Confederation Achieved

SS9 – Mr. Bilan

Name/Block:______

Date:______

Confederation Achieved

In ______and ______, the repeal of the _____Laws caused their economies to crash, because they depended on shipping Canadian grain to England. This led to ___-Confederation people to take power in its legislature. They believed that by joining Confederation, it would provide a new ______for their goods. The other important factor were the ______.

The Fenians were _____-Americans who fought in the US ______; they wanted to force Britain to give Ireland ______by attacking ______. Starting in 1866, they attempted several _____against Canada, hoping to ______it and somehow exchange it with Britain for Irish independence. However, they were poorly ______and were easily defeated each time they attempted to invade.Despite their failures, they convinced the ______colonies that they needed to ______to defend against external threats, particularly from ______.

Economic depression and political deadlock because of rep by pop pushed some leaders from Canada East and West to work together and try to unite the country. Though they disagreed on many issues, George Brown, George-Etienne Cartier,and ______agreed to work together to try and achieve Confederation; they were called the ______.

Now that Confederation was a much more popular idea, leaders of the colonies held a series of ______(meetings) to work out the detailsof what Confederation would look like. The first of these was the ______Conference in 1864; it was originally meant to be just for the ______colonies to discuss their union, but the members of the ______attended and convinced the Atlantic provinces of Confederation by promising them a ______and that Canada East/West would buy their ____and ____. These promises, along with the threat of the Fenian Raids, helped convince most of Atlantic Canada to support Confederation instead of a ______.

The next conference was held in ______; this was the first conference where all the colonies attended, and its main goal was to figure out what ______would actually look like. They agreed on the Seventy-Two ______, the ideas on which Confederation would be founded on. The most important of these were that there would be a strong ______government to handle issues that affected everyone, while each individual ______would handle ______issues. This angered ______, who wanted an even stronger central government, but it pleased ______and the Maritime Colonies, since they would not be completely powerless. It also made sure that there would be a ______for all the colonies, and that its members would be chosen by ______.

Finally, representatives from Canada East/West, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick went to______to present their proposals to the ______. The official bill was called the British North America______, and contained all of the 72 Proposals from the Quebec Conference. The British Parliament quickly approved it, and on May 22, 1867, Queen ______declared that the four colonies that signed on would become a nation. On ______, 1867, those four colonies were united as the ______; formally achieving Confederation with John A. Macdonald as the first ______.

Newfoundland ______Confederation; it did not feel connected to the other colonies and decided to remain an ______colony. Though ______had managed to secure language rights and control over ______issues, many ______-speakers felt like they were still under the control of the ______; the central government was still more ______thanprovincial governments. The BNA act also made little reference to ______people and other ______; they still could not vote and were expected to live by whatever the ______of the population wanted for them.

Key Ideas and Terms

-Confederation was achieved through compromise; not everyone got all that they wanted in the final result, but everyone got some of what they wanted

-The actual process of Confederation was a long process that took many months/years of meetings, not a quick outburst of rebellion

-Confederation did not solve all the Canada’s problems; the rights of women, Aboriginals, and other minorities remained unaddressed, while the issue of French nationalism was only temporarily solved. And lastly, not every colony joined Confederation at first; Prince Edward Island and BC would not join until a few years later, and Newfoundland remained a colony until 1949 (the Prairie provinces were not colonies and were established by Canada on its own).

Fenian Raids – Attacks on Canada by Irish-American soldiers trying to achieve Irish independence.

The Great Coalition – The alliance between George Brown, Georges-Etienne Cartier, and John A. Macdonald to try and achieve Confederation

John A. Macdonald – Canada’s first Prime Minister and one of the main people supporting Confederation

The Confederation Conferences – A series of meetings held in Charlottetown, Quebec City, and in London to work out the details of Confederation

The British North America (BNA) Act – The law passed by Britain that formally joined Canada East/West, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick as the Dominion of Canada