-
The Act of Union
The Act of Union was supposed to make the colonial government better however this didn't work. The act united upper and lower Canada into one province and east and west Canada had the same amount of seats to vote and there was no representation so the French and English people of Canada always canceled each other's decisions putting Canada in 'Political deadlock' and the people knew something needed to be changed for any decisions to be made for the country. -
Britain Repealing The Corn Laws
This is what I believe is the first steps in pushing Canada to confederation because it made Canada not as close to the mother land (Britain) and started making Canada self-reliant and trade with other countries -
George Brown Trying to implement representation by population
George Brown demanded representation by population as it only made sense but the French Canadians saw this as a bad thing because they knew they would lose their political power and be assimilated into English-speaking Canadian culture as they were the minority. The population of Canada was rising and a proper government was on the horizon -
The U.S Civil War
The U.S civil war and was caused by the U.S government ending slavery causing southern U.S to separate. Canada ties into this because Britain needed cotton and southern U.S were good suppliers. The U.S saw this as Britain supporting southern U.S and turned against Britain and therefore Canada. The U.S. threatened Canada with annexation or invasion. Canada could no longer trust Britain to protect them and this pushed Canada to fend for themselves and confederation. -
The Great Coalition
George Brown heard that Britain no longer cared for Canada and saw Canada as a burden. After hearing this news George Brown made an alliance with John. A Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier where they would implement representation by population and end the political deadlock and work to unify the colonies. -
The Atlantic Colonies Unionizing with Canada
The Atlantic colonies were having a press conference discussing a Maritime union. Canada caught wind of this press conference and got an invitation where they brought wine and other goods and the Atlantic colonies liked the benefits of unionizing so they unionized with Canada -
The 72 Resolutions
These solutions were authored by John. A Macdonald and was the framework for a federal system. ties with Britain were maintained and the British constitution still applied. Under this system there would be two levels of government, federal and provincial with each having different responsibilities. This form of government would be a mix of The U.S and Britains government. -
The end of Reciprocity
This was an agreement created with the U.S after the corn laws were ended as Canada could no longer rely trading with only Britain. This treaty reduced duties and tariffs on grains, fish, wood, and coal that was traded to the U.S. After the U.S didn't renew this agreement the North American colonies grew closer together and support for a union grew also so they negotiate their own trade agreements. -
Fenian Raids
The Fenian brotherhood/the Irish invaded Canada hoping to conquer it and trade it for independence from Britain. The actual attacks didn't have much effect on Canada but swayed the publics opinion towards confederation and showed that Canada needed its own defenses. -
The Signing Of The British North America Act In 1867
The last Confederation conference was held in London in 1866 which tweaked the 72 resolutions. The British North America Act was passed by the British and put into law by Queen Victoria on March 29th, 1867, and came into effect July 1st. Canada became its own nation and had its own government now and there would be four provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. Confederation was officially gained in Canada.