Canadian Confederation
Introduction.
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867 .By the middle of 19th century, The United Province of Canada and the Maritime colonies remained separated by the long distance and had an extremely few ways of the communication [Riendeau 156]. This led to absence of economical relations between the east and the central colonies [Riendeau 156]. For two decades the British North America colonies came to the realization that their continued growth and the survival independently of “a powerful and ambitious neighbour, would depends on the breakdown of isolation and a convergence of their diverse interests” [Riendeau 156]. Most historians, who describe the period before 1867, divide the reasons that led to the Confederation into few general groups such as: the coming of the railway age, which made transcontinental transportation and communication feasible, the British withdraw as an imperial force, the willingness of the USA to annex its northern neighbour, the political deadlock of the United Canada, the rise of a Maritime union movement, the necessity to extend a territory for agriculture. This, all together, created unique situation when the British North colonies received the opportunity to create new nation is known as “the Dominion Canada” [Riendeau 156].
Let’s look what were the main reasons for that.
1. External Factors.
1.1 British impact.
1.1.1 The change of trade politics. In 1846 The Britain repealed the Corn Laws, which provided extremely strong support for the trade between Britain and the British colonies. Since that time Canada did not have advantages in trade with Britain, what highly reduced export from Canada and pushed the Government to find new trade destination. Obviously the easiest and, I guess, most profitable way was the trade with