A. Growth & Change in B.N.A.

From HCO Jr

Part 6. The Road to Confederation → A. Growth & Change in B.N.A. → B. Causes of Confederation 1861-66 → The Path to Union and Expansion, 1864-1873 → D. Building the New Nation → E. Confederation Today

Introduction

First Province of Canada Stamp, 1851; designed by Sandford Fleming

Many changes took place in the Province of Canada in the 1840s and 1850s. Some of these changes were political, but there were also economic and social changes. Canada's economy changed at this time. New resources were being exported to Britain and many other parts of the world. There were also hard times for Canadian workers. Economic depressions, times of unemployment and difficulty, made life hard for working people.

Socially all of the colonies changed. New immigrants came to Canada. They came here hoping they would find a better place to live. Some of them did, but they faced a hard struggle.

Good Times

The economy of Canada did very well in the 1830s and 1840s. Much of what Canada produced was sent to either Britain or the United States.

In Britain and the United States there were large cities that were growing even bigger. People were leaving their small farms and moving into cities to find work in factories. These people needed cheap food to buy. Workers at this time were paid very little money so food had to be cheap. Much of the food grown on Canadian farms was sent to these cities. Wheat and other grains (ground as flour) were the most important crops sent to other countries. Bread was an important part of many people's diets at this time. Farm produce was an important export for Canadian farmers.

Most importantly for Canadian farmers was the protection that the British government gave to Canadian imports. The British government passed laws that put a tax on wheat and other grains that came into the country unless they came from Canada. This type of tax is called a tariff. Farmers from other countries could ship their food to Britain, but this tax made their food more expensive than Canadian food. Canada shipped so much wheat and flour to Britain that Canada had to important flour from the United States.

Massey-Harris Poster

The Timber Trade

Timber Ships in Anse au Foulon, Quebec

Another important resource that Canada shipped overseas was timber. Canada had (and still has) vast forests. Britain needed a great deal of wood. All of the British ships that sailed the oceans were made of wood. Many of the buildings in British towns and cities were made of wood. By the 1850s railways were being built in Britain. Wood was needed for the railway ties (the wood boards that are placed between the metal rails). Wood was also used to make furniture. Wood was a very important building material. Only expensive buildings were made with stone or brick.

Much of this wood came from Canadian colonies. Early in Canada's history much of this timber came from farmers who would work together in the winter to cut down trees and sell them. By the 1840s there were large logging companies in Canada that worked almost year round to supply Britain with timber.

Ottawa/Gatineau Timber Slide, 1850s

Even within Canada there was a large demand for wood. In the Maritimes there was a large ship building industry. At this time there were almost as many Maritimers working at ship building as fishing. Maritime ship yards built over one hundred ships a year in the 1840s. Along the Miramichi River shipyards lined both sides of the river for twenty kilometers!

Halifax Mail Vessel, 1861

Saint John Ships

Economic Depression

Sometimes the economy does not do very well. If the economy does not do well for a short period of time it is called a recession. If the economy does not do well for a long period of time, and it is a very serious problem, it is called a depression. An economic depression is when many people lose their jobs. Factories close down, and companies lay off their workers. In the late 1840s the Canadian economy went into a depression. Why did this happen?

The answer can be found in Britain. Britain's economy was based on industry and manufacturing. People worked in factories in large cities. Many people worked in coal and iron mines. At this time workes were not paid very well. Entire families had to work (including the children) to make enough money to live. Children as young as eight years old worked in coal mines and factories. Factory owners in Britain did not pay their workers very much because they wanted to make money from their businesses.

What does this have to do with Canada? This affected Canada for two reasons. First, the people who owned factories wanted their workers to buy cheaper food. If the price of food in Britain was lower than the factory owners could pay their workers even less. Canadian wheat and food was more expensive than the food produced in other countries. If the tariffs on non-Canadian food were removed than the price of food would be lower.

British factory owners also wanted to buy raw materials more cheaply. They did not like buying expensive materials from Canada. Other countries in the world produced timber and other raw materials more cheaply than Canada. If tariffs were removed on raw materials factory owners would pay less, and make more money for their businesses.

Business people in Britain began to argue that there should be free trade. Any goods entering Britain should be allowed in to the country without any tariffs.

In 1846 Britain ended all the tariffs on grain entering Britain. Now Canadian wheat, corn and other grains had to compete with food imported from other parts of the world. Canadian farmers could not make their grain any cheaper. It was expensive shipping grain across the Atlantic Ocean to Britain. Many farmers in Canada discovered that they could not sell their grain in Britain anymore.

Eventually the tariffs were removed on all timber. Canadian timber had to compete with cheaper timber from parts of Europe. Logging companies in Canada started laying off men who worked in the logging camps. A lot of people in Canada began to lose their jobs.

