John A. Macdonald in Canada
Sir John A. Macdonald
Macdonald, Sir John Alexander (1815-1891), statesman, was born on January 11, 1815, in Glasgow, Scotland, the eldest son of Hugh Macdonald and Helen Shaw. He came to Canada with his parents in 1820, and his youth was spent in Kingston, Upper Canada, and its vicinity. Educated at the Royal Grammar School in Kingston, he was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1836. In 1844 he was elected to represent Kingston in the Legislative Assembly of Canada, and he sat almost continuously for Kingston in parliament from that day to his death in 1891. His first tenure of office was in 1847-8, when he was for ten months receiver-general in the Draper administration. In 1854 he was mainly instrumental in forming the coalition of parties which resulted in the creation of the Liberal-Conservative party; and he became attorney-general for Upper Canada in the MacNab-Morin government. In 1856 he became Upper Canadian leader in the Taché-Macdonald ministry; and in 1857 prime minister in the Macdonald-Cartier ministry. Defeated in 1858, he resumed office after four days in the Cartier-Macdonald administration, first as postmaster-general and then as attorney-general for Upper Canada, this change of portfolios being incidental to the “Double Shuffle.” In 1862 his government was defeated, and he was in opposition until the formation of the second Taché-Macdonald administration of March-June, 1864.
The defeat of this administration and the consequent deadlock in government resulted in the formation of the “Great Coalition” which brought about the confederation of the British North American provinces. In the formation of this coalition Macdonald played a leading part; and he came to be regarded, especially after the resignation of George Brown from the government in 1865, as the chief architect of Confederation. He took a foremost part both in the Quebec Conference of 1864 and in the London Conference of 1866, at which the details of the British North America Act were worked out. In 1867, therefore, he was selected as first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada; and he continued to fill this office, except for the period of the Mackenzie administration (1873-8), until his death. His defeat in 1873 was the result of the so-called “Pacific Scandal”, and it was thought that his eclipse on this occasion would be permanent; but in 1878 he came back to power on the “National Policy” of high protection, and in the three subsequent general elections, in 1882, in 1886, and in 1891, he proved invincible at the polls. The elections of 1891, however, were too great a strain on his health; and on June 6, 1891, he died at Ottawa.
Macdonald had not perhaps a high code of political ethics, and he at times raised opportunism almost to the level of a political principle; yet it may be doubted whether a statesman of stricter views could have guided the destinies of Canada during the difficult period of his prime ministry as successfully as he did. In the art of managing men he was unrivalled; and there were some points, such as the safeguarding of law and order and the continuance of the British connection, on which he knew no compromise. To his initiative were due, also, the inclusion in the Dominion of British Columbia and the North West, and the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In many ways, the Dominion of Canada is to-day the creature of his statesmanship.
For his services in connection with Confederation, he was created in 1867 a K.C.B. In 1879 he was sworn of the privy council, and in 1884 he became a G.C.B. He was a D.C.L. of Oxford (1865), and in 1886 he was offered by Cambridge the degree of LL.D. He was twice married, first in 1843 to his cousin Isabelle Clark (d. 1858), and second to Susan Agnes Bernard, who was, after his death, created Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe. By his first wife he had two sons, one of whom died in infancy; and by his second wife one daughter.
The chief authorities are Sir J. Pope, Memoirs of Sir J. A. Macdonald (2 vols., Ottawa, 1895; new ed., Toronto , 1930), The day of Sir John Macdonald (Toronto, 1915), and Correspondence of Sir John Macdonald (Toronto, 1921). There are a number of other biographies, but none of these are of much original value except G. R. Parkin, Sir John A. Macdonald (Toronto, 1910) and E. B. Biggar, Anecdotal life of Sir John Macdonald (Montreal, 1891). Useful materials are to be found in Sir R. Cartwright, Reminiscences (Toronto, 1912), to which Sir J. Pope issued a rejoinder; in Goldwin Smith, Reminiscences (New York, 1910); and in biographies of such contemporaries of Macdonald as Brown, Cartier, Galt, Mackenzie, Tupper, and Laurier. General historical works covering the period of Macdonald’s political career are J. C. Dent, The last forty years (2 vols., Toronto, 1881) and J. S. Willison, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and the Liberal party (2 vols., Toronto, 1903).
Source : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. IV, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., pp. 165-166.
