Academic Essay Dominion of Canada

Question: What finally pushed these separate colonies together to seriously discuss Confederation with the goal of making one common country:Canada? Answer: Introduction The separate colonies of Canada signed a treaty in 1867 to become the Dominion of Canada. The reasons for the formation of the dominion can be attributed to be both political and economic. The expansion of US towards the west and beyond to the Pacific was described by OSullivan as the Manifest Destiny. During the period the US went to wage many wars both expanding in the north as well as the south. People living in Canada believed that the US wanted to spread its traditions towards the North. The American civil war of 1861 hastened the formation the confederacy. The United States and the Russian minister signed an agreement on 30th March 1867, whereby Russia sold Alaska to the US for a price of $7.2 million. The treaty was viewed as an expansion process by the Canadians. The treaty underlined how the US viewed the formation of a united British North America. The Fenians belonged to the Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organization. The group had leaders like John O Mahony and Michael Doheny (Senior, 1991). The most important task of the brotherhood movement was to pressurize Britain to free Ireland. The Fenians believed that by engaging the British Army in Canada they will be able to tie them down (cbc.gov, 2016). This would help their Irish counterparts to wage a war with England and thus gain independence. The Fenians raided Canada five times from 1866 to 1870. The last raid on Canada was done by John O Neill in 1870. He believed that his 6000 men would be enough for the Canadian forces. The Fenian forces were for most part Irish veterans who had taken part in the American Civil wars. The reciprocity treaty was signed between US and Great Britain on 5th June, 1854. The treaty eliminated the customs tariffs between the two countries. The treaty related to trade of fisheries and reciprocal trade (Haynes, 1892). The politicians of British North America understood the importance of Railways (Marsh, 2016). The province of Canada in 1841 was a large area which had a huge potential for trade. But this trade suffered due to poor road conditions and also because of the fact that the waterways froze for more than five months of a year. The Champlain and Saint Lawrence Railroad was the first railways in Canada. It ran from La Prairie to St. Johns. It opened in 1836. For trade purposes (coal) a rail road was opened in 1839. It transported coal from the Albion Mines to the Dunbar Port. The great western railway was sanctioned by the Canadian and United States with a loan of 200,000. Thus we find that the influence of the American Civil War and USs expansion into the north prompted the Canadian states to sign the treaty. The Canadians had already built the railways which they thought will be helpful in the event of a war. Moreover the Americans ended the Reciprocity treaty in 1865. Thus the different states signed the treaty to form a confederation so that they could stop the America from growing in the north. References Haynes, F. (1892). The Reciprocity Treaty with Canada of 1854. Publications of the American Economic Association, 7(6), 7-70. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/2485728 Marsh, J. (2016). Railway History. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 November 2016, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/railway-history/ Senior, H. (1991). The last invasion of Canada (1st ed.). Toronto [Ont.]: Dundurn Press in collaboration with Canadian War Museum, Canadian Museum of Civilization. The Fenians. (2016). Cbc.ca. Retrieved 29 November 2016, from https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP8CH2PA3LE.html