This was very hard on people. At this time there was no welfare or employment insurance to help people when they lost their job. Many people became very poor. At the same time as people were losing their jobs, thousands of new immigrants were coming to Canada from Ireland. Many of these immigrants hoped to start their own farms, or find work in logging camps. It was very hard for these new immigrants. They had left their homes and arrived in a country that had very few jobs for them. Many people began to move into the cities to find work in some of the small factories that were starting to open.

The Annexation Manifesto

Annexation Cartoon in Punch in Canada

On October 10, 1849, a group of over 325 frustrated Montréal citizens signed a manifesto stating Canada should join with the United States. This group called themselves the Annexation Association. The members of the Annexation Association were largely business people. They were angry that the British government ended tariffs that protected Canadian exports to Britain. They were also angry about the Rebellion Losses Bill. Some of the members of the association thought that the United States had a better political system.

Alexander Galt

Some of the people who signed the manifesto were very important. Alexander Galt would later become one of the founders of Canada. John Abbot eventually became prime minister of Canada. They wanted the British government to put the tariffs back in place to protect the Canadian economy. If this did not happen they wanted the colonies to become part of the US.

Some Canadians opposed the Annexation Association. They called themselves the British American League. Members of this group included Robert Baldwin, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, and George-Étienne Cartier.

The British government did not bring back the tariffs. However, it did help the Canadian economy. It started to negotiate a free trade deal between the Canadian colonies and the United States. This treaty, called the Reciprocity Treaty, was signed in 1854.

The Reciprocity Treaty

The British found it very difficult to convince the Americans to sign the reciprocity treaty. American farmers and other companies produced everything that Canada wanted to sell. However, the British gave the Americans something in return for signing the treaty. American fishermen on the east coast were allowed to fish in Newfoundland's Grand Banks. This was one of the richest fishing spots in the Atlantic Ocean. American fishermen wanted to get into the Grand Banks, but could not because it was British territory. The new treaty gave them permission to fish in the Grand Banks.

What did Canada get in return? The United States removed tariffs on certain Canadian goods: grain, timber, coal and potatoes. This meant logging companies, farmers and coal mines could sell their products in the United States more easily. It affected all of the colonies, and helped to create jobs.

Toronto Panorama, 1851

Immigration to Canada

Other important things changed in the Canadian colonies after 1850. Most important was the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Canada. Many of these immigrants came from the British Isles (i.e.: Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales) and the United States. Between 1841 and 1861 the population of the British North American colonies more than doubled from 1.1 million to 2.5 million people. Perhaps the best known immigrant group at this time were the Irish immigrants.

Helping Irish Potato Famine Victims

Tens of thousands of poor Irish farmers, workers and their families left their homes for Canada. Conditions in Ireland at this time were horrible. During this time there was an event called the Potato Famine. A disease began to kill off many of the potato plants that the Irish relied upon. It was called potato blight. Potatoes would turn black and rot in the ground before farmers could harvest them. Many farmers and their families began to starve because they had very little food to eat. At the same time serious diseases such as cholera and typhus began to affect Ireland.

Conditions for the poor in Ireland were horrible. The British government started a program to encourage Irish people to emigrate to Canada. They received paid passage on ships to go to the British North American colonies. Many of these immigrants arrived in Quebec City. From there they traveled to the other colonies to start life as farmers, workers and labourers. It was still a very hard life, but it was better than their life in Ireland.

The passage across the Atlantic Ocean was very difficult. A short trip to Canada might take 3 to 4 weeks. However, if there was bad weather it could take 2 to 3 months. There was not enough food on the ships. There was also dirty drinking water. Sometimes this water had a the cholera disease in it. When people drank the water they became very sick. Cholera can kill a person in a few days. Sometimes dozens of people would die before they arrived at Quebec City. Entire families could die at sea. They would be covered in sheets and dropped into the ocean. There was no where on these ships to keep people who had passed away. Ships carrying Irish immigrants became known as coffin ships because so many people died on them.

The author's ancestors came to Canada from Ireland. They were the Langford family. There was a father, mother and five children. The only ones who made it was one son and one daughter. The rest of the family died on at sea. These two children lived with relatives in Canada West when they arrived in British North America.

Grosse-Île Quarantine Station

Resource: Read about the Journey of an Irish Coffin Ship from Dublin to Quebec in 1847.

Resource: 1847 - Father Bernard McGauran on the Coffin Ships at Grosse Île.

After many weeks at sea the ships arrived at Quebec City. However, the immigrants were not allowed to enter Canada. The government was afraid of cholera spreading into Canada. There were already cholera epidemics in Canadian cities that killed thousands of people The government blamed the Irish immigrants for the cholera.

New immigrants were taken to an island called Grosse Ile. They were quarantined there until it could be proven that they did not have cholera. After spending weeks on the island they were allowed to enter Canada.

Close to 90,000 immigrants arrived in Quebec City in 1847. In that one year over 5,000 died on the ships that came to Quebec and another 5,000 died while in quarantine on Grosse Ile. It was a horrible time for these new immigrants. However, over the years those that survived started farms, businesses, had children and made Canada a better country.

The Underground Railway

African Americans Arrive in Canada on the Underground Railway

Another very important group of people immigrated to Canada in the 1840s and 1850s: African Americans. They did not immigrate to Canada from Africa. These were people who were slaves in the United States. Slavery existed in the United States until the end of the Civil War in 1865. The northern states had abolished slavery before that date. However, the southern states continued to have slaves until they were defeated in the United States Civil War (1861-1865).

It is very difficult for us to believe that a person could own another human being. However, this was true in the United States at this time. African Americans who were born into slavery could be bought and sold. They were the property of another person.

There had been slavery in Canada. In the 1830s the British government abolished slavery in all of its colonies. Slaves in the British Empire were freed. This does not meant that freed slaves were treated well in British colonies. There was a great deal of racism in the colonies, including Canada. Former slaves were treated very poorly. They faced a lot of discrimination from white Canadians. They could not find good jobs. African-Canadians had to live in poor parts of town because white Canadians did not want to live close to them. However, they were free. They could not be owned by another person.

Slaves from the United States took a special route to escape to Canada. It was called the Underground Railway. It was not an actual railway. The Underground Railway was a secret route that slaves took to get into Canada. Along the way people would help the slaves. They would hide them in their homes, provide them with food and water, and give them directions to get out of the United States into Canada. When a slave escaped, his owner would try to get him or her back. Groups of men would hunt the slave down. If the slaves was caught he/she could be beaten or even killed. The Underground Railway helped many slaves escape.

So many slaves escaped using this route that the US government created a new law called the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. This new law allowed slave owners to recapture any slave who escaped from them. It made it a crime for anyone to hide an escaped slave. Some former slaves who lived in northern states such as New York were recaptured and brought back to the people who owned them.

People who opposed slavery were called abolitionists. Many abolitionists worked to free slaves, and help them escape to Canada. Two important abolitionists in the United States were William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Tubman. Garrison was the author of a newspaper called “The Liberator.” Tubman helped many slaves escape. She was nicknamed “The Black Moses” by the people she helped. These two people and many others risked their lives to help slaves escape the southern United States. If Garrison, Tubman or the other people on the Underground Railway were caught they would be arrested and probably killed by people who wanted to protect slavery.

Tubman, who escaped slavery in Maryland in 1849, made at least 19 trips to the South to guide fugitive slaves to freedom. She made 11 trips to Canada on the Underground Railway, leading over 300 "passengers" to Canada. She allowed no dropping out or turning back. Once, she pointed a pistol at a discouraged fugitive, telling him, "Move or die." During the US Civil War, war she served the Union as a scout, spy, and nurse.

Many of the slaves who escaped to Canada West lived in areas close to the border: Chatham, Oakville, and Dresden. These people lived very hard lives and risked a great deal to reach Canada. They are an important part of Canada’s history.

Harriet Tubman (left) with Escaping Slaves

British North America Canals & Railways

A very important development in British North America was the growth of canals and railways. Roads in British North America were not very good. In the spring they were muddy and bumpy. Only carts pulled by slow moving oxen could travel the roads. Sometimes no carts could travel the roads because they were in such poor condition. Business people needed a better and faster way to get their goods to market, or to ports to put on ships. Canals and railways were the best way to move goods around the colonies.

The first canal built in British North America was the Lachine Canal. It was built in 1823. It was enlarged between 1843 and 1848. It allowed small ships to get around the rapids on the St. Lawrence River. Other canals were built in the 1820s and 1830s and improved in the 1850s: the Welland Canal and Rideau Canal were both built.

Canals are similar to artificial rivers. Goods are piled on to small boats called barges. The barges are pulled by a team of horses or oxen that walk alongside the canal, and are tied to the barge by strong ropes. Barges did not move very fast, but it was faster than travelling by road.

Expanding the Lachine Canal

Rideau Canal Locks, 1860s

Grand Trunk Railway Engine, Trevithick

By the 1850s a number of canals were built in British North America and the northern eastern United States. These canals allowed goods to move quickly to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. From this point the goods were put on to large ships and sent to Britain and many other countries.

