Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald : His Life, Our Times. 1867 - 1891. Volume two, Volume 2V.1: "The first volume of Richard Gwyn's definitive biography of John A. Macdonald follows his life from his birth in Scotland in 1815 to his emigration with his family to Kingston, Ontario, to his days as a young, rising lawyer, to his tragedy-ridden first marriage, to the birth of his political ambitions, to his commitment to the all-but-impossible challenge of achieving Confederation, to his presiding, with his second wife Agnes, over the first Canada Day of the new Dominion in 1867. Colourful, intensely human and with a full measure of human frailties, Macdonald was beyond question Canada's most important prime minister. This volume describes how Macdonald developed Canada's first true national political party, encompassing French and English and occupying the centre of the political spectrum. To perpetuate this party, Macdonald made systematic use of patronage to recruit talent and to bond supporters, a system of politics that continues to this day. Gwyn judges that Macdonald, if operating on a small stage, possessed political skills--of manipulation and deception as well as an extraordinary grasp of human nature--of the same calibre as the greats of his time, such as Disraeli and Lincoln. Confederation is the centerpiece here, and Gywn's commentary on Macdonald's pivotal role is original and provocative. But his most striking analysis is that the greatest accomplishment of nineteenth-century Canadians was not Confederation, but rather to decide not to become Americans. Macdonald saw Confederation as a means to an end, its purpose being to serve as a loud and clear demonstration of the existence of a national will to survive. The two threats Macdonald had to contend with were those of annexation by the United States, perhaps by force, perhaps by osmosis, and equally that Britain just might let that annexation happen to avoid a conflict with the continent's new and unbeatable power."--Publisher description. |
Contents
Prologue | 1 |
Present at the Creation | 5 |
Agnes of God | 16 |
Modest Country Ambitious Leader | 27 |
A Triumph A Tragedy | 48 |
S Who Speaks for Canada? | 65 |
Good Times and Hard Times | 74 |
Manifest Destiny versus Manifest Destiny | 86 |
The People Change Their Minds | 295 |
A Considerable Man A Considerable Empire | 311 |
Build It and They Will Come | 327 |
The Best of Times | 341 |
A Dream Baulked | 360 |
The Worst of Times | 383 |
Gods Messenger | 396 |
The One White Than Whom There Is No Higher | 414 |
Champions of Two Nations | 99 |
Building the Future Ruining the Present | 118 |
IO Rage and Recovery | 129 |
First the NorthWest Then the West | 141 |
Bragging Rights | 156 |
Railway First Election Next | 176 |
Gristle into Bone | 189 |
The Blunder | 205 |
Decline | 221 |
Fall | 244 |
A Second Act | 259 |
Bismarcks Twin | 276 |
A Defiant Doomed Gesture | 434 |
Wickedly Maliciously and Traitorously | 457 |
Knocking Off the Queens Bonnet | 475 |
Youll Never Die | 497 |
The Wheels of His Mind | 513 |
The Second Bell | 534 |
Loyalty versus the Dollar | 553 |
A Last Bow from the Stage | 573 |
Acknowledgments | 595 |
Picture Credits | 653 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal Agnes Alexander Allan American amnesty Batoche became become began Big Bear border Britain British Columbia buffalo cabinet Canada Canadian History Canadian Pacific Cartier Charles Tupper colonial Confederation Conservative Dominion Dufferin Earnscliffe Edward Blake election father federal free trade French George George-Étienne Cartier governor House Hugh John Hugh John Macdonald Imperial Indians JCPC John Macdonald Joseph Pope Kingston Lady Macdonald land later Laurier leader letter Liberal Lisgar London Louis Riel Mackenzie Manitoba McClelland & Stewart McDougall Métis Montreal Mounted Police Mowat National Policy never North North-West Nova Scotia once Ontario Ottawa Pacific Railway Pacific Scandal Parliament party Pope Poundmaker prairies premier prime minister provinces Quebec rebellion Red River Regina Riel's Ritchot Sir John Smith soon speech Stephen tariff tion told took Toronto Press treaty union United University of Toronto vote Washington West Winnipeg wrote