Sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary

He was a spasmodic one: now and then, as the dialectic of life and politics went too savagely against him, or as the sheer strain of running or some inner compulsion, now beyond analysis, drove him. The numerous stories may be exaggerated but cannot be safely denied. A few examples suggest the general point. During the exertions and the parties of the Quebec conference ofa friend discovered Macdonald standing in his room in front of a mirror, dressed in his nightshirt, a train rug thrown over his shoulder, practising lines from Hamlet.

He was not sober. Such incidents were not always so innocent of effect. In the late stages of negotiations with the Manitoba delegates in AprilMacdonald, after having been on the wagon for several months, became quite hors de combat on a Friday, and could not be got working again until the Monday. He was tired from overwork, distracted by worries, and demoralized by the sudden death of a friend.

When Macdonald was sober, which was most of the time, he tried to gratify her wishes. What he would not do, even to please her, was allow her influence in public decisions. Like his father, Hugh John became a lawyer and a Conservative mp ; later, he was, briefly, premier of Manitoba. Up to that time he had been known as Hugh and signed Hugh J. During the campaign, newspaper advertisements referred to him as Hugh John thus emphasizing the link to his father and he was known by those names ever after.

In some ways that combination was typical. Still, it was also true that Macdonald was ill from gallstones. Perhaps the worst period of drinking occurred in —73, at the time of the election and Pacific Scandal. Macdonald promised reformation. Another source said that Bernard tried to dissuade his sister from the marriage for that reason.

Altogether, there is no doubt that Agnes had some idea of what she was getting into when she married Macdonald in And it was easier for Macdonald to promise reformation than to effect it. His reformations were spasmodic too. His having joined the Church of England in March did not prevent an unpleasant incident at a dinner party in T. Macdonald got drunk, insulted Tupper, and finally went ropily upstairs to bed.

Agnes went out the front door, and was still outside, sitting on the gate, when Patteson looked out at a. Agnes could usually handle him, but, as this incident shows, not always. Of course, people made allowances. His drinking may not have harmed him all that much in a world that tolerated a good deal of heavy drinking; it may even have had advantages in an age when men voted and women did not.

What it did to him morally and physically is difficult to know; and one can only imagine what it did to Agnes.

Sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary: A master of the art

Some of her feelings surface in her diary. The main difficulty in knowing it is the absence of correspondence between them. But one must never forget her crippled daughter. His agreement with Patton in was to last eight years. In the summer of a new agreement was drafted with a year term. Of the profits from the Trust and Loan business, Macdonald was to have one-third, Patton two-thirds; of general business Macdonald and his son were to have one-third, Patton one-third, and a new partner Robert M.

Fleming one-third. The correspondence with his son does not show Macdonald to advantage. A softer and less vigorous edition of the old man, Hugh was, at least on paper, sweet reasonableness; Macdonald sounded like a heavy-handed father, gruff and unforgiving. He slowly got over it. By the end of Patton wanted out of the partnership.

Evidence of the degree of bitterness is conflicting. Macdonald told T. Patteson on 18 Jan. The break became effective on 15 April. A formal indenture, dated 15 Oct. In January Macdonald had told Langevin that he would resign the Conservative leadership when caucus met in Ottawa for the new session. His health seemed precarious, and he did not like to be an inefficient leader.

But caucus would not hear of his resigning; Macdonald gritted his teeth and went on. He had already begun to think the Mackenzie government might be defeated. In the session of February—Aprilhe definitely adopted a protectionist policy, something he had been drifting toward for some years. Macdonald had once been a free trader; several of his Conservative colleagues were still free traders, Macpherson for one.

But Liberals had occupied that terrain. The extent of its victory in the general election of September astonished even Conservatives. The most dramatic change was in Ontario, where Mackenzie had won 66 of 88 seats inand where Macdonald now won These acts alienated 6, licensed hotels and taverns in Ontario. Subsequently elected in both Marquette, Man.

His cabinet was built that fall from the same template he used to shape all his cabinets. First, he believed in politeness. Let it be soft. There were times to be tough and exigent: but they were far less frequent than people thought. If Macdonald returned few hard answers, he rarely promised, definitely, anything. Agnes had a frank word with T.

