Reasons for Confederation Justin Lim Part One

Most Impacting They needed to work out a different system of government to help solve the problem between the English and French speaking representatives of Canada, who all had different priorities. This made it difficult to pass important laws.

Same Topic As Before. In some colonies, especially Canada East and Canada West; there was one government problem after another. A new way of deciding, with one central government to deal with local issues, was needed to help make government more stable within the colonies.

Very Impacting From there was free trade between the British colonies and the United States under the Reciprocity Treaty. This allowed agricultural and raw products to be sold without the high tariffs being paid. In 1865, the United States ended the treaty. The colonies thought if they joined and traded together, they would have a better economy.

Somewhat Impacting As most colonies grew, they needed to build inter-colonial railroads and roads, which costed a hefty amount of money. If several colonies combined, they would have more taxes and money to pay off their debts.

Inter-Colonial railway at Nova Scotia

Impacting There was the threat of American expansion. The United States were rich and powerful, and they were looking for new land. They wanted to take over Canada. The United States were trying to convince many of the Canadians, who were American immigrants, that this was a good idea.

Important There was a group of Catholics from Ireland who wanted to abolish British rule over Ireland. Since Britain could not be attacked directly and the United States were no longer part of Britain, they were to attack Canada. Canada though if they became independent, they would be able to avoid this conflict.

Battle between the Fenians and British soldiers that took place 1866

Relevant Not long after the United States gained independence in 1783, the states became involved in a war amongst themselves. The colonies in Canada did not want any more wars, and by being led by one strong central government, they might avoid further wars.

Less Impacting Canada West was running out of good farmland and wanted to settle into the lands to the west (Rupert’s Land and the North West Territories). But, the Americans also wanted the land. So by joining together, they thought they could settle before the Americans did.

Least Impacting Britain wanted to become less involved in the government of their colonies and wanted their colonies to become more independent as it was very time consuming.

Why though? Part Two

Most Impacting They needed to work out a different system of government to help solve the problem between the English and French speaking representatives of Canada, who all had different priorities. This made it difficult to pass important laws. This was the most impacting reason of all to me because government was a big issue back then. Almost all the laws could not be passed because of the disagreement. I believe this is what got them on the idea of Confederation

Same Topic As Before. In some colonies, especially Canada East and Canada West; there was one government problem after another. A new way of deciding, with one central government to deal with local issues, was needed to help make government more stable within the colonies.

Very Impacting From there was free trade between the British colonies and the United States under the Reciprocity Treaty. This allowed agricultural and raw products to be sold without the high tariffs being paid. In 1865, the United States ended the treaty. The colonies thought if they joined and traded together, they would have a better economy. This was another important piece to confederation. The termination of the reciprocity treaty caused a greater need for an inter- colonial railway system linking all the colonies.

Somewhat Impacting As most colonies grew, they needed to build inter-colonial railroads and roads, which costed a hefty amount of money. If several colonies combined, they would have more taxes and money to pay off their debts. This was impacting for confederation because it was needed for the economical growth of Canada. It is impacting because without the need of the railway some of the colonies might of opted out.

Impacting There was the threat of American expansion. The United States were rich and powerful, and they were looking for new land. They wanted to take over Canada. The United States were trying to convince many of the Canadians, who were American immigrants, that this was a good idea. This might not of been the most impacting, but it did have some impact on confederation. If they didn’t band together as one country, the Americans might of taken advantage of our situation and taken our land.

Important There was a group of Catholics from Ireland who wanted to abolish British rule over Ireland. Since Britain could not be attacked directly and the United States were no longer part of Britain, they were to attack Canada. Canada though if they became independent, they would be able to avoid this conflict. This reason was a neutral. It is neutral because it really, only sped up the need of a central government. I think, even if there were no Fenians, we would still be Canada.

Relevant Not long after the United States gained independence in 1783, the states became involved in a war amongst themselves. The colonies in Canada did not want any more wars, and by being led by one strong central government, they might avoid further wars. This was more of a precaution. They didn’t want to end up like the States, so they thought being one country would solve the issue. I thought it was relevant, but not majorly impacting.

Less Impacting Canada West was running out of good farmland and wanted to settle into the lands to the west (Rupert’s Land and the North West Territories). But, the Americans also wanted the land. So by joining together, they thought they could settle before the Americans did. To me, this was only impacting for Canada West. If we had good farm land there, it probably would not of affected the big picture.

Least Impacting Britain wanted to become less involved in the government of their colonies and wanted their colonies to become more independent as it was very time consuming. This was least impacting to me because it was Canada’s decision before it is Britain's. Britain might make the call, but it is Canada who wants it or not.

So What? There might be a more impacting reasons of confederation than the other, but I believe they all played a role in creating this 10 province and 3 territory country. No matter how small, I think they all made a little difference in the exact outcome.