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The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald GCB KCMG PC PC (Can)
Macdonald in 1868. (age 53)
1st Prime Minister of Canada
Monarch	Queen Victoria
In office July 1, 1867 – November 5, 1873
Succeeded by	Alexander Mackenzie
In office October 17, 1878 – June 6, 1891
Preceded by	Alexander Mackenzie
Succeeded by	John Abbott
Personal details
Born	January 11, 1815 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	June 6, 1891(1891-06-06) (aged 76) Ottawa, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Isabella Clark (1st wife) Agnes Bernard (2nd wife)
Children	John Alexander (died in infancy) and Hugh John by Isabella; Mary by Agnes.
Alma mater	none (articled with a lawyer in Kingston)
Profession	Lawyer

Sir John Alexander Macdonald GCB, KCMG, PC, PC (Can), (January 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first Prime Minister of Canada and the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation. Macdonald's tenure in office spanned 19 years, making him the second longest serving Prime Minister of Canada. He is the only Canadian Prime Minister to win six majority governments. He was the major proponent of a national railway, completed in 1885, linking Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. He won praise for having helped forge a nation of sprawling geographic size, with two diverse European colonial origins, numerous Aboriginal nations, and a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and political views.

The Confederation of Canada, 1864–1867

To resolve the frequent legislative deadlocks in the Province of Canada, George Brown, the leader of the Clear Grits (the forerunners to the Liberal Party of Canada) and an extremely vocal opponent of Macdonald's Conservatives, joined with Macdonald's Conservatives and George-Étienne Cartier's Parti Bleu in 1864 to form the Great Coalition. The coalition sought to reform the political system of Canada, and was a crucial step in achieving a consensus to support future reform. However, the Parti Rouge of Canada East, led by Jean-Baptiste-Éric Dorion, still refused to join the coalition. Macdonald then spent 1864 to 1867 organizing the legislation needed to confederate the colonies into the country of Canada. In September 1864, he led the Canadian delegation at the Charlottetown Conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to present his idea to the Maritime colonies, who were discussing a union of their own. In October 1864 delegates for confederation met in Quebec City, Quebec, for the Quebec Conference, where the Seventy-Two Resolutions were created – the plan for confederation. By 1866, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada had agreed to confederation. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island were opposed. In the final conference of confederation held in 1866 in London, England the agreement to confederate was completed.

In 1867 the agreement was brought to the British Parliament, which passed the British North America Act creating the Dominion of Canada. Upon the creation of the Dominion of Canada, the Province of Canada was then divided into the individual provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Macdonald was asked by the first Governor General of Canada Charles Monck, to form the first administration. He was subsequently knighted on Canada Day, July 1, 1867, the only colonial leader ever to receive that honour.

First term as prime minister, 1867–1871

Queen Victoria knighted John A. Macdonald for playing an integral role in bringing about Confederation. His appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George was announced at the birth of the Dominion, July 1, 1867. An election was held in August which put Macdonald and his Conservative party into power.

Macdonald's vision as prime minister was to enlarge the country and unify it. Accordingly, under his rule Canada bought Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company for £300,000 (about $11,500,000 in modern Canadian dollars). This became the Northwest Territories. In 1870 Parliament passed the Manitoba Act, creating the province of Manitoba out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in response to the Red River Rebellion led by Louis Riel.

Second term and resignation over Pacific Scandal, 1871–1873

In 1871 Britain added British Columbia to Confederation, making it the sixth province. Macdonald promised a transcontinental railway connection to persuade the province to join, which his opponents decried as a highly unrealistic and expensive promise. In 1873 Prince Edward Island joined Confederation, and Macdonald created the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (then called the "North-West Mounted Police") on the advice of the Northwest Territories government to act as a police force for the vast Northwest Territories.

In 1873, Macdonald was accused of taking bribes to award contracts for the construction of the railway. The Pacific Scandal broke and Macdonald was forced to resign on November 5th, 1873. Liberal leader Alexander Mackenzie formed a caretaker government. After New Years, 1874, the Liberals called an election. Macdonald's Tories were unable to recover from the scandal and the Liberals formed a majority government. This election was also the first in Canada to use a secret ballot.

Final years as prime minister, 1878–1891

Macdonald was returned to power in 1878 on the strength of the National Policy, a plan to promote trade within the country by protecting it from the industries of other nations. He also promised to renew the effort to complete the previously promised Canadian Pacific Railway. Macdonald won re-election as prime minister again in 1882. The CPR was completed in 1885, after several refinancing plans to cover shortfalls for the very expensive project, plunging Canada heavily into debt. Also in 1885, Louis Riel returned to Canada from exile in the United States, and launched the North-West Rebellion in the territory of Saskatchewan, but now that there was a railway through the area, militia were quickly sent to put it down; troops travelling from central Canada reached the site in eleven days. The success of this operation gave the CPR enough political capital to garner sufficient support to complete its construction. The trial and subsequent execution of Riel for treason caused a deep political division between French Canadians, who supported Riel (a culturally French Métis) and English Canadians, who supported Macdonald.