Patteson on that subject. Patteson was interested in some office, perhaps for a friend. Agnes made it clear Macdonald was as costive with her as with everyone else. It was unlikely the office was already promised. Macdonald did not work that way. But she had no direct influence. If I interfere in any sort of way he will be annoyed The other day I expressed it again with added decision — but Sir John, as is usual with him Under Macdonald patronage settled into a certain pattern.

Nominations came from anyone, but ministers listened to those from party members of standing, especially from Conservative mp s or a Conservative who had fought an election and lost. Macdonald would never concede, and tried to prevent colleagues from conceding, that an mp had any right to be consulted about appointments. In his own departmental administration — as minister of justice —73minister of the interior —83superintendent general of Indian affairs —87and minister of railways and canals —91 — Macdonald was cautious about appointments, and he would not have his deputy minister pushed around by cabinet ministers or mp s out for favours for their constituents.

When he was minister of justice, he paid particular attention to the appointment of judges; to some extent he always would. The argument that Macdonald never appointed to a judgeship anyone without a substantial record of party service is not true. Joseph Pope was basically right: Macdonald was after quality — mind, law, integrity, good health, even address.

He could not contemplate the prospect of a grave chief justice delivering judgement through a mouthful of black, decaying stumps. The more important the judgeship, the less was Macdonald willing to let ordinary canons of patronage prevail. Cameron, equity in Ontario needed heavier metal. He had wanted Edward Blake; solicited privately, Blake did not accept the offer, mostly because his private law practice was too lucrative.

Timothy Warren Anglina New Brunswick Liberal, noted that appointment and wondered if there were any possibility for himself. Whenever an office is vacant it belongs to the party supporting the Government if within that party there is to be found a person competent to perform the duties. Responsible Government cannot be carried on in any other principle.

My principle is, reward your friends and do not buy your enemies. In Macdonald took on the Department of the Interior portfolio because the west was the growing edge of the country. Macdonald was 66 inand his age was starting to show. He had been ill in and during the winter of —81, when the CPR contract was going through parliament. He managed an expert defence of it in the house on 17 January, but after the session prorogued, on 21 March, he went to ground, his pulse at 49, with liver and abdominal pain.

He nursed his strength as best he could at home. Macdonald put the blame on Chief Factor John H. In he still cherished hard memories of the HBC as partly responsible for the Red River rebellion. But his old sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary with Brydges allowed a sensible compromise that Brydges had suggested to go forward.

Macdonald by now needed help with the interior portfolio. Macpherson had become a minister without portfolio and government leader in the Senate inand the following year an ailing Macdonald began to get him to do the interior work when he himself was abroad for recovery. Macpherson liked the task and believed he was good at it. From London in Macdonald watched Macpherson taking hold while he tried to build up his energies.

Work was now his only pleasure. He returned to Ottawa in mid September a good deal more spry. This well-being was reflected triumphantly in the general election of June There were no major issues, and Canadians gave Macdonald who was returned in the eastern Ontario riding of Carleton nearly as large a majority as he had had in Macpherson took over the interior portfolio officially in because he and other colleagues saw that Macdonald was carrying too heavy a load.

But Macpherson soon flagged and was abroad for his own health in and again in When a question about British Columbia lands arose that year, of course Macdonald had to deal with it. Although his face and voice did not betray his weakness, he was already thinking of easing back in the harness, especially when parliamentary sessions were on.

It took a long time. The issues in the Saskatchewan River valley were produced by a series of disappointments and an overstrained administration. The CPR pulled its main line far to the south in ; there were bad harvests in the valley in and The territory needed attention from Ottawa and there was no one to give it. It was reviewed by Macpherson, now back on the job.

The appointment of a commission was not merely a shuffle. The government was looking to a strong commission; Macdonald and Macpherson were weighing up the men for it in early March. This expectation was soon to be frustrated. By the next day it was becoming clear to Macdonald that the one problem could be made to relieve the other: further funding could be considered for the CPR because of its value in moving forces to quell the insurrection.

Sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary: Sir John A. Macdonald's flamboyant

As tactics, the solution was brilliant; as government, it was desperate. There are plenty of good men to be found in our ranks. For example, in the CPR wanted to institute a land buy-back scheme; being land rich and cash poor, it would sell some of its land back to the government. This was done by personal communication with every one of them. I hope you have not done so to anyone else.

A hint of that kind getting abroad would be fatal to you. It is possible to wonder what would have happened to the CPR had Macdonald not been in power, or if he and Stephen had not worked together in utmost frankness. The line to the west coast was completed later in and in the summer of Macdonald travelled overland to British Columbia, his first trip west.

Ironically, during the parliamentary session that spring, the CPR did sell 6. The CPR was indeed used to transfer troops to the west, some 3, in all. Dumont fled to Montana, but Riel turned himself in on 15 May Riel was charged with high treason, and his trial and execution constituted one of the most dramatic episodes of the rebellion.

Sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary: Sir John A. Macdonald

Gowan, now retired from the bench, whom Macdonald had appointed to the Senate in January The only plea he could urge was urged for him at the trial and found against him. The fact may affect you prejudicially with Lower Canada but looking at the subject with all anxiety to see the wisest course for you to take I felt it would have been an act of political insanity to yield, simply because the man was of French blood.

Riel was a victim of the law. One way out might have been to bend before Quebec opinion. The furia francese spent its force eventually, but not without political damage. Against the background of the rebellion in the west and the financial difficulties facing the CPR, Macdonald in April introduced the Electoral Franchise Bill. His action might have seemed quixotic, not to say foolhardy, in the circumstances.

It was, however, patent that, as things stood, whatever transpired in the west, he could not win another general election, which was due with two years. Macdonald wanted at least impartiality; he certainly wanted to negate Liberal partiality. Vigorously defended by Macdonald against a barrage of opposition attacks, the franchise bill passed in July, near the end of the session.

One point in the bill on which Macdonald had to give way was the provision for the enfranchisement of First Nations. He had wanted to grant the vote, without loss of Indian status, to any qualified First Nations male. This proposal aroused a storm of controversy in the House of Commons since the debate on it occurred during the rebellion.

David Mills, for example, engaged Macdonald in a revealing exchange. Macdonald felt compelled to compromise: the measure was revised to restrict the right to vote without losing status to eligible members of First Nations east of Manitoba. People and regions that lagged behind the rest of the population culturally did, however, need to be managed and tutored.

It was also the reason Macdonald had chosen in to oversee the development of the west as minister of the interior and superintendent of Indian affairs. Indian Affairs had become a more onerous responsibility by Among them was the expansion of residential schooling for First Nations children. They were intended to house and teach First Nations youth both rudimentary academic and vocational subjects.

Students would spend half the day in the classroom learning the same subjects non-Indigenous pupils did elsewhere and the other half working at a variety of tasks. The theory was that such work would teach the children skills that would enable them to earn their way after they left school much as other pupils did. The reality, however, was that the half-day system quickly became the means of exacting labour from students to subsidize the operation of the institutions.

Overwork and a culturally inappropriate curriculum were exacerbated by another major flaw, the failure of Indian Affairs to oversee the schools effectively. Underfunding and lax supervision combined to blight the chances of pedagogical success, allow racism, unhealthy conditions, and misconduct on the part of the staff to thrive, and turn the residential schools largely into engines of oppression.

The schools would subject students to psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. While he held the portfolio, a series of measures were put in place that caused severe hardships for many First Nations, especially in the western interior. The deterioration was rooted mainly in the Indian Act of A problematic aspect of this approach was that over time, as government policies failed, coercion became more prominent and tutoring less so.

This tendency had been observable by the early s, as the program to promote immigration and settlement in the western interior faltered. This setback, combined with the rising expense of administration, meant that Ottawa became increasingly heavy-handed in dealing with western First Nations. For example, if Indigenous peoples were not settling into reserve life and taking up agriculture sufficiently rapidly after the negotiation of the numbered treaties between andthe government would coerce them to do so.

