John A. Macdonald

1st prime minister of Canada from 1867 to 1873 and 1878 to 1891 · Canada · Politicians · Lived 1815 to 1891 · aged 76

John A. Macdonald is read about 687 times a day, in 56 languages.

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He stitched a nation from fractious colonies and held it together through scandal, rebellion, and nearly two decades in power - but the same hand that built the railway and the state also set policies that haunt Canada's reckoning with its Indigenous past.

Politicians Politician Politics Law Canada Americas 19th Century

A life in dates

1891Died6 June 1891“As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born - a British subject I will die.”In their wordsFebruary 3, 1891 as the 1891 election was called, fought largely over the issue of free trade with the United States; reported at HistoricRead the whole statement

1885“the Aryan races will not wholesomely amalgamate with the Africans or the Asiatics ..”In their wordsspeaking about the Chinese, debating the 1885 Electoral Franchise Act in the House of Commons, Official Report of the Debates of the HouseRead the whole statement

1865“He hoped that Britain and Canada would have "a healthy and cordial alliance.”In their words1865, quoted on page 394 of Canadian Constitutional Development: Shown by Selected Speeches and Dispatches, with Introductions andRead the whole statement

1815Born11 January 1815

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

JaMAC

AGMacdonald1861

Brady-Handy John A Macdonald - cropped

British High Commissioners for the Treaty of Washington

Charlottetown Conference Delegates, September 1864

CharlottetownConference1864

ConferenceCharlottetown

Country life in Canada fifty years ago - personal recollections and reminiscences of a sexagenarian (1885) (14766342021)

In their own words 5

John A. Macdonald

5 statements, newest first

As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born - a British subject I will die.
Feb 3, 1891, February 3, 1891 as the 1891 election was called, fought largely over the issue of free trade with the United States; reported at Historic, Own words
the Aryan races will not wholesomely amalgamate with the Africans or the Asiatics ..
1885, speaking about the Chinese, debating the 1885 Electoral Franchise Act in the House of Commons, Official Report of the Debates of the House, Own words
He hoped that Britain and Canada would have "a healthy and cordial alliance.
1865, 1865, quoted on page 394 of Canadian Constitutional Development: Shown by Selected Speeches and Dispatches, with Introductions and, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Person of National Historic Significance

Family

Mother Helen Shaw

John A. Macdonald

Partners

Children

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About this person

Born in Scotland, Macdonald immigrated to Kingston as a boy and rose through law to the legislature of the Province of Canada by 1844. When the colony's government collapsed into gridlock in 1864, he joined rival George Brown in a Great Coalition that engineered Confederation, and on 1 July 1867 became prime minister of the new Dominion. His first term saw him expand the country westward - annexing the North-Western Territory, Rupert's Land, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island, and establishing the North-West Mounted Police - before a railway bribery scandal forced his resignation in 1873. Reelected in 1878, he completed the Canadian Pacific Railway and imposed the National Policy tariff, forging a national Conservative machine through patronage and centralized power. In 1885 he approved the execution of Métis leader Louis Riel for treason, fracturing francophone support, and advanced the residential school system meant to assimilate Indigenous children. He died in office in 1891 after nineteen years as prime minister, the second-longest tenure in Canadian history, leaving a legacy split between nation-building and the violence required to achieve it.

Country

Canada

Politicians from Canada 6

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