John MacDonald

"'Instead of a dependent colony, Britain will have in us a cordially allied nation; though one people, two countries, a second in North America, to stand with her in peace or in war.' - Sir John MacDonald "Sir John Alexander MacDonald GCB KCMG PC QC (11, January, 1815 - 6, June, 1891) was a Scottish banker, businessman, diplomat, lawyer, politician, soldier and statesman. During his career, MacDonald served as a Member of Parliament, thirteenth Attorney-General of the Province of Ontario, sixth Premier of the Province of Ontario, first Attorney-General of the Dominion of Canada, first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada, eighteenth Minister for the United Kingdom of Great Britain to the United States of America, seventh Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, fourth Minister of Interior Affairs and thirteenth President of Her Majesty's Privy Council for the Canada.

MacDonald's administration consolidated administrative authority over the Northwest Territories and Prince Rupert's Land Territory within the federal government of Canada, coordinated a programme of colonial settlement in the Northwest Territories, deployed forces to Prince Rupert's Land Territory during the Cree-Metis Rebellion of 1885 in service of Queen Victoria, enshrined the Constitution of the Dominion of Canada, established the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Supreme Court of the Dominion of Canada, expanded the Dominion threefold it's original size, founded the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, implemented federal trade tariffs, imposed a tax on foreign labourers, instituted a system of racial segregation and preserved the Dominion's economic sovereignty and ethnic homogeneity.

MacDonald personally acted as Chairman of the Confederation Conference for British North America of 1866 in London, authored the Constitution of the Dominion of Canada, drafted the First Nations Act of 1876, establishing federally administered land reserves and residential assimilation schools for Beringian tribes, initiated the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration, introduced the Manitoba Act of 1870, lead the delegation for the Dominion of Canada at the Washington Conference of 1871 and signed the Anglo-American Treaty of 1871.

Early Life Edit
John Alexander MacDonald was born to Hugh Macdonald, a store owner, and his wife Helen (née Shaw,) in Glasgow, Scotland on 11, January, 1815. He was the third of five siblings, including: William, Margaret, James and Louisa. In 1820, the MacDonald family migrated Kingston in the British colony of Upper Canada.

Education Edit
John began his education as a student at the Midland District Grammar School in Kingston, and the private co-educational Academy of Kingston, studying arithmetic, English, geography, grammar, Greek, history, Latin and rhetoric. His formal education ended in 1830 and his family encouraged him to pursue a career in law, a field for which he was well suited due to his education in classical arts, typical for wealthy Britons during the Victorian era but often unavailable to the socioeconomic class MacDonald found himself in.

In 1834, MacDonald traveled to Toronto to receive his first examination by the Law Society of Upper Canada, following which he began his clerkship at the law firm George Mackenzie in Kingston, occasionally managing the office while Mackenzie was traveling and on one occasion taking over the office of lawyer Lowther Macpherson, Mackenzie's cousin in Picton.

Economic Policy Edit
MacDonald, though a shrewd businessman in his personal life, implemented a protectionist policy with the intent of preventing American dominance of Canadian industry, appealing to the public as an advocate for the ideals of securing the economic sovereignty of the Dominion and maintaining loyalty to the mother country.

In one notable exception during his career as a diplomatic representative of both Canada and the United Kingdom, MacDonald secured access to international North American fisheries guaranteed in a reciprocity agreement between Canada and the United States.

Foreign Policy Edit
MacDonald's migration policies intended to secure the characteristically Anglo-Saxon demographic of the Dominion. Advocating to maintain and promote ethnic homogeneity in Canada in 1885, MacDonald stated before the House of Commons:"'The Aryan races will not wholesomely amalgamate with the Africans or the Asiatics, they lack British aspirations, feelings and instincts. The coexistence of those races, like the interbreeding of the dog and the fox, is not successful; it cannot be, and never will be.' - Sir John MacDonald"MacDonald was amongst the first advocates of a confederation of British colonies in Australasia, and later expressed his disappointment at the failure of such a possibility to come to fruition in correspondence with colleagues in Canada and the United Kingdom. In the decade following his death, the newly confederated colonies of Oceania were inaugurated as the Dominion of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand.

Social Policy Edit
MacDonald maintained many opinions typical of Anglo-Saxon men of the Victorian era, the fundamentally conservative character of his society contrasted well with his implacable pragmatism, allowing him to secure victories for his party whilst simultaneously adhering to the common values of the era.

Customary of European settlers in North America, MacDonald maintained a paternalistic attitude toward the Beringian tribes of the continent. He desired to assimilate the native population through a program of reeducation and resettlement, and acted as architect of the First Nations Act of 1876, which established residential schools for Beringian children and granted land reserves to Beringian tribes based on territorial claims guaranteed in treaties between the Beringians and the Crown.

Legacy Edit
MacDonald's profound influence on the development of the Dominion of Canada as a national entity is more pronounced than that of any other statesman of the era. As the author of approximately three quarters of the Dominion's Constitution, MacDonald's role in the formation of federal law is unprecedented in the history of the British Empire. In a tribute to MacDonald following his death, Wilfrid Laurier said in a statement before the House of Commons:"'The place of Sir John A. MacDonald in this country was so large and so absorbing that it is almost impossible to conceive that the the fate of this country will continue without him. His loss overwhelms us.'"

Trivia

 * MacDonald was multilingual and fluent in English, Greek and Latin.