Victoria Bridge, Montreal

Fireworks at Opening of Victoria Bridge, Montreal, 1860

Railways were even more important than canals. First, trains were faster than barges. Trains at this time could travel around 20 kms/hour. This is slow compared to cars and trains today, but this was very fast in the nineteenth century. Second, railways did not need water to work. Canals had to be close to rivers and lakes so they could be filled with water. Railways did not need this. As long as the land was level a railway could be built. This allowed trains to travel to many towns, cities and villages in British North America that were not connected to canals. When railways were built some small villages began to grow and became large towns.

Lastly, trains made great distances seem shorter. Today a person can travel 100 kilometres by car in one hour. In the 1850s travelling a similar distance could take two days. Trains did not travel fast by today’s standards, but they made distances shorter because of their speed. A trip that would take a week could now take a day. It allowed families to visit relatives who had moved away. Businesses in one part of the country could now sell their products to people who lived hundreds of kilometres away.

Railways employed thousands of people when they were being built. There were no powerful machines for building in the 1850s. Thousands of men worked on railways, laying rails, and digging and moving earth. Logging companies had to cut thousands of trees to for the railway ties that were needed. Iron was mined to make the rails that the train travelled on. Bridges were built over rivers and creeks. Telegraph lines were built alongside the railway. Telegraphs could be used to send messages over long distances using morse code.

Eventually canals ceased to be important for transporting goods. Railways became more important over time. Soon all the major towns and cities of British North America were linked together by railways.

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Representation by Population

George Brown Campaigning

Responsible government was achieved in 1849 when Governor Elgin signed the Rebellion Losses Bill even though he personally did not like it. Soon another important political issue arose in the Province of Canada: representation by population

Both Canada East and Canada West had the same number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada: 42 seats each. At first, Canada East had a much larger population than Canada West. The French population of Canada East thought this was unfair. If their part of the province had more people they should have more seats in the Legislative Assembly. However, the English politicians of Canada West opposed this.

By 1851 the population of Canada West was greater than Canada East’s population. This was due to immigration. A new political group in Canada West wanted to take advantage of this. This group was called the Clear Grits. Now that Canada West had the larger population it wanted more seats in the Assembly.

The Clear Grits said that the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly should be based on the number of people living in either Canada East or Canada West. This is called representation by population. The Clear Grits called it rep by pop. This phrase became well known and very population with many people in Canada West.

The Clear Grits were led by George Brown. He was the editor of a Toronto newspaper called The Globe. They wanted Canada to expand westward into the prairies. By the 1850s much of the best farm land in Canada West was taken up. Clear Grits said westward expansion into what is today Manitoba and Saskatchewan would open up land for farmers.

Sidelight: Cartier Chooses Ottawa as the Capital

In 1849 a mob burned down the parliament buildings in Montreal. There were parliament buildings in Toronto as well. The capital of the Province of Canada would switch back and forth between both cities.

With Montreal’s parliament destroyed, a new capital had to be found. The capital could not be kept in Toronto. This would not be acceptable to French Canadian politicians. The government did not want to rebuild the parliament building in Montreal out of fear that another mob would attack it. A new capital was needed that both French and English Canadians would agree with.

On February 2, 1859, in a tight vote, the Parliamentarians of Canada East and Canada West chose the small logging town of Ottawa as the new capital of the Province of Canada. George-Étienne Cartier was the person who was responsible for the choice of Ottawa.

There were other choices besides Ottawa. Toronto, Kingston and Québec City were also considered. However, Cartier thought Ottawa was a better choice for several reasons:

• As noted above, an all English or all French city would not be population with either French or English speaking Canadians. • Toronto, Kingston and Quebec were more exposed to attack if war ever broke out between Britain/Canada and the United States • The Rideau Canal runs through Ottawa. This made it easy to bring troops to the city in case of war with the United States. • There was already talk of building a railway that would run right across the continent. Cartier knew that Ottawa would be on the route chosen for this railway. • Ottawa is on the border between Canada West and Canada East. It would be acceptable to both English and French speaking Canadians.

In early 1859, Cartier spoke about why Ottawa was the best choice for the new capital:

"It is true that Ottawa is in Upper Canada, but in terms of business, it is a Lower Canadian city, linked to Quebec by the timber trade, and to Montreal by its demand for imports. There, the French Canadians will feel themselves in a sympathetic environment, because they number 5,000 out of a total population of 12,000, the majority of whom are Catholics. They will find colleges, convents, churches and all that is especially dear to them in Lower Canada. For all these reasons, Ottawa is an excellent choice, not only as our capital city, but as a means of increasing prosperity and attracting colonization to the region. It is a fortunate choice, a disinterested one, one that must satisfy all reasonable men."