British and American influences on Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada

1. British and American influenceson Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada By 1850, British North America had some level of self-government, but there was no serious talk of uniting all the colonies under one government. This would change over the next 15 years. Most of BNA’s trade was with Britain, but the colonies were also increasing their trade with the United States BNA was becoming less dependent upon Britain

2. British and American influenceson Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada Meanwhile, Britain was prospering from its empire, and did not really need the North American colonies as much as it used to. In fact, Britain no longer wanted to support its North American colonies militarily, economically and politically Britain was urging BNA to become independent

3. British and American influenceson Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada Another reason BNA colonists started to consider political union more seriously was the increasing threat of annexation by the U.S. With their ideology of manifest destiny, the Americans were expanding further west, and the fear was that they would also look to expand north. The Americans themselves even went so far as to officially declare their intention to annex Canada (1866). Through Confederation in 1867, Canadians were hoping to establish a strong, centralized government, which would avoid the problems created by powerful, individual states in the U.S. – as was seen during the Civil War.

4. British and American influenceson Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada In 1871, British, American and Canadian representatives met to discuss international boundaries and economic issues. Britain was less concerned about Canada and more concerned about restoring relations with the U.S. It decided to remove most of its remaining troops from Canada, leaving it to fend for itself against manifest destiny.

5. British and American influenceson Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada In 1878, Prime Minister Macdonald promoted Canada’s National Policy, which included plans to: increase tariffs on U.S. goods build a transcontinental railway settle the West

6. British and American influenceson Confederation and Post-Confederation Canada Tuesday, April 3rd Read p. 40-44 Complete the vocabulary listed on the handout Answer the response questions