Canadian Confederation Case Study

Multitudes of factors contributed to form the Canadian Confederation. From small political negotiations to full fletched conflicts, here are the seven major events that lead to its creation

• Changes in British Attitudes Towards British North America

• The American Civil War

• The Creation of the North-West Mounted Police

• The construction of the Transcontinental Railway

• Fenian Raids

• The Red River Resistance

• The Doctrine of Manifest Destiny

Changes in British Attitudes towards British North America

This factor is the most crucial event in the creation of the Canadian Confederation. The British realized that having separate colonies became costly to maintain so to counteract this problem, the existing colonies created their own government/federation to declare independence. This also

A total of four raids occurred in attempts to invade Canadian territory. They strongly believed that if they took over the Canadian territory, they’d overthrown their government and political systems. After their fourth raid, they were overwhelmed by the British and with a crushing defeat. In the end, this affected the Confederation by showing Canadians that they should improve their military manpower to be better protected against future conflicts.

The Red River Resistance

The next major event was the Red River Resistance. In this event, Sir John Macdonald sent out surveyors to divide the Canadian land because the Hudson’s Bay Company had sold Rupert’s land to the Canadian government. This sparked an outrage with the Métis because they wanted to keep their current laws. Due to conflicts and arguments about the land, a surveyor was executed by the Métis leader which worsened the situation. In return for the surveyor’s death, the British Canadians ordered the death of the Métis leader which ended the conflict. The remaining Métis joined Canada and renamed their land to Manitoba.

The Doctrine of Manifest