New Brunswick and the Question of Confederation

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New Brunswick and the Question of Confederation

The political environment of British North America in the 1860’s was a time of conflict and change.  The current political system that was in place was in deadlock; our neighbours to the south were embroiled in a Civil War as well the Northern leaders in America being on strained relations with Britain over the war.  The idea of a union between the British colonies had been considered well before this time but never came to reality.  By 1864, the climate of the times made such a union seem more and more logical.  This union came as a result of the culmination of forces, such as the American Civil War, fear of annexation by the Americans, violence, and political deadlock in Canada East and Canada West, which were all pushing the colonies towards uniting British North America.  The Fathers of Confederation fought hard against the Anti-Confederation movement, a movement that seemed to be specific to the Maritime Provinces, and were unafraid to do some political hoop-jumping to get closer to inking a deal over the union.

 

Background - New Brunswick before Confederation

        In the 1860’s, New Brunswick had a population of approximately 270 000, concentrated mostly along the north shore and along the Saint John River Valley.  The majority of the population was of British decent, with some Scottish, Irish and Acadians, as well as Loyalists whose ancestors fled America during the American Revolution.  The economy of the time was based around timber and associated industries such as shipbuilding.  The economy was very strong, partially as a result of strong economic ties to the United States which came from the Reciprocity Treaty.  According to Creighton, New Brunswick politics at this time was “a hard, shrewd game in which the main factors seemed to be a narrow self-interest and a suspicious parochialism.”  In 1863, Governor Gordon was in favour of a Maritime Union which would unite the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.  Motions were passed by all three provinces legislatures in favour of the union.  This Maritime Union however never had a chance to materialize.  

Fear of American Annexation

Fear of American takeover during the American Civil war pushed the colonies towards unification.  Historian F.H. Underhill has suggested that “somewhere on Parliament Hill in Ottawa…there should be erected a monument to this American ogre who has so often performed the function of saving us from drift and indecision.”  The fear of an annexation from the Americans made many fearful.  Since 1850, the American Secretary of State William Seward, had been pushing the annexation agenda.  As the Civil war was coming to an end, it was a fear that the Northern army would turn its eye to Canada and the Maritimes.  Many feared this agenda would unfold in order to keep the now idle troops busy and out of trouble.  During the election of 1864, the Republican Party even ran on an annexation platform, to gain support from Irish-Americans and those wanting to acquire more land for themselves.  In 1865-66, annexationism was a factor in the American decision to end the reciprocity treaty.  A bill was introduced by General Banks and passed in the United States House of Representatives in July of 1866.  This bill intended for the United States to acquire all of what is now Canada.

Fear of an Anglo-Northern War

Officially, Britain took a neutral stance during the Civil war, however many backed the Confederacy because they depended heavily on products from the south, including cotton.  The international rules of neutrality meant that no confederate ships could be legally constructed in England, yet the C.S.S. Alabama was built in a shipyard near Liverpool for the Confederates.  The Alabama went on a rampage for the next two years, over three oceans, capturing several ships until being sunk off the coast of Normandy by the U.S.S. Kearsarge.  Many Northern leaders felt that since Britain knew what the South was doing with these ships, they were contributing to the war and should pay for damages that these ships caused.  One proposal by the Northern leaders included all of British North America as reparation.

Another incident occurred in 1861 when an American warship stopped the Trent, a British steamer, boarded the steamer and captured two Confederate diplomats who were on their way to England to get support for the Southern cause.  They were imprisoned in Boston and Britain demanded their release.  This strained relations between the two nations even further, with Britain threatening retaliation in the North if these representatives were not released.  The North denounced Britain for their help with the Southern cause.  Eventually President Lincoln released the agents on December 26, 1861 to avoid going to war against Britain.  Obviously, many living in Canada were very worried that the tensions that these conflicts were causing may lead to war between Britain and America and that there would be a very good possibility that British North America would be caught in the middle with battles of an Anglo-Northern war being fought on Canadian or Maritime soil.

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The Fenians

There was also fear from rebels, in the case of the Fenians.  The Fenians were fanatical republican Irishmen who had formed a brotherhood in 1859 in the United States.  The main objective of the brotherhood was to fight for the independence of Ireland from Britain.  They decided that they would capture the British North American colonies and hold them ransom in exchange for the liberation of Ireland.  The words of their marching song overtly explained their goals:

We are the Fenian Brotherhood,

skilled in the art of war,

And we are going to fight for Ireland,

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