The Confederation act of 1867 without question has had a major influence on the status of contemporary Canada. It has helped shape Canada into one of the worlds most politically and economically powerful countries; a country that is strong, independent, and united. There was a series of events which led to the confederation of Canada, some which are more significant than others. However, I believe that despite the significance of events such as the British encouragement of uniting its North American colonies, the central and key reason for confederation was the fear of potential American (Yankee) inhabitance (whether by persuasion or invasion) of the divided and vast British North American colonies, and the way that the “Fathers of Confederation” were able to take advantage of this situation and persuade reluctant colonies to join Confederation. A strong and united nation could not be easily invaded or bought. These essential factors will be discussed in the paragraphs to come. Tensions between British North America and the Yankees were initiated during the American Revolution of 1776. After winning their independence and freedom from British rule, America broke all ties and relations with the British and their colonies, which now resided only in Canada. Nearly a century later, and event took place which dramatically assisted in the Confederation of Canada: The American Civil War. The United States was a union of several states under the rule of the federal government, however, under the United States Constitution the government was weak and the states were strong. Soon, eleven southern states declared their own independence from the union and began to build their own armies; the United States government was incapable ... ... middle of paper ... ...“Fathers of the Confederation” putting aside their differences in order to fulfill their common dream of unifying the British North American colonies for the greater good of the nation. There was a strong appeal of nation building among the inhabitants of Canada at the time. As well, there was the unsuccessful Fenain Raids involving Irish troops storming Canada which also invoked fear among British North Americans. Currently, Canada remains the world’s second largest country, full of vast and rich resources from all corners of the nation. None of the accomplishments and achievements that Canada has made to date would have been possible without Confederation. Without intense pressure from the Americans, and without the common goal that a few men shared of unifying a country, Canada would not be the strong, free, independent and united nation that it is today.
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Show MoreIn conclusion Canada gained independence because of a series of events that took place during the twentieth century. If it hadn’t been for these events, Canada to this day might have been a part of the British Empire. Through discussion on the Chanak affair we signalled that we wanted autonomy. Through our hard work and lives, the world knew we had the ability to stand alone as a strong nation. While, our international reputation of being a “peacekeeping” country the right to stand as an independent self-governing nation. But finally through the Canada Act, we stood solely independent from our Empire. It is obvious that the twentieth century provided us with great chances to become an independent strong nation.
Between 1815-1840 Upper Canada was under the influence of a few elite individuals known as the ‘Family Compact’. These individuals held sway through their control of large amounts of land and their dominance of the governments various branches. With their hold on the government of Upper Canada, the family compact aimed to create a government that regulated all aspects of society. However the people of Canada disliked the family compacts dominance of Upper Canada’s political system and when attempts to reform the Canadian political system through democratic means the people resorted to rebellion. The rebels lead by primarily William Lyon Mackenzie a prominent member of the reform party and newspaper owner who was inspired by the American Revolution. The British government acted swiftly bringing an end to the rebellion. Although the rebellion was quashed the family compact began to lose its influence in Canadian politics and was squeezed out by moderate parties. By looking at sources from and written on the times we can observe that the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837-1839 was caused by the oligarchic rule of the Family Compact in Upper Canada. This can be observed to be true by looking at the socio-economic differences that divided the family compact from the settlers, how the family compact held power and how that power was gained and maintained, and the religious conflict between the settlers and the family compact.
Canada has become a superior nation thru, perseverance, courage and even care as they persevered thru many dark battles, and made sure they all came thru together as a unit other than individuals. Their courage made there fighting 100% stronger as they wouldn’t back down to any task and they weren’t afraid to lose their life to help a fellow friend and country out. Care played a major aspect in each Canadian heart. There cared about Britain so they weren’t to go help them when they declared war, they helped other troops with their emotional problems and lastly they even cared a little about there enemies as they are the same person, however the only thing separating them is there culture. Canadians contributed in many ways to help our country's great efforts in the First World War.
From the first Great War, to the Great Depression, and after the Second World War, you could say that Canada had been transformed significantly. Since the day the British North American Act was enacted in 1867, Canada was a small and developing country. The Second World War had been one of its biggest challenges yet and the countries future prospects tremendous benefits especially in the fields of political development, social development, and economical development. It was a great struggle to get where she is today and WW2 was a major contributing factor to why Canada is such a strong and unified nation
Have you ever pondered why Canada has the Queen on the twenty dollar bill despite Europe and the United Kingdom being a whole ocean away? Canada is often said to be a peaceful country, but have you heard about our war with America? In the novel Barometer Rising, Hugh MacLennan describes Canada 's place in the world. Although Canada is commonly grouped with the United States, Barometer Rising proves with its strong themes of nationalism, that Canada’s role in the world is to be a strong nation, independent of the United States and well linked to Europe.
The British North America Act went into effect July 1st, 1867 creating a union known as the Dominion of Canada, but this did not complete the debate on the Confederation issue. Many Nova Scotians continued their opposition to the idea and it would take considerable time before all Nova Scotians would accept the fact of Confederation. “These Nova Scotians, disgruntled at their treatment by Great Britain, found that their loyalty had markedly diminished. The more they considered taking over the responsibility for their own affairs from England, however, the greater trust they had to place in Confederation.”25 Confederation struck a balance between the rights of English and French speaking Canadians. Nevertheless, many divisions, conflicts, and debates would occur not only in Quebec but also in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick over this balance. Economic disparities between the Maritimes and the rest of Canada would also create many problems for the years following 1867. As a result, Confederation can be viewed as a beginning and not an end.
Another event that majorly affected Confederation was Fenian Raids which were a group Irish- Catholic that was determined to take over Canada (British North American Colonies) and use the country as a hostage to the U.S and the British in order to return back the Irish Independence. There were numerous attacks that took place before Confederation that was claimed to be by the Fenian. These attacks made it less safe to be in Canada at the time since all the attacks were at random. But, these tragic attacks like the Niagara Raid (Battle of Ridgeway and Fort Erie), though may alarming, they also brought Canada together. Since the only way Canada would have a strong defense is with soldiers protecting Canada and a good economy in order to keep
In the mid-1860’s, many British North American colonies considered the idea of confederation. The joining of the colonies did have a huge impact on British North America, resulting in Canada becoming the country it is today. Colonies were first reluctant on joining Confederation, however many decided to go forth with this idea. Canada East, Canada West, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick agreed upon joining as one colony, under one government. Many civilians considered confederation due to the military attacks, trade and transportation, and changing of the British attitudes.
It was once stated by F.R.Scott “ There are two miracles in canadian history. The first is the survival of French Canada, and the second is the survival of Canada.” His quote came to reality as of Canada grew to be a stable and secure country where everyone would want to be. Yet to accomplish this, many obstacles and events occurred such as the Spanish Succession war in 1713 , the seven years war in 1763, the constitutional act in 1791 and finally the Act of Union in 1841. First in 1713, the Spanish Succession war occurred where the British took control of Acadia. Soon after that, in 1763 the Seven Years War ended where the British took over New France and was later renamed British North America. Before the British most of the colonies were
Since 1793, at the Treaty of Paris, Canada was under British rule, France and Britain had fought for the power over Canada and France was defeated. But “in the 1860s the British colonies were facing many different kinds of problems” including political difficulties of English and French speakers having diverse opinions about the government. As well as economic troubles because there were not many places where colonies could vend their products and military dilemmas because of the unbalanced bond amongst the United States and British North America. The resolution to these complications was for the different colonies settled in Canada to unite as one abundant country. So in 1867, Canada “became a self-governing dominion of the British Empire” until 1931, when the Statute of Westminster was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. , This Statute presented several countries under Dominion including: Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, the Union of South Africa and the Irish Free State their independence. With the success of Vimy Ridge, “Canada’s participation in the war won it a place at the table at the Paris peace talks in 1919 […] And in 1931, the Statute of Westminster gave Canada control over it’s own foreign policy.” Not only did the battle of Vimy Ridge prove Canada’s nationality, but it also united Canadians into a single unit led by a Canadian Major-
Under the Articles of Confederation there were several major events, which led to Constitutional Convention, where 55 delegates had to meet in order to create our current Constitution. One of those major events was on the October of 1781 where the Continental Army forced General Cornwallis into surrender at Yorktown, ending the American Revolutionary War (which doesn’t include the two years of battle afterwards at sea). This was a major achievement of the Articles, however this was the point where everything changed as colonist were no longer at war. The system had to be changed in order to be adapted to ordinary life, however this did not happen. Soldiers were returning home after fighting only to be launched into debt. Afterwards, there was
The outbreak in France that led to the revolt, known as the French revolution, and the long and tedious process that pushed Canada into nationhood were events going down in history as moments that recognized the hardships of creating a better union. However, both events did not follow the same path in order to create a better system for their country. The establishment of the Canadian Confederation differed from the creation of the French Republic based on both political, social and economical reasons.
Preceding World War 2, there were several political and constitutional events that set the stage for Canada's independence. Commencing with the
Canada became a country on July 1, 1867 when the British Parliament passed the British North America Act. Since then, Canada has grown into a political and economical powerful nation that we know today. However, developing from a mere dominion to its own nation did not come without immense obstacles along the way. Social development changed the identity of a Canadian and brought nationalism. The economic augmentation during the turn of the century to the start of World War ll, helped our country to become one of the highest income countries in the world today. Political progression assisted in making Canada its own nation. The factors that progressed Canada socially would be, the Group of Seven, the famous Jazz Age and sports, a current major
What occurred was that the great power of US wanted to continue to expand their land and wanted to buy or conquer the land. This land, however, was ruled by the colonies. And this lead to the creation of Canada because the forces of the Americans can overthrow the power of the BNA. This was a problem as the British didn’t care about BNA nor of their livelihood. Thus, this resulted into the creation of Canada because the constant threat by the Americans and BNA is required to take responsibility for that. Thus by coming together they are able to create a force that is great enough to defend the land and to save BNA from being ruled by the United States. The philosophical reasoning behind the USA of Manifest Dynasty was that they are destined to rule all of North America and that they would take over land from coast to coast and this ideas was thought of during their civil war. In the end, John A. Macdonald, George Brown and George Etienne Cartier joined to create a larger union of British North America. This union would increase protection from an American invasion, and would also make a trade in the colonies easier that became even more important in 1866 when the United States ended free trade with Canada. Thus by creating the confederation Canada or BNA could defend from the States and economically grow (which BNA lacked) and united to create an equal government.