Canadian Confederation
lshe...@telusplanet.net
the strongest factor that pushed the Province of Canada and the Atlantic
colonies toward Union was the threat of American Expansionism. I believe
that the founding fathers of Confederation were scared that the Americans
would annex Canada after the Civil war ended because they were upset with
Great Britain. The fact that the Americans would want to rule North America
was not a new idea, the belief of Manifest Destiny had been around for years
and the Americans had designed battle plans incase the need or desire to
annex British North America existed. The threat of Britain losing her
territory to the Unitred States again, sent shock waves down the spines of
those who were loyal to the crown and caused great concern. The fathers of
Conferedation in my opinion were also fearful that they would lose their
influence over the colonies if the Americans annexed British North America.
I realize that the other pressures that existed in this time period all
contributed to the formation of Canada, but I feel it was the threat of
becoming Americanized which was the final catalyst that was needed to unite
Canada. To this day we fight a losing battle with the United States,
instead of a geographical annexation, they have annexed our culture and
replaced it with everything American. It has been a slow battle, but they
are winnning.
Larry
Ryan Deschamps
> I would like to begin a debate about Canadian Confederation. I believe that
> the strongest factor that pushed the Province of Canada and the Atlantic
> colonies toward Union was the threat of American Expansionism. I believe
> that the founding fathers of Confederation were scared that the Americans
> would annex Canada after the Civil war ended because they were upset with
> Great Britain.
Well, I don't think this was an unrealized threat-- the Americans had a
pretty serious arsenal of weapons-- including some of the very first
repeating rifles. But, part of this move towards confederation was a
railway-- this railway would play both a role in defense (improved
mobilization) but more importantly, it was the internet of the 19th
century-- that is, it was the "thing" that everyone had to have to be
progressive, or seen as "up to date." Ultimately, the railway would
prove to do neither for the Atlantic region.
> The fathers of
> Conferedation in my opinion were also fearful that they would lose their
> influence over the colonies if the Americans annexed British North America.
> I realize that the other pressures that existed in this time period all
> contributed to the formation of Canada, but I feel it was the threat of
> becoming Americanized which was the final catalyst that was needed to unite
> Canada.
You forget to account for the severe debt problems tha tthe Atlantic
Provinces were suffering from. Being attacked by another country is
always a possibility, but garnering support is usually done by economic
means-- Don't forget that the provinces had responsible government by
this time-- nothing was going to happen unless the people wanted it (or
were convinced they wanted it). Although I agree that the United States
was a factor in Canadian Confederation, the ultimate success of Canadian
Confederation was the promise of improved economy through railways, tarrif
protection and
industrialization-- many Atlantic Canadians felt (and probably rightly
so, although it was executed poorly) that economic diversitfication was
the only way to pull out of a dying staple economy, that depended too
heavily on foreign markets.
> To this day we fight a losing battle with the United States,
> instead of a geographical annexation, they have annexed our culture and
> replaced it with everything American. It has been a slow battle, but they
> are winnning.
This last line is a bit too ideological to contend with--
Americans do have economic
influence, the ability to manage corporations on our soil (leaving them
quite a lot of power to earn cash and achieve provincial subsidies), and
diplomatically, Canada (and therefore Atlantic Canada) will likely do just
about anything the US wants in terms of military aid.
But let's talk about Nova Scotia culture, for example. Supposedly we're
supposed to have this high Scottish influence that makes us so unique.
Stange thing about it, though, "Tartanism" was the creation of wonderful
Premier Agnus L. Macdonald for the creation of tourism, even though the
population contained only about 15% Scots. As a matter of fact, you
could probably count an equvalent number of American ancestors at the same
time (Irish would have been the largest percentage of the population).
Furthermore, it's kind of ironic to complain about being attacked
culturally by the Americans, when Atlantic Canadians have done their share
of cultural attacking in history. (ever hear of the Mi'kmaq,
Beothuk, Acadian, Maliseets etc. etc. etc.?)
Ryan. . .
Ryan Deschamps
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J. Baxter
don't think it was the main factor. Economics in my opinion was the main
factor. The people of upper Canada were wanting to get their hands on the
market of the east and the British wanted to have a unified entity in which
to send their goods to. The Americans at that time really wanted nothing to
do with Quebec as it would have posed a hurdle in their plan to homogonize
their own society.
Jason
lshe...@telusplanet.net wrote in message ...
lshe...@telusplanet.net
I believe that what you say is a valid argument. I believe that economics
was also a major factor that pushed Canada towards Confederation. I think
the end of the corn laws in Britain that allowed for the preferential trade
with her colonies had a tremendous effect on British North America. I
believe that the Canadians were also dealt a severe blow when the
Reciprocity Treaty with the United States was not renewed after the American
Civil War. The end of their free trade with the United States made it
necessary to strengthen trade between the colonies. What better way to do
that than unite not in just an economic union, but join together and form
the new country of Canada. To support my earlier point about the expansion
ideas of the United States, I believe that it was the Americans intentions
to end the Reciprocity Treaty with British North America with the hope that
the economy would crash and British North America would choose to be annexed
by the United States so they could return some stability to the economy.
J. Baxter wrote in message ...
J. Baxter
I agree that some parts of Canada were desireable to the Americans and that
they may have wanted to get their hands on B.C. and Ontario specifically but
they didn't really have much use or desire for the maritimes or Quebec and
they certainly didn't want to get into another war with Britain at that
stage of their development. The Canadians weren't so much fearful that the
Americans were going to take them by force but were afraid that if they
didn't unite into a common market which had a British focus that they would
lose all control over their own economy because of American influence.
lshe...@telusplanet.net
You make some very good points, I really like the point that you have made
about the economic diversity of the Atlantic colonies. The point about
diversifying economies to get out of the severe economic problems that they
were faced with was well made. I think that this is still difficulty for
many regions in Canada today. The country has always been a supplier of
natural resources to countries that actually manufacture things.
I think the railway is also a major factor for confederation. It is
obvious that better communications were needed in the colonies because of
the geographic diversity of British North America. Unfortunately the
railways weren't all they were cracked up to be and they added to the debt
of the colonies. It is also interesting that the railway in the British
North American colonies were also used for troop movement between the
colonies. I find this interesting because the railway that went from coast
to coast in the latter part of the century was used to transport North West
Mounted Police so they could keep the peace among the settlers and the
natives and to also discourage American expansion.
I like your point as well about Canadians annexing cultures within our
culture. I totally agree with you about the terrible way we treated the
native people of this country. The policy of assimilation was a terrible
idea and has caused severe problems for the native population in Canada. I
don't think we could ever heal the scars that we have left with Canada's
first peoples.
Larry
>On Tue, 4 Apr 2000 lshe...@telusplanet.net wrote:
>
>> I would like to begin a debate about Canadian Confederation. I believe
that
>> the strongest factor that pushed the Province of Canada and the Atlantic