John Macdonald

I

Introduction

John Macdonald (1815-1891), first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada (1867-1873, 1878-1891). Macdonald was a practical politician whose deals and maneuvers made possible the creation of the Dominion of Canada and its territorial expansion across the continent. He survived political scandal to complete a program of nation-building that included policies of tariffs to protect Canadian industry, the building of transcontinental railroads, and the encouragement of western settlement. For most of his career he was a powerful figure in Canadian politics.

II

Early Life

John Alexander Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1815. His father, Hugh Macdonald, came from Dornoch, Sutherlandshire. His mother, Helen Shaw, came from a farming family of Inverness. Both left the Highlands of Scotland to go to Glasgow, where Hugh Macdonald set up a small manufacturing business. The business failed, and the Macdonald family emigrated to Canada when John was five years old. It was only through the perseverance of his mother that Macdonald received a good education.

At the age of ten Macdonald was sent away from home to attend the Midland Grammar School in Kingston, Upper Canada (now Ontario). When he was 15, he was apprenticed to George Mackenzie, a Kingston lawyer. By the time he was 18, he had inspired such confidence that Mackenzie sent him to open a branch office at Napanee in southeast Upper Canada. When Mackenzie died in 1835, Macdonald returned to Kingston to start his own legal practice. Macdonald was called to the bar a year later.

Macdonald’s legal reputation grew steadily, based on a series of small cases rather than on any dramatic triumph. By 1842 his law office had become one of the busiest in Canada. The next year he was appointed a councilman in Kingston. In 1844 he decided to run for a Kingston seat in the legislative assembly of Canada, which then consisted of the two colonies of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada, now Québec). Although technically united as the Province of Canada, the two sides of this Union were divided by nationality, with the English predominating in the west and the French in the east. The Union had a joint premiership: each side voted separately, and the two winning parties named premiers who governed the Union together. Macdonald won by a large majority, although his opponent had the advantage of being the incumbent.

---

---

III

Early Political Career

A

First Ministry

From the beginning, Macdonald voted with the Conservative, or Tory, Party. During the next few years he helped to build the power of a more moderate group, the Liberal-Conservative Party, which then assumed the name of Conservative Party. In 1847 the 32-year-old Macdonald was made receiver general, an office he held for less than a year.

B

Opposition

The election of 1848 swept a rival party, the Reformers, into office, and Macdonald was one of the few Conservatives to retain his seat. He worked to increase his influence among the Conservatives and to broaden the appeal of his party. He was willing to work with anyone who would serve his immediate or long-term aims. He demonstrated this attitude in the 1854 election, when the Conservatives and the radical Clear Grits (later Liberals) worked together to defeat the Reform government.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain