In the mid 1800s, British North America was going through a big political change. The process of choosing a capital city had created a major crisis for Canada. The Conservatives and the Reform party were creating even more problems with their race for Assembly seats. In fact, their race for seats had made politics in Canada an unsettled affair with the many deadlocks, double shuffles and non-confidence votes. What Canada needed to solve their problems was a Confederation.
A confederation is the union of all the colonies under one major government. This would solve all of the economical and political problems Canada was facing. You may be wondering, what were these problems they actually faced? CanadaÃÂs biggest worries all shared one thing in common, their roots always started with the United States. The threat of an American takeover after the Civil War, the troubles with trade and the need for rail links all loomed large as the United States continued their progress forward into their dream of a Manifest Destiny.
English: A composed satellite photograph of North ...
English: British colonies in North America, c. 175...
English: Building of the Bank of British North Ame...The threat of an American takeover was a big one. The Canadians knew that the North, after winning the civil war, would try and attack Canada as a revenge for Britain supporting the South. The South was one of BritainÃÂs main producers of cotton and British textiles needed the cotton. To try and ensure the South won, Britain sent armed ships to the South. Of course, this did not please the North, even after they won.
The second reason why the North turned their eyes towards Canada was because of their dream of a Manifest Destiny. A manifest destiny is a belief that the Americans would one day control all of North America, or even the world. The Americans were still fresh from fighting in the Civil War making them...