Fathers Of Confederation

 The Fenian Raids rose up following the American Civil War, with Union veterans of Irish descent trying to take Canada by force and hold it for ransom to make the British give Ireland independence. Each raid failed, with militia and regular troops driving them out. This is the rifle of a Raider; it was typical of them to wear their Union uniforms as well.

Things were chaotic in the Canadian legislature during this period, with a stable majority out of the question.

Three leaders banded together to forge the way for Confederation. John A. Macdonald, George Brown, and George-Etienne Cartier were known in the Canadas, and the other parts of British North America. Macdonald and Cartier were co-premiers of the legislature. Macdonald and Brown despised each other. But they went to work together, recognizing the need for a strong federal union.

The most eloquent voice of the Fathers of Confederation was Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a close friend of Macdonald. A lawyer and journalist, he had been a radical years before in his native Ireland before immigrating. His world view changed entirely upon seeing the workings of Parliamentary democracy in Canada, and saw that as the way to go. That change in view enraged his old comrades among the Fenians, who never forgave him.

He was assassinated one night in 1868, coming home from a session at Parliament, shot in the back of the head. This is the revolver said to be used in the assassination. A Fenian, Patrick James Whalen, was convicted and executed for the murder, though he claimed innocence.

One of the defining photographs of Canadian history- the Fathers of Confederation at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864.

Queen Victoria would would sign Confederation into law. The Canadian colonies became provinces under a federal government, and the country became a reality.

This large photograph shows the first Confederation in Kingston, Ontario, in 1867.

First Nations peoples in the west had long standing relationships with traders, taking the European goods they bartered for and trading them even more in their own long established trade routes of the west.