Through 2019 and 2020 I wrote a follow-up series to my War of 1812 history project. Acts of Confederation spoke on the events that lead up to the creation of Canada as a nation and the events leading up to and affecting the 1867 creation of the Dominion of Canada in the original form of four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick). Exploring the infrastructure that turned Ontario into a rural backwater into a thriving industrial power base, the rebellions and political intrigue that gave us the government structure we have today. And the slow drive towards independence, independence gained through negotiation, unity, and moderation rather than force of arms. These posts were laid out to be released over the course of 2019 and into 2020 in fifty-two separate posts.
01 – An Introduction
02 – Americans, Loyalists, and the War
03 – The Governors
04 – A Line in the Sand
05 – Ink on the Page
06 – Robert Gourlay and the Frontier
07 – Pioneers and Corporations
08 – The First Welland Canal
09 – The Rideau Canal
10 – Tories, Reformers, and Radicals
11 – The Family Compact
12 – Sir John Beverly Robinson
13 – Sir Allan Napier MacNab
14 – William Lyon MacKenzie
15 – Trouble in the Home District
16 – The Upper Canada Rebellion
17 – The Republic of Canada
18 – Patriot Wars Pt. I – Rebels
19 – Patriot Wars Pt. II – Raiders
20 – Patriot Wars Pt. III – Hunters
21 – Trials and Tribulations
22 – Political Deterence
23 – Armed Deterence
24 – Sir John Lambton (1st Earl of Durham)
25 – The Second Welland Canal
26 – Steps Backward, Steps Forward
27 – Threats in the West
28 – Robert Baldwin
29 – Louis La Fontaine
30 – Democracy Now!
31 – Freedom Now!
32 – Growing Pains
33 – Sir Francis Hincks
34 – Railroad Pt. I – Ontario, Simcoe, and Huron
35 – Railroad Pt. II – Great Western
36 – Railroad Pt. III – Grand Trunk
37 – Queen Victoria
38 – A Volunteer Force
39 – A New Union
40 – An American War
41 – Champagne, Circuses, and Canadians
42 – Sir John A MacDonald
43 – George-Étienne Cartier
44 – George Brown
45 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee
46 – Fall in Quebec
47 – Fenians Pt. I – A Brotherhood
48 – Fenians Pt. II – Ridgeway
49 – Fenians Pt. III – Erie to Easter
50 – Christmas in London
51 – 150 Year of History Pt. I – 1867-1905
52 – 150 Year of History Pt. II – 1905-2020
53 – The Trouble with History