Canadian Confederation was a process that took place in which the British colonies of the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were joined with the Dominion of Canada. The unification took place on July 1, 1867 with the passing of the Constitution Act, 1867. There were three conferences that took place during the process in Charlottetown, Quebec, and London.
There were 36 fathers of Canadian confederation.
The Constitutional Act 1791 was passed on 10 June 1791 and divided the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Both provinces were both very different in terms of language, religion, and culture with Upper Canada mainly speaking English and being Protestant and Lower Canada speaking French and being Catholic.
After the War of 1812 and the Treaty of 1818 was signed, the 49th parallel north was drawn between British North America and the United States to separate the two.
Two Rebellions took place in both Upper Canada and Lower Canada between 1837 and 1838. Both rebellions shared a similar demand for responsible government and were fueled by the anger over a lack of political reform. Lord Durham introduced his Report on the Affairs of British North America which called on reforms to attempt to address concerns which led to the rebellions. It also recommended merging both Upper and Lower Canada. The Province of Canada was created after the passing of the Act of Union 1840 on 10 February 1841. The act abolished the legislatures of both Lower Canada and Upper Canada with the Province of Canada replacing them. The Province of Canada was made up of two parts: Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) and Canada West (formerly Upper Canada).
In the west, the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island were made up from Hudson's Bay Company's leftover fur-trading districts of Columbia and New Caledonia. Both the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island were merged together on 6 August 1866.
After 1864, the terms under the Act of Union 1840 became increasingly difficult to work with. Both Canada East and Canada West had an equal representation and much progress ended in politically deadlock. The Great Coalition was created in May 1864 to help deal with the constant deadlock.
Between April 12, 1861 and May 26, 1865, the American Civil War took place and the United States cancelled the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty in 1865 after they viewed Great Britain unofficially supporting of the south. Views towards the United States as a reliable trading partner were questioned among Canadian politicians during this time. Seeing the terrible sights of the Civil War, the Alaska Purchase, the United States doctrine of manifest destiny, and repelling multiple invasion attempts by the United States over the years caused many Canadians to turn away from republicanism and began a rise of more national identity in British North America.
In response, the National Policy was introduced by John A. Macdonald in 1876 and then implemented in 1879 when he became the first Prime Minister of Canada. The policy saw massive infrastructure improvements, population growth, and an increase of immigration towards Western Canada. Industries within Canada began to flourish and helped to increase the Canadian economy, especially after both the Intercolonial and Pacific Railways were built to better transport goods and people.
A Maritime Union was being proposed by the New Brunswick premier Samuel Leonard Tilley, Nova Scotia premier Charles Tupper, and Prince Edward Island premier John Hamilton Gray to unite the three colonies. The Province of Canada later joined the talks. Great Coalition members John A. Macdonald of the Liberal-Conservative Party, George-Étienne Cartier of the parti bleu, and George Brown of the Clear Grits discussed if uniting the colonies would be a solution for the constant political issues affecting the Province of Canada. The Charlottetown Conference was held from September 1 until September 9, 1864. There is not a formal transcript of the conference that survives today. At the conference, the proposal of the three Maritime colonies was put aside by the delegates of the three colonies until the last two days. Around four to five of the days were spent outlining the position of Canada and gave a timeline of a few years. Most of the Maritimes premiers agreed that uniting more with the Province of Canada was beneficial for their colonies. The main outlier was Prince Edward Island who were opposed to confederation. Three more meetings helped bring interest for another conference.
A second conference was held in Quebec City from October 10 to 27, 1864. Macdonald asked Governor General Charles Monck to invite all the Maritime premiers along with Newfoundland to the conference. Policies regarding federalism and the creation of a single state were popular discussions. The Maritimes colonies raised concerns around Newfoundland's inclusion and not wanting to weaken their power in the senate. Newfoundland was given four senators as a compromise. During the conference, the seventy-two resolutions (also known as the Quebec Resolutions) was drafted to create the framework for confederation.
The third and final conference was held in London on December 4, 1866 and ended on March 1867. At the conference were delegates from the Province of Canada (three for both Canada East and Canada West), five for New Brunswick, and five for Nova Scotia. The seventy-two resolutions were approved by the delegates during the conference. Drafting for the British North America Act, 1867 took place and it was also agreed that the new name of the country should be called the Dominion of Canada with Canada West being renamed Ontario and Canada East being renamed Quebec. On February 11, 1867, they presented the bill to Queen Victoria and it was approved by both the House of Lords and House of Commons. Royal assent was given to the act on March 29, 1867 with the date of unification set for July 1, 1867. July 1 became known as Canada Day and was designated a national holiday.
The Hudson's Bay Company surrendered Rupert's Land to Canada in 1869. The Manitoba Act was passed and Manitoba joined on July 15, 1870. Northwest Territories also joined at the same time as part of Rupert's Land surrender. British Columbia joined on July 20, 1871, Prince Edward Island joined on July 1, 1873, the Yukon was created from the Northwest Territories on June 13, 1898, Alberta on September 1, 1905, Saskatchewan on September 1, 1905, Newfoundland and Labrador on March 31, 1949, and finally Nunavut, which was separated from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999.