Canadian Heroes: Nation Builders or Terrorists?

Sir John A. Macdonald was the main figure behind Confederation, and without him, Canada would not exist as it is known today. Upon his death, many politicians, including Laurier, expressed their difficulties in fathoming a Canada without Macdonald, who had essentially created the country itself. Just fifty years earlier, several small British colonies were scattered across the continent, united only by imperial rule. The Civil War in America was raging, and many prominent American politicians spoke openly of annexing Canada as a part of their belief in Manifest Destiny. Britain, long Canada’s sole defender, was in no position to fight a war for its tiny colonies, and Fenian sentiment was building. Internally, deep divisions based on nationality and religion ran deep. If anything, the last thing on anybody’s mind was a union of Her Majesty’s North American colonies from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Macdonald however, would not be stopped and in 1864, began a remarkable process that would lead to Confederation only three years later.