History Docs: Confederation
 

Canada West and Confederation

This set of primary and secondary sources includes legislative speeches, newspaper articles, editorial letters, and a political cartoon that describe the reasons for and against joining Confederation for Canada West.

Format: PDF
Subject: Social Studies, History
Grade: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type of resource: Source Documents
Language: English

Student Tasks

What were the main reasons Canada West decided to support Confederation?

When determining the important reasons for and against, you may want to consider the:

  • political situation in Canada West at the time.
  • potential social, economic and cultural impact of Confederation on Canada West.
  • dominant language and religion of the majority of people in Canada West.
  • economy of Canada West prior to Confederation.

Historical Context for Teachers

Early history

    The territory that is now known as the province of Ontario has, over the years, had several different names, borders, and forms of government.
    From 1534–1763, the territory was part of the French colony of New France. After the British victory in the Seven Years’ War, the French signed the 1763 Treaty of Paris in which they handed over New France and France’s other colonial possessions in North America to Great Britain.
    The British renamed the colony Québec and in 1774, created the Québec Act, the constitution for the new colony.
    In 1791, the Constitutional Act split the colony of Québec into the Canadas. The Canadas included a predominantly French-speaking colony called Lower Canada and an English-speaking colony called Upper Canada.
    In 1791, the population of Upper Canada was about 10 000 people, mainly English-speakers with significant numbers of French and Aboriginals. The majority of the English-speaking inhabitants were United Empire Loyalists, loyal to the British Crown, who left the United States after the American Revolution.
    After the 1837-1838 rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada, the 1840 Act of Union abolished the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada and joined them into a single legislature in what was called the Province of Canada.
    The Province of Canada was divided into two areas: Canada West, which was previously Upper Canada, and Canada East that was previously Lower Canada.

Political and economic problems

    Both Canada East and Canada West were given equal representation in the Legislative Assembly (42 seats each), despite the fact that the 1841 census revealed that Lower Canada had 650 000 people, while Upper Canada had a population of 450 000.
    By 1851, the population of Canada West had grown to 952 000, exceeding Canada East’s population. After the 1851 census, politicians in Canada West began campaigning for representation by population. “Rep-by-pop,” as it was called, would give Canada West more seats and power in the Legislative Assembly than Canada East because of their larger population.
    In terms of its economy, the western part of Canada West was focused on agriculture. By 1860, over 80 percent of the population lived in rural areas. In the eastern part of Canada West, industries (e.g., logging, milling, canal and railway construction) were growing rapidly.
    In 1846, the Corn Laws, the Province of Canada’s preferential trading system with Great Britain, ended and, in 1847, the preferential tariffs (taxes/duties) on timber also ended. This meant that the cost of importing and exporting goods to Canada became very expensive and the economy of the Province of Canada decreased substantially as a result.
    To compensate for the removal of the Corn Laws, the Reciprocity Treaty was signed in 1854, guaranteeing free trade between the United States and Great Britain’s North American colonies.
    Railway construction also contributed to increased trade. In 1853, construction began on the Grand Trunk Railway that ran through Canada East and West. By 1861, the Province of Canada’s debt reached $50 million after the government was forced to borrow money to buy out the Grand Trunk Railway Company.

Confederation introduced

    In 1858, Canada East politicians George-Etienne Cartier and Alexander Tilloch Galt introduced the idea of a federal union of the British colonies in North America, in which the colonies would be linked politically but would also be in control of their internal affairs. The concept was refused by Queen Victoria, the British monarch at the time.
    Political ideas in Canada West were divided along east–west lines. John A. Macdonald, leader of the Conservatives, represented the east’s interest in industry and commerce while George Brown’s Clear Grits were supported by farmers in the western part of Canada West.
    The political system of United Canada was extremely unstable and various government crises occurred every year. In slightly more than 15 years, Canada experienced 15 different ministries and more than half a dozen elections. Votes in the Legislative Assembly often ended in deadlock because of equal representation for both Canada East and Canada West.
    In 1864, the Great Coalition, a political alliance between John A. Macdonald of the Conservatives, George Etienne Cartier of the Parti Bleu and George Brown of the Clear Grit party, came to power to break the political deadlock and to advance the idea of Confederation.
    Both during and after the American Civil War, Canada East and Canada West were concerned about military threats from the United States. Great Britain and her North American colonies supported the South during the war. After the North’s victory, Canada worried that the North’s large standing army would attack Great Britain’s colonies in retaliation for supporting the South during the war.
    By the 1860s, Great Britain could not afford to pay for the defense of the colony and asked United Canada to assume some responsibility for paying for it.
    In 1862, a conference was held between delegates from the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to discuss building an inter-colonial railway to link all of the colonies of British North America. However, the delegates could not come to an agreement on how to finance the cost of building the railroad and no agreement was reached.
    On September 1, 1864, representatives from Province of Canada joined delegates from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to discuss the idea of a Maritime union. At the conference, the Province of Canada representatives, George-Etienne Cartier and John A. Macdonald, changed the discussion from a Maritime union to Confederation, a wider union of all British North American colonies.

Confederation achieved

    The idea took hold, and following the Charlottetown Conference, the Québec Conference was organized in October 1864 to come to agreement on the terms for Confederation. One of the main areas of disagreement between the colonies was the number of seats each would receive in the Senate.
    The delegates, led by Macdonald, drafted the 72 Resolutions, or Québec Resolutions, an agreement outlining the terms of union and the formation of the country and its government.
    Following the Quebec conference, the Province of Canada’s legislature passed a bill approving the union. However New Brunswick, Nova Scotia would wait until 1866 to approve the union, while Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland continued to hold out.
    In 1866, the United States ended the Reciprocity Treaty. This reduced Canada’s exports to the United States and left Canada without a dominant trading partner.
    In the same year, a radical Irish-Catholic group living in the United States called the Fenians led failed attacks into New Brunswick, Canada West and Canada East . The Fenians were fighting for Irish independence from Great Britain and attacked British colonies in North America as a way of pressuring Great Britain.
    In 1867, delegates from the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia travelled to London and drafted the British North America Act. The act was passed through the British Government and the date of official union was set for July 1, 1867.

North American provinces, territories and colonies, 1867 - 1870

Provinces of Canada 1867-1870

By Golbez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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