Creating a New Country: Towards Confederation

1. Creating a New Country: Towards Confederation Social Studies 7

2. British North America Following the Act of Union in 1841, the colonies known as Upper and Lower Canada were united as a single colony. They were renamed, respectively Canada West and Canada East. While they were granted more political freedom, they were still owned and somewhat controlled by the British Crown. The Crown also had control over the maritime colonies: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland; as well as a colony on the far west coast of North America, British Columbia.

3. British North America There were also two large territories in North America that were owned by British people, but not by the Crown. These were large territories held over from the height of the fur trade: The Hudson Bay Company was still conducting business in Rupert’s Land, and the North-Western Territory was the main trading region for the North West Company until it was absorbed into the HBC in 1821. As time went on, residents of the various Canadian colonies began to consider joining together to form a union independent from Britain. They were motivated by political, economic, and social factors.

4. Parties in the Legislative Assembly • The Grits were a group dedicated to real and major changes to Canadian government. They wanted more democratic practices in government, and represented the citizens of Canada West. • Leader: George Brown • The Reds (Les Rouges) were also a group that wanted radical reform to Canadian government, but they represented the interests of Canada East. They even called for Quebec’s independence from Britain. • Leader: Antoine-AimeDorion • The Blues (Les Bleus) were conservative Canadiens that focused on business. They were interested in cooperating with the British. • Leader: George-Etienne Cartier • The Liberal-Conservatives were conservative, English-speaking businessmen that were interested in cooperating with the Canadiens. They desired peaceful, moderate, democratic means of reforming Canadian government. • Leader: John A. Macdonald

5. Dividing Issues • In the Legislative Assembly, English-speaking representatives from Canada West outnumbered French-speaking representatives from Canada East. This meant that French interests and motions were often outvoted. • Parties were unable to agree on the amount of independence each desired from British rule: some wanted to be an entirely independent country, while others wanted to maintain some political and economic ties. • Many residents of Canada East advocated for French language rights in society and government (French language rights had been restricted in 1841’s Act of Union). • Perhaps the most divisive issue for the parties was the issue of representation by population. This electoral system means that areas (provinces, colonies) with larger population receive more representatives in the Legislative Assembly. Representatives in Canada West wanted a “rep by pop” system because the Act of Union gave East and West equal numbers of seats in the L.A., but Canada West had a larger population. Many felt this meant that they should have more representatives.

6. Economic Issues • There were a number of economic reasons that motivated the various colonies to form a union independent from British rule: • As Britain began to move away from a mercantile economy, British colonies no longer had a guaranteed market for the goods and raw materials they produced. This meant that the economic relationship wasn’t working as well any more. • A special tax-free reciprocity agreement with the United States failed shortly after it came into effect. Along with the loss of British markets, this resulted in an economic crisis in British North America. • Union between the maritime colonies and Canada East and West would allow the manufacturing companies access to ports and ships. This would allow Canadian companies to expand to overseas markets.

7. Defending British North America The Civil War broke out in 1861 in America. The central issues of the war were slavery and state independence. There were complicated economic relationships between the Northern and Southern states in America and Britain, which led to conflicting loyalties, suspicion, and a general fear of American desire to expand north into British North America.