CanadaEssay Preview: CanadaReport this essayWhat was the primary force favoring Confederation in Canada and why?A. Plan of Investigation“What was the primary force favoring Confederation in Canada and why?”The investigation will cover the many forces that may have lead Canada into a Confederation. Forces were political deadlock resulting from the current political structure, and other internal affairs, the defense of Canada from external influences like the U.S. doctrine of Manifest destiny, the constant threat of intervention from the US, and the fact that the British no longer wanted to maintain troops in its colonies. Economic incentives and promises for economic development couldve had influences, as well. The analysis of the Events and problems leading up to the three conferences will determine why Canada wanted to become a Confederation. Other forces that led Canada into creating the British North American Act will also decide which force was the most influential in the formation of the Confederation in Canada. The primary documents used in this investigation will be The Road to Confederation and Canada in the Making.
B. Summary of EvidenceThe Great Coalition Ð-Political parties that formed in the Province of Canada in 1864. It was a political alliance of many of the Canadian political parties who agreed to vote together in parliament. In order to reform the political system, a coalition was formed between the Clear Grits under George Brown, the Parti bleu under George-Д‰tienne Cartier, and the Conservatives under Macdonald. (Creighton, 62)
Charlottetown Conference in 1864 Ð- A discussion of Maritime union of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, to reunify them into one colony failed. In Charlottetown, the Canadian delegation had proposed the foundations for a new country. (Creighton, 92)
Trent Affair Ð-Trent Affair, the most serious diplomatic crisis between Britain and the US federal government during the American Civil War. In 1861 Charles Wilkes of the Northern navy stopped the Trent, a British merchantman in neutral waters between Havana, Cuba, and London, to take captive two Confederate emissaries to London and Paris. Britain and British North America heard news of the seizure (and violation of British neutrality) and was greeted by demands for apologies from the US and for its surrender of the diplomats. (Creighton, 7)
The Fenian Invasions-The Fenians were Irish-American immigrants who formed an order to support the independence of Ireland, which was then occupied by Britain. Canada, as a British colony, was seen as a legitimate target. There were many such as the Niagara raid in 1866, Campobello Island Raid and many more. (Creighton, 304)
“Rep by Pop” –Due to heavy immigration, the population of English-speaking inhabitants of Canada West soon outstripped Canada East. Under the Act of Union, 1840, however, the seats in the house were evenly divided between Canada East and Canada West. This led to calls in Upper Canada for representation by population, or “rep by pop.” (Creighton, 63)
St. Albans Raid –In 1864, Bennett H. Young of the Confederate army, escaped Northern imprisonment and fled back down south, where he proposed a Canada-based raid on the Union as a means of building the Confederate treasury and forcing the Union army to protect their northern border as a diversion. He sent 20 other escaped confederates into St. Albans, 15 miles from the Canadians Border and simultaneously robbed $208,000 from three banks in town, and escaped into Canada, where they got arrested. (Creighton, 195)
Reciprocity Treaty – Governor Elgin signed a reciprocity treaty with the United States on June 6, 1854. This treaty eliminated customs tariffs between US and Canada. The agreement also governed the rights of American and British North American fishermen, raw materials, and agricultural commodities. In 1865 the American government did not renew the 10 year treaty and it ended in 1866. (Creighton, 335)
The British North America Acts 1867Ð-1975 (The Constitution Act) Ð- Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the British North America Act on March 29, 1867. That act, which united the Province of Canada with the colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, came into effect on July 1 that year. The act dissolved the Act of Union (1840) which had previously unified Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the united Province of Canada. (Whitelaw, 34)
C. Evaluation of sources“Canadian Confederation.” Canadian Confederation. 30 Mar. 2004. Canada. 15 Feb. 2007This website is ran and updated by Library and Archives of Canada. It is called the National Library of Canada. This is a website created primarily on Canadian documents and archives, which tells the story of how Canada came to be, from the original four provinces in 1867 to the present. The historical essays showcase documents, articles and photographs of the people, places and events that have shaped the country of Canada. This sites purpose is to feature material from the collection of Library and Archives of Canada, including a number of rare items that would otherwise be difficult to access. It also contains pictures, audio, videos and many other artifacts that would otherwise by hard to obtain. The limitation of the Source is that it didnt have any direct sources from many of the acts and laws that passed.
Grant, Creighton D. The Road to Confederation: the Emergence of Canada, 18631867. Greenwood: Greenwood Group, 2000. 1-230.This book had some information about external forces that affected the Canadian Confederation as well as many internal forces. The book was written in 1964, but despite its age, it has much useful in-depth information. The purpose of the book was to help people understand what the British North American union was. The Value of the book primarily focuses on US activity, such as the Civil War, the American Revolutionary war and many more and how it shaped Canada. It also depicts how Canadians viewed the American Civil war and based many of their government policies on America. It also talks a lot about the political struggle Canada had during that time. There werent many limitations, except finding specific information that were difficult find and cumbersome to read.
With regard to their policy during the first two years of the Union, the first two pages of The Road to Confederation are on page 13. These are mainly the “General Provisions” sections and the general section and have mostly been explained in their entirety. However, there is one section about a general policy section at the top. The general section would have some interesting information provided and some references. Also some of the policy ideas could be used to understand what the country was working on during its first, two years in the union. This is what I found most surprising about this book. It covers most of the key things it describes, such as the American experience, how the American economy was in need of foreign-policy support, and what its leaders did to prepare for and try to prepare for a future world. I found it very enlightening. This book also offers some important historical information, some details on how the union was formed, and a good deal of information on how the US leadership looked at the war or the future of the union. This is also what I learned most, which is why this book was really useful because it had a lot of information about the history of the war. It was much older than the book I used to compare, and the book didn’t contain most of what I still think it could have been. On the contrary, to try to summarize the ideas, I found most of the books useful, so much so that it made me consider a wide range of possibilities, which made it much easier than I wanted to take this book with me on my journeys to the future – for example, the Union was the greatest strength of the United States; the country was at its best in the early days of Confederation; and the Union was only a matter of time before that was accomplished. It was the great strength and great strength of the American people that enabled them to have a say in shaping the union, and I do not think it was the strength or the greatest strength of the United States at that time. Although the Union came to be known as American, it did not develop into a national leader; the Union was just a government that worked, and it wasn’t a government of the people. Rather, the Union looked to the people to get better at doing what they needed to do, and eventually they came to work on the American side so that the people would have some influence over them. This book has a lot of information in it, which made me think it didn’t have many interesting things about Confederation. This was probably the greatest strength of any other book in the history of the National Union: the influence of the people. It has lots of nice and useful things. My only complaint was: the information I got that was contained in all three of the major sources is very little. Some of the sources include some of the stories I have heard, but I got so lost in the material that I didn’t actually care to look at them. This book was very useful for me because it gives a solid understanding of what was happening in the United States during the two years between the creation of the Union and the time of the Revolutionary War, because of how it turned out as it went along, and because it explains key issues in Canada and America, such as the role that the US government played in the Union. The book also provides a good account of history and geography, as well as some things that I had to be told. Most of the information was interesting and very useful – some of the things I heard were fact