Reserves were not surveyed quickly, supplies and equipment promised in some of the treaties were not delivered or were deficient, and Indian Affairs personnel on the ground were too few and ill-prepared to provide the assistance that hunter-gatherers needed to adjust to farming. The fact that the bison economy had collapsed by made matters worse.

That western First Nations were destitute and even starving in some cases was regarded by the government more as an opportunity to compel Indigenous people to do what Ottawa wanted than as a humanitarian crisis that required an immediate and magnanimous response. Although it acknowledged in that hardship was a reality on the plains, relief was provided only with conditions.

Some Liberal mp s went so far as to argue that large amounts of public money should not be spent on what they regarded as a dying race. Inin anticipation of trouble on the plains, Dewdney had begun to implement his policy of compulsion. Amendments to the Indian Act that year authorized the minister to restrict distribution of ammunition among First Nations of the plains and criminalized inciting Indigenous people to riot.

After the return of calm, the emergency restriction evolved into a system that required residents to obtain a pass from their agent or farming instructor before leaving their reserve. This contravention of promises made during treaty negotiations a decade earlier had no legal basis: it was not authorized by the Indian Act or by an order in council.

The pass system was accompanied by a permit system, based on provisions that had been in the Indian Act for some time, which prevented farmers from taking the products of their fields or workshops off the reserves for sale without permission. The irony of this requirement was that, although the government claimed it wanted members of First Nations to become independent farmers, it insisted on keeping them under control and regulating the marketing of their goods.

Other measures similarly indicated that the government was more determined than in the past to impose its will on First Nations and interfere with their identity and traditions. The same amendment that prohibited incitement to riot also outlawed the northwest-coast sharing ceremony known as the potlatch. The potlatch, which involved elaborate feasts and dances that sometimes lasted several days, was an essential mechanism for regulating the affairs of coastal First Nations and ordering status relations within a community [ see Paul Legaic ].

The fact that the observances lasted for days allegedly distracted First Nations from more profitable use of their time. Since the accompanying dancing sometimes involved the biting of a human or animal, non-Indigenous people viewed the practices as harmful to health and public order. At the heart of the opposition was the view that the ceremony upheld social ethics that were diametrically opposed to the economic values that the government promoted.

The first time that the prohibition was used against practitioners, Chief Justice Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie of British Columbia threw the case out on the grounds that the legislation was too vague. Inhowever, the ban was given a more extensive and effective form. The promotion of individual landownership had been an element in official policy in one guise or another since the s.

Bands declined to cooperate, and the severalty policy was frustrated. Provision for Euro-Canadian governance had been introduced by his government in the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of In Mayin a highly publicized speech, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, argued that the history of state—Indigenous relations in Canada was a history of cultural genocide.

In the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls MMIWG took matters a giant step further when it described as a genocide the treatment that Indigenous peoples had experienced at the hands of the Canadian sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary. Fortunately, a definition of genocide that is long-standing and generally accepted exists by which Canadian conduct towards Indigenous peoples can be judged.

The opinion is problematic. As his position on the Electoral Franchise Bill reveals, he was less intolerant than most of the opposition he faced daily in the House of Commons. However inadequate his rationing policy in the aftermath of the failure of the bison economy, it was still too generous for the Liberals. In the s, while implementing the Indian Act ofdealing with unrest in the North-West Territories, and financing the CPR, Macdonald had to confront another problem associated with the railway: growing anger in British Columbia about the importation of Chinese labour to work on it.

Chinese people began arriving indrawn by the Fraser River and later the Cariboo gold rushes [ see William Barker ]. As the rushes faded, the majority of the Chinese left. Still, init has been estimated, the remaining 1, Chinese represented 4.

Sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary: John A. Macdonald was Canada's

With the waning of the gold rush and with the economy stagnant in the s, the complaint arose that these immigrants from the Celestial Empire, as China was popularly called, provided unfair competition in other parts of the labour market. It was also widely believed that the Chinese were sojourners, or temporary residents, who evaded taxes, sent most of their earnings to China, and spent little locally.

