title: Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837-67
author:  Ged Martin 
description: A valuable contribution to our understanding of the road to Confederation. (J.K. Johnson <i>National History</i>)<br /><br />Ged Martin has provided a welcome perspective and context for the process which brought about Canadian federation ... The research and reading upon which the book is based is remarkable, and it incorporates very mature thought and preparation. (Bruce A. Knox <i>International History Review</i>)<br /><br /><P>In explaining why the British North American provinces united in 1867, historians have tended to see Confederation as a logical response to the internal and external challenges of the 1860s. With some ambiguity, they have also attributed a major role to the British imperial factor in forcing the Maritime provinces to accept their predestined place in the Canadian nation.</P> <P>In <EM>Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837-1867</EM>, Ged Martin offers a sceptical review of claims that Confederation answered all the problems facing the provinces, and examines in detail British perceptions of Canada and ideas about its future. The major British contribution to the coming of Confederation is to be found not in the aftermath of the Quebec conference, where the imperial role was mainly one of bluff and exhortation, but prior to 1864, in a vague consensus among opinion-formers that the provinces would one day unite. Faced with an inescapable need to secure legislation at Westminster for a new political structure, British North American politicians found they could work within the context of a metropolitan preference for intercolonial union.</P>
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  # The British North America Act, 1867
  
  
  ### Anon.
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online.
  
  
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  THE BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT, 1867.
  
  
  30 VICTORIA, CHAPTER 3.
  
  
  An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick,
  
  
  and the Government thereof; and for Purposes connected therewith.
  
  
  [29th March, 1867.]
  
  
  Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick
  
  
  have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion
  
  
  under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
  
  
  with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United
  
  
  Kingdom:
  
  
  And whereas such a Union would conduce to the Welfare of the
  
  
  Provinces and promote the Interests of the British Empire:
  
  
  And whereas on the Establishment of the Union by Authority of
  
  
  Parliament it is expedient, not only that the Constitution of the
  
  
  Legislative Authority in the Dominion b