University History Essay: Success or Failure of Canadian Confederation

This essay provides an overview of the history of the Canadian Confederation, examining its formation and the key events that shaped it. It evaluates the successes and failures of the Confederation, considering its impact on the development of Canada as a nation. The essay discusses the Articles ...Read More

Running head: HISTORY
History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORY
Introduction
In this essay the history of the Canadian Confederation will have to be evaluated and the
range of its success or failure should be discussed as well. The formation of the Canadian
Confederation is taken as one of the landmark events in the Canadian history. The formation of
the Canadian Confederation means the process by which the Federal Union of Canada was being
made. Some provinces that joined the union were British North American colonies of Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada. Thus the Dominion of Canada ws formed.
Now the issue is the fact whether it was successful or not.
Evaluation of the Confederation of Canada
The confederation states of Canada have been one of the biggest achievements in the
historical records. In the current times Canada is considered as one of the largest countries in the
world. However, this country possesses a huge area since it is made up of ten provinces and there
territorial regions. The process of forming the Confederation of Canada has been an intriguing
process altogether. Many events have taken place in the last five hundred years that have helped
the country of Canada to get this shape. The Article of Confederation had been a very big matter
in the social and political history of Canada. However, this first governmental structure was the
one in which around 13 colonies had become an integral part of the country. Many of the
colonies also came to be a part of the union from the American Revolution as well. The
document for the Article of Confederation was initiated in the year 1777 by John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania.
The several delegates attended the Continental Congress and the outcome was the draft
for the advancement of the Confederation of Canada. The main ask of the people was to form a

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very strong and unified central government that would lead the people in the best ways and look
after their issues and problems. This article had been implemented on March 1 in the year 1781.
However, this article did not succeed and the purpose of this article had failed completely after
just eight years of its implementation. This article just continued till March 4 of 1789.
The main purpose of the creation of the Articles of Confederation was to make the states
of confederation in which all the states would be able to retain their freedom, sovereignty and
independence. All the people were expected to get their rights in their jurisdiction and applying
the power being given to them. However it would not have been much difficult of a task indeed.
But the purpose of implementing this confederation of states was not up to the mark. The rights
of the common native Canadians as well as the Aboriginal Americans had to be restored in order
to make this successful. The migration of the people to Canada from America from their roots
would be a much useful source for the development of the confederation of Canada to a new
level. The British, the French and people from many other routes had assimilated to this country
of Canada. The term of Canada being a nation cannot be permitted in the political implications.
The concept of the deux nations can be considered as a very important aspect for the
development of Canada as a confederate country. The coastal migration theory will be a very
important source to make the people understand the limits of migration that took place in the
Americas.
The growth of the economy of this region was mainly dependent on the agriculture,
exporting of products like fish and grain, lumber and others. The main population of pre-
confederate Canada was around 3.5 million. This great number of people had resided in the areas
ranging from the Cape Breton and the Great Lakes. It has to be remembered that the word
‘nation’ has been considered as a taboo in Canada. However, the United States of America is

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much diverse in nature but they do not have many difficulties in considering themselves as a
nation. The confederation of Canada could be compared to several countries like that of
Switzerland, , Germany, Italy and many more. In this context, it can be said that the country of
Switzerland have the most decentralized system of the government in the world. The people of
the country speak four languages but still they have a good sense of nationhood among them.
The main intention of the Fathers of Confederation was just to be the perfect example of
the nation. Thus the purpose was to create a Canada that would be a single and all-inclusive
country indeed. Another purpose was also to get rid of all the cultural and linguistic differences
within the country as well. The Fathers of the Confederation were not just confederating all the
provinces. They were also up to create a new nation indeed. If this intention could be utilized a
new self-governing and independent community could be formed for the British North American
people. The people were getting ready to welcome the new community in many ways indeed.
They wanted to include all the people into the community like the Catholics, Protestants,
English, Irish, French and many people so their success could add up to the limits of the new
Confederacy. The intentions could not be utilized because of some communities who did not
support the cause of creating a confederation.
Conclusion
The paper can be concluded by saying that the formation of Confederation of Canada
could not get the maximum support from the various sources that it needed the most. Thus the
main protests came in the way that this Federal government had not been able to be present in the
democratic manner. They were very much autocratic in their nature and the result was not at all
as intended. The peace was not established in the region. Therefore, the expectations of the good

4HISTORY
government could not be utilized. This is why the idea of the confederation of government could
was doomed to be a failure.

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References
Anastakis, D. and Kelm, M.E., 2017. Historical perspectives: Confederation, biography, and
Canadian history.
Belshaw, J.D., 2016. Canadian History: Pre-Confederation. Campus Manitoba.
Berger, C., 2013. The Sense of Power: Studies in the Ideas of Canadian Imperialism, 1867-1914.
University of Toronto Press.
Bickerton, J. and Gagnon, A.G. eds., 2014. Canadian politics. University of Toronto Press.