At the first session of the provincial legislature, inJohn Robsonthe representative for Nanaimo, proposed a bill to prevent the employment of Chinese on any provincial or federal public work in British Columbia. Trutch, now lieutenant governor, reserved this legislation but, as minister of justice, Macdonald ruled that the provinces had the power to set qualifications for their electors and let the act stand.

In the s a major concern of British Columbia politicians was the lack of progress on the railway. The other candidates, including Amor De Cosmoswho won the second seat, undertook to oppose the employment of Chinese on public works. As chair, De Cosmos provided leading questions to the seven witnesses, six of them federal politicians from British Columbia and one soon to become so.

When railway construction seemed imminent inanti-Chinese agitation increased in British Columbia. In mid October the provincial cabinet sent a telegram to Ottawa suggesting that contracts for building the railway there should include a clause prohibiting the employment of Chinese. The next day public meetings in Victoria and New Westminster passed similar resolutions.

The majority either returned to China or illegally moved to the United States, which had banned Chinese immigration in Despite his contempt, Macdonald would make one humanitarian gesture towards the Chinese. When in Noah Shakespeare, who had been elected a Conservative mp for Victoria inproposed that Chinese inmates of the British Columbia Penitentiary should be subjected to the same haircuts as other prisoners, Macdonald replied that punishments for the same crime should be the same for all criminals.

Given the cultural significance of the pigtail for the Chinese, a haircut would constitute an sir john a macdonald canadian biography dictionary penalty. Thus, when Shakespeare introduced a motion in for restricting Chinese immigration to British Columbia, Macdonald opposed it. He promised, however, to regulate Chinese immigration once white labour was available.

That was not soon enough for British Columbia, where, despite much seasonal unemployment among them, more Chinese were arriving. In early the legislature passed An Act to prevent the immigration of Chinese. Consideration of the matter was nevertheless based on expediency more than constitutional correctness. After the disallowance, Macdonald promised Smithe that a commission would investigate Chinese immigration and, if there were no impediments because of trade or relations with China or England, he would submit a measure to restrict or regulate the immigration of Chinese into Canada.

He had earlier concluded that any restriction would have to be nationwide since the movement of people within the country could not be controlled. The royal commission on Chinese immigration was appointed on 4 July Their voluminous report, based on investigations in California and British Columbia, was tabled in parliament in late February It recommended curbs on immigration.

Macdonald had carefully timed this legislation. It came into full effect on 1 Jan. Smith] was driven on the railway. The following summer Macdonald visited British Columbia for the first time. But you are merely the terrestrial terminus, the Celestial terminus, I fancy, rests in China. It also requested an extension of the time by which resident Chinese could register for certificates of departure that allowed them to return from visits to China without paying the head tax.

There is no evidence that Macdonald personally received the Chinese or visited Chinatown. The initial draft of the Electoral Franchise Bill of did not mention the Chinese. Although Macdonald had wanted to integrate First Nations peoples through enfranchisement, he baulked at including the Chinese and introduced an amendment to deny them the franchise.

But he has no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations, and therefore ought not to have a vote. That speech summarized his practical reasons for admitting the Chinese and his racist and political reasons for restricting their entry to Canada and their rights within it. There is no use of reminding them of their mistake. It might, such is the perversity of human nature, have the effect of making them stick to their cry.

Thompson was appalled at the sheer impolicy of the motion in a country like Canada, which was 40 per cent Catholic. Macdonald admired his performance but for one thing: it was too good. Thompson had angered McCarthy. Thompson had perhaps reduced that possibility. Nevertheless, Macdonald did not like the drift of things. Canada, he told Gowan in Julyas a just punishment for ingratitude for the blessings that had been heaped upon it, was heading into trouble.

McCarthy has sown the Dragons teeth. Like all other political groups, the Conservatives attempted to strengthen their grip on the government and the country by influencing the press and pulling the wires of patronage. Macdonald, as their leader, managed contentious policies and fractious followersworked closely with allies in Quebecand dealt with enemies in other parties.

We invite you to read about the different perspectives on Macdonald that appear in our biographies, and to form your own judgement of the man and his world. About Us. Contact Us. Sir John A. See previous. Introduction A master of the art of compromise and a brilliant tactical politician, Sir John A. Image Gallery.