Studied by 4 people
What were the internal factors that led to confederation?
Repeal/cancellation of the corn laws.
Political Deadlock.
The railway.
This all occurred inside of BNA.
What were the external factors that led to confederation?
Manifest Destiny.
The Fenian raids.
End of Reciprocity.
This all was occurred outside of BNA.
Expand on the repeal of the Corn Laws? (which is the first internal factor)
the corn laws were British laws that put customs/duties on wheat & other cereal grains that were imported into Britain.
British colonies were being charged less import duty than grain growers who weren’t apart of the B.E.
Britain repealed (cancelled) the Corn Laws and moved towards free trade. (1846).
Expand on political deadlock which is the second internal factor?
political deadlock: a situation where progress cannot be made because the parties involved cannot agree.
ex. C.E. (French) vs. C.W. (English).
2 issues created this political deadlock:
Transportation.
Representation.
Disagreements about these two issues led to a coalition between MacDonald, George Cartier, and Brown.
The determination of the Canadian leaders to change the government was the spark that put Confederation into motion.
representation was agreed upon population.
What is a coalition? Define it for me.
a temporary joining together of two or more political parties.
Can you expand on the Railway which is internal factor 3?
C.W. C.E. & NS had their own railroad however it wasn’t connected.
the railway was needed for: trade & to move troops quickly incase of war.
it would increase communication (quicker mail) and increase business.
an intercolonial railway would overcome problems: mountains and freezing of St. Lawrence.
due to financial trouble, the building came to an halt.
soon politicians dreamt of one day connecting Canada
sea-to-sea.
Confederation was needed to build this railway.
Could you expand on the philosophy the US had? (Which is the first external factor)
the US had a philosophy of expanding their borders and eventually taking over Canada.
plan was to annex Canada after the civil war.
William Seward was the American secretary at the state during the civil war.
he was an annexationist that felt that the BNA should be a part of the US.
the fear of annexation played a big role in achieving the Canadian confederation and shaping it’s constitution.
Could you expand on the second external factor?
the aim of the fenian raids was to end Englands rule over Ireland & free Canada from Britain.
10,000 Fenians fought in the civil war.
after it was over they were eager to invade other British colonies. (BNA).
these raids caused widespread alarm throughout BNA.
even though the Fenians had to retreat due to the militia.
the raids played a part in convincing people why they needed confederation.
Could you expand on the third external factor?
the reciprocity treaty allowed for a large amount of free trade between the US & the BNA.
many goods and agricultural products could be imported free of customs/duties.
the US cancelled this treaty at the same time it passed the annexation bill.
What did GB want from her colonies? Why did GB want that?
GB wanted her colonies to be self-sufficient.
colonies were too expensive to govern, defend and support financially.
British governors in each colony were told to encourage each colony to unite.
Who was in the “Great Coalition’? What was their goal?
The great coalition was a union of different political parties.
they generally opposed each others’ ideas, but they all shared one goal.
They wanted to be able to unite all of the British North American colonies, and not be constantly (politically) warring with each other.
Why might Atlantic colonists be skeptical of Confederation?
They thought that they wouldn’t be accurately represented because they were very small in population.
They believed they would be overshadowed.
They didn’t think they would have as much influence.
Why was there a meeting/conference in Charlottetown in 1864?
the representatives from Atlantic coasts decided to consider what the Canadians wanted to say before discussing a Maritime union.
What arguments did the Canadian delegation give to convince the Maritime representatives to consider Confederation?
Made arguments that would benefit the colonies from the union.
Macdonald reminded them about the troubles American Civil War brought the colonies & if that happened to them they could better defend themselves with them united.
The Canadian coalition promised if they had an central government their colonies debts would be combined. (Some colonies had debt from the railway building that stopped, so this seemed like a solution to their problem).
Soon later an idea of the Maritime union was later dropped & there was an general agreement that the colonies would benefit greatly from this union.
What was the result of the Charlottetown conference?
The idea of a Maritime union was ignored.
They thought that a wider union could benefit all the colonies.
Another conference would be held in Quebec.
No union was actually made in Charlottetown yet
What was the goal of the Quebec conference?
To discuss the details of a confederation of colonies.
they had a rough draft consisting of how the colonies would run under a federation (levels) & came up with 72 resolutions.
How did the colonists ensure close connection to Britain?
Took British confederation, modelled Canada’s after them.
since Britain is already a successful country, they hoped to make theirs similar which is why they modelled their constitutions similarly.
What is a Federation?
Levels of government.
Ex. Municipal, Federal, Provincial, etc.
What would the national government be responsible for? What would the provincial government be responsible for?
national (federal): would address the needs of the regions.
provincial: looked after all the concerns of the regions.
What two bodies would make up the central government?
the House of Commons and a Senate.
Once 72 resolutions were agreed, what was the next step?
Selling the confederation to the people.
What level of participation did First Nation, Metis or Inuit have in the Confederation meetings?
they were mostly ignored when the relationship and responsibilities were transferred to the Canadian federal government.
They didn’t negotiate with the Indigenous groups and passed them on with no word.
when they were talking about the confederation the indigenous peoples weren’t asked about their opinions on the topic.
Weren’t invited to conferences and didn’t go to the talks.
Were talked about during the conference.
List the three important principles governing relations between the First Nations and the British as stated in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
Treaties were made with the indigenous to acquire land for settlements.
The British were to help settle arguments made between the First Nations & European immigrants.
Finally, the proclamation stated that the First Nations had a special relationship with the crown.
How were the First Nations mentioned in the BNA Act?
They weren’t, the British didn’t discuss the BNA Act nor ask for any contributions.
They were given to the Canadian government as a responsibility.
many indigenous peoples saw this as taking their rights away from them.
Define Enfranchisement
As a right to vote as a citizen.
How was a First Nations person eligible to be a citizen? What did they have to give up?
They had to be: male, over 21, able to write/read in English or French, and free of debt.
They had to lose their status of being a First Nations people.
What are the 7 reasons that the Enfranchisement act was created?
encouraged personal ownership of property instead of the indigenous philosophy of shared land.
encourage assimilation of indigenous peoples by allowing the enfranchisement of them, but at the loss of losing their identity
the way they would encourage them is by:
giving them plots of land that were cut away from reserve land, they were given ‘location tickets’ for this land.
They were not allowed to sell it but could pass it down.
The act declared that election should be hold off leaders.
to impose an European government system on the indigenous.
the Canadian government could remove chiefs/leaders if it saw appropriate to do so.
only men could vote, this conflicted with the traditional roles that women played in First Nations political life.
they promoted assimilation by stating First Nation women that married Non-First Nation men would lose their indigenous status, as would their children.
Why did NB turn towards Confederation?
external & internal forces pushed NB towards confederation.
What was the impact of the Fenian raids?
even though most of NB was anti-confederation, the fenian raids gave them a change of heart due to how vulnerable they were.
What helped the East vote for Confederation (by a slight margin)?
they hoped that confederation would protect French Canadians culture and way of life.
it helped them win by a slight margin.
Which colony had the most to gain by Confederation?
Canada west - C.W. (It was an easy decision for them).
Which two colonies remained anti-Confederation?
P.E.I. & Newfoundland
How did Britain feel about Confederation?
they told the colonies that Britain strongly approved of confederation.
How did Britain offer to help the process of Confederation?
they said they would quickly pass the legislation to make it official.
they also said that they would convene a conference in London to expedite the process.
What happened at the London conference?
constitution was shown to Britain to pass the bill.
Britain read the bill and passed the legeslation.
What was the name of the new nation and which provinces were part of the country?
Name: The Dominion of Canada.
consisted of Ontario, Quebec, NS, and New Brunswick.
On what day would Canada officially become a country?
it would be in effect on the first day of July even though it was passed a few months ago by Queen Victoria (March, 1867).
In what ways was Canada independent from Britain?
Had their own system of government (Federation/Confederation).
could establish their own laws.
had a senate and the House of Commons.
they could act like a country.
In what ways was Canada still tied to Britain?
lacked control of foreign policy. (Britain made decisons for Canada).
Immigration. (Britain controlled who came in).
unable to take command of their own armed forces except through the British officers.
the BNA didn’t contain their own amendment formula, it was a responsibility to Britain to make it for us.
What happened to Canada in 1982?
Canada was finally able to make its own amendments without Britains permission.
renamed it The Constitutions Act
Define Abolitionist
a person who favors the abolition of a practice or institution
Define Secession
the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.
When was the Civil war fought?
1861 - 1865 (around 4-5 years)
Note 
Flashcard (20)