|
|
|||||||||
Prehistory | 2 Worlds Meet | New France | England Arrives | Clash of Empires | Revolution | British America | Reform/Revolt | Responsible Government | Confederation | Nation Building | Laurier | The Great War | Roaring 20's | Great Depression | WWII | The Peace | Cold War | Trudeau | PC's in Power | Modern Canada
Fathers of Confederation | Maritime Union | George Brown | Pan Federalism | US Civil War | Canada's Proposals | St Lawrence Cruise | Charlottetown | The Quebec Conference | The London Conference | July 1st 1867
Although the move towards Confederation or colonial Union had begun in separate areas of the British North American colonies, the general feeling that was emerging in the early 1860's was one that lead politicians towards a larger Union, a Federal Union that would be able to speak for all of the colonies but still allow each colony to address it's individual challenges and problems. The example of the United States as a semi-failed Union having to fight to re-establish its relationship between the States and the Federal government shaped many minds in the Canada's and the Maritime colonies. A larger vision was also emerging in London and probably in the dreams of John A Macdonald. This was of a British North America that stretched from Atlantic to Pacific, from the U.S. boarder to the Arctic hinterland.
Britain not only rules the Colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia, but it also asserted it's authority over all of the lands in the interior that were administered by the Hudson Bay Company. An evolutionary process which could bring all of these lands together under one Federal Government would create a country larger then the United States and with the best chances to stand up to U.S., Spanish and Russian encroachment upon British North America. The pieces were all there and the development of industry and technology was also available in the form of steam ships and the quickly expanding railways. All could be tied together in one neat package if a political will was put to work in formulating a system that could accommodate the demands of all the different regions.