More about John A. Macdonald
Canadian politician, statesman and Father of Confederation (1815-1891). Elected to the House of Assembly of the United Province of Canada 1844-1867; Minister in several governments (1847-1848, 1854-1858, 1858-1862, 1864-1867). Elected to the House of Commons in 1867 and reelected until his death in 1891. Prime Minister of Canada (1867-1873, 1878-1891).
Macdonald is considered to be one of the chief architects of Confederation. As leader of the Conservatives of Canada West he agreed to join the Great Coalition of 1864 whose aim was to achieve Confederation. His role in the several conferences prior to Confederation was vital and he emerged easily as the political leader of the scattered colonies of British North America. Hence, he was chosen to be the first Prime Minister of the new Dominion.
Macdonald was never a warm supporter of federalism (in June of 1864 – as the province was about to reach a deadlock – he voted against the recommendation of a House Committee for a federation of all the British North American colonies) and this political stance was to colour greatly his actions in the first thirty years of Confederation. During the Confederation debates, he stated his position as follows: “Now as regards the comparative advantages of a Legislative and a Federal union, I have never hesitated to state my own opinions. I have again and again stated in the House, that, if practicable, I thought a Legislative union would be preferable… But, on looking at the subject in the Conference, and discussing the matter as we did, most unreservedly, and with a desire to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, we found that such a system was impracticable. In the first place, it would not meet the assent of the people of Lower Canada, because they felt in their peculiar position – being in the minority, with a different language, nationality and religion from the majority – in case of a junction with the other provinces, their institutions and their laws might be assailed, and their ancestral associations, on which they prided themselves, attacked and prejudiced; it was found that any propositions which involved the absorption of the individuality of Lower Canada – if I may use the expression – would not be received with favour by her people… Therefore, we were forced to the conclusion that we must either abandon the idea of Union altogether, or devise a system of union in which the separate provincial organizations would be in some degree preserved.”
Being forced to accept federalism because of the insistence of Quebec, Macdonald was, nevertheless, determined to avoid what he called the excesses of the American federal constitution. The experiences of our neighbors, entwined in the throes of the Civil War at the time, had led him to believe that Canada needed a system with a strong and preponderant federal government. He made his views clear, on the issue, during the Confederation debates: “The United States began at the wrong end. They declared by their Constitution that each state was a sovereignty in itself, and that all the powers incident to sovereignty belonged to each state, except those which by the Constitution were conferred upon the General Government and Congress. Here we have adopted a different system. We have strengthened the General Government. We have given the general Legislature all the great subjects of legislation. We have conferred upon them not only specifically and in detail all the powers which are incident to sovereignty, but we have expressly declared that all subjects of general interest not distinctly and exclusively conferred upon the local government and local legislatures, shall be conferred upon the General Government and Legislature.”
To a large extent, Macdonald achieved the type of centralized federalism (quasi-federalism) that he desired. He was not, however, fully satisfied with some of the concessions that he had had to make to the strong federalists. Upon assuming the Prime Ministership of Canada in 1867, he determined to shape the new Constitution in the way that he desired. He explained clearly his position in a letter to a friend in 1868: “I fully concur with you as to the apprehension that a conflict may, ere long, arise between the-Dominion and the ‘States Rights’ people. We must meet it, however, as best we may. By a firm patient course, I think the Dominion must win in the long run. The powers of the General Government are so much greater than those of the United States, that the central power must win in the long run. My own opinion is that the General Government or Parliament should pay no more regard to the status or position of the Local Governments than they would to the prospects of the ruling party in the corporation of Quebec or Montreal.”
The history of the first 25 years of Confederation under Macdonald is but one long attempt to implement his program of strengthening the federal government at the expense of local autonomy. The result was a mixed bag of successes and failures. Among what he considered to be his successes were the opening of the West, the creation of a Dominion from “Sea to sea,” the transcontinental railway and the National Policy.
However, Macdonald’s excesses of centralization led inevitably to the creation of a powerful provincial autonomy school that championed a more classical form of federalism. Ultimately, Macdonald’s centralization (and that of later governments) came close to producing what George Brown predicted in 1870: “The danger most to be feared is that men who really don’t believe in Confederation (he meant the federal system) at all should so seek to extend and consolidate the Federal legislative and executive power that the local Governments and Legislatures shall be in danger of becoming mere shadows and shams, and that the recoil from such a danger may lead to the opposite extreme of ignoring national unity, and in zeal for mere local interests and specialists, the breaking up of Confederation altogether.”
© 2001 Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College