In 1891, Macdonald won the elections again, but by this time, the 76-year-old political warhorse started to feel the years of overwork, stress, drink and several bouts of severe illness, including a gallstone problem in 1870 that turned his office into a sick room for two months. On May 29, 1891, Sir John A. suffered a severe stroke, which robbed him of the ability to speak, and from which he would never recover. He died a week later on June 6, 1891 at the age of 76. He would lie in state in the Canadian Senate Chamber (prime ministers now lie in state in the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block) where grieving Canadians turned out in the thousands to pay their respects. His state funeral was held on June 9, attended by hundreds of thousands of people. He is buried in Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston, Ontario. None of his children left heirs; he is survived by relative Hugh Gainsford.

Personal life

Tragic first marriage

John A. Macdonald's adult life was marked by sickness, death, drunkenness and tragedy. Yet, he rose above his private unhappiness and personal failings to become a well-loved and highly successful public figure, applying "all his passion to politics". He officially became head of his family on September 29, 1841, with the sudden death of his father Hugh from a brain hemorrhage. Now, John A. was solely responsible for the financial support of his mother and two unmarried sisters. Fortunately, his law practice was going well and his income was supplemented by extensive business activities. He served for example, as a director of the prosperous Commercial Bank of the Midland District as well as its lawyer. The Bank provided him with a large part of his income. He also bought real estate and eventually became a director of a dozen Kingston companies.

But at the same time, he frequently suffered from an undiagnosed illness. The symptoms, weakness and listlessness, began in 1840 and continued sporadically throughout 1841. Macdonald decided he needed a complete rest, and in January 1842 he set sail for Britain, his pockets full of the money (about two thousand dollars) he had won during three nights of playing a card game called Loo. Macdonald's trip proved to be fateful. He recovered his health and met his first cousin Isabella Clark. Isabella's features were gentle and tranquil, according to biographer Donald Creighton, "her hair brushed smoothly away from its centre part in the demure fashion of the 1840s." She also had "large, beautiful blue eyes with an imploring expression that melted more than one observer's heart." "Isa," as Macdonald called her, followed him home to Kingston and on September 1, 1843, they were married. Macdonald was 28, Isabella, 34.

For the first year and a half, the Macdonalds lived the life of a happy, successful couple. John A. had been elected city alderman a few months before his marriage, so he was now a prominent local politician, and his law partnership with his former student, Alexander Campbell, continued to flourish. In the fall of 1844, Macdonald was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Kingston. Then, in 1845, everything changed when his beloved "Isa" got sick. She suffered periodic attacks that included severe headaches and numbness. Biographer Patricia Phenix writes that Isabella was diagnosed "as suffering everything from tic douloureux, a devastating pain in the fifth nerve of her face, to 'uterine neuralgia.'". To relieve the pain, she drank liquid opium as well as sherry. The opium and alcohol combined with the painful attacks left her groggy, exhausted and bedridden. Her chronic illness may also have had psychological causes rooted in an "hysterical personality" compounded by migraine headaches and her dependence on opium. As the illness continued, Macdonald feared Isabella would die. "The warm, pleasant edifice of his domestic happiness," Donald Creighton writes, "was crumbling towards utter ruin."

Macdonald's two sons

John A. responded to his wife's protracted illness by taking her to Savannah, Georgia where he hoped the warm climate and the company of her sisters would restore her health. They set off on their journey in the summer of 1845. The trip turned out to be long and gruelling with Isabella often unable to walk and suffering excruciating pain. They first joined Isabella's sisters in New Haven, Connecticut, finally reaching Savannah in late November. John A. was anxious to return home to continue his political career. He had to remain in the American south however, until Isabella's sisters arrived in mid-January 1846. He would not see his wife again until Christmas when they were reunited in New York City. There, Isabella became pregnant. After Macdonald returned to Canada, she remained under medical care in New York. Their first son, John Alexander, was born in New York on August 3, 1847 after a long and agonizing labour. "His eyes are dark blue, very large & nose to match," Macdonald wrote to his sister-in-law. "When born his length was 1 foot 9 inches & was strong and healthy, though thin."

Macdonald rented Bellevue House in Kingston in 1848 in the hope that the fresh suburban air and quiet would help Isabella's