seats in the House of
Commons
72 Resolutions
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The new Canadian Union would be a blend of British and American
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS: education, roads, medicine,
municipalities, property rights, civil law, administering justice, managing
natural resources
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: currency and banking, native affairs, marriage,
divorce, criminal law offshores fisheries, defense
Quebec was given extra powers to maintain control over language, religion
and civil law
The big difference Canada and the US was that any unnamed powers or
“residual powers “ were given to the federal government
Macdonald wanted a strong central government to stop an American Civil
War in Canada
Over the years so much power has been given to the provinces that Canada is
one of the most decentralized countries on earth
Federal Government
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The British crown would be
represented in Canada by the
Governor-General and LieutenantGovernors in each province
The legislative part of government
would be divided into two Houses
The Senate: or Upper House
would be appointed by the Prime
Minister and cabinet
The House of Commons: or Lower
House would be elected by the
people
The seats in the Senate would be
represented by region not
population
SENATE
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Rep by Region sounds good the
provinces can be represented other
than population
Because the senators are appointed by
the federal government they became
“federal lackeys”
Patronage: the awarding of jobs and
favours to political cronies
The reason for the senate was that
Macdonald and many of his delegates
still did not like “mob rule” or
democracy
Therefore they needed an undemocratic house to protect the upper
class
As Macdonald said ”The rights of the
minority must be protected, and the
rich are always fewer in number than
the poor…”
Reaction and Resistance
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The Quebec Conference set out
the details now the colonies had to
that the deal back to their
governments
Newfoundland and PEI said
“NO!”
The province of Canada said “yes”
91 in favour 33 against FrenchCanadians 27 to 21
New Brunswick after an election
said “yes”
Nova Scotia was forced into
Confederation by Charles Tupper
Joseph Howe wanted an election
There was no election or debate,
confederation passed
Fenians to the Rescue
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Britain was trying to force the
colonies to except confederation
but it was the Americans that did
the trick!
In 1866 after the US Civil War a
rag-tag group of Irish-Americans
called the “Fenians” attacked
Canada
The “Fenians” wanted to free
Ireland from British rule so they
attacked Canada?
They attacked New Brunswick,
Niagara and the Red River area
Although no real threat they had
great effect
“Oh Superior! We Stand on
Guard For Thee”
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The new country had many names
before Canada was chosen
Tuponia a contraction of The United
Provinces of North America
Efiaga a contraction of England,
France, Ireland, Scotland, Germany
and Aboriginal
Superior, Norland and many others
Thomas D’Arcy McGee convinced
everyone that it was better to be a
Canadian rather than a Tuponian
However, “Hello, my name is Joe..and
I am Superior!”
Or “I am Superior!”
More Fenians
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“Historically the Fenians were
probably a blessing to Canada.
They united the country as nothing
else could.” Desmond Morton
It was the Fenians that made sure
Tilley of New Brunswick won the
next election
And it was New Brunswick that
was the “land bridge” for
confederation
The BNA Act is Passed
The British North America Act
BNAA
BNA Act Passed
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Charlottetown September 1-9 1864
delegates agree to the broad principles
of union
Quebec City October 10-27 1864 the
structure of union, the division of
power
London, England over the winter of
1866-1867 minor changes for Quebec,
improved money for the Maritimes
and an intercolonial railway
On March 29, 1867 Queen Victoria
signed the British North America Act
and it came into effect on July 1, 1867
A new nation “Canada “ was born
Canada’s First Separation
Movement
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Canada 3.5 million people and 4
charter members Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario
The BNA Act did not give Canada
full independence, Canada was
still part of the British Empire
Canada ran local matters,
international matters run by
Britain
“Died! Last Night at twelve
o’clock, the free and enlightened
Province of Nova Scotia.”
There was strong support for
Confederation in all provinces
except Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia (Rebellion)
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In the 1867 provincial election in Nova
Scotia the anti-Confederates won 35 of
the 38 seats
In the federal election of the same year
in NS the anti-Confederates won 18 of
the 19 seats.
Joseph Howe lead the crusade against
Confederation
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“I do not believe that the people of Nova Scotia will
ever be satisfied to submit to an act which has been
forced upon by such unjust and unjustifiable
means… the people of my province were tricked
into this scheme.”
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For 13 months Howe fought a brave
battle , but in the end in crossed the
floor and supported Macdonald
Fathers of Confederation
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36 fathers of confederation, delegates of Charlottetown, Quebec and London
Of the 36 9 became provincial premiers
10 became Lieutenant_Governors
12 became federal; cabinet ministers
13 received knighthoods
2 became prime ministers Macdonald and Tupper
2 were murdered George Brown editor of the “GLOBE” and Thomas D’Arcy McGee
The most important of the “fathers” were MacDonald, Cartier, Brown, Tilley, Tupper,
Galt and McGee
To the list add Amor de Cosmos helped bring BC
Louis Riel founder of Manitoba
Joey Smallwood of Newfoundland 1949
And John Amagoalik founder of Nunavut 1999
All these men and only one mother Queen Victoria she wanted the union and signed
the BNA Act
So Much More!
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“Canada is divisible because Canada is not a
real country.” Lucien Bouchard 1996
“Canada est deux nations” Henri Bourassa
• Canada was never a nation of
two peoples
• It was a union of 4 British
Colonies
• A nation that grew to be more
than 4 colonies but of 10
provinces and 3 territories
• A nation that could grew to be
so much more!
The Waltz is over. Or is it?
Red River Rebellion
North-West Rebellion
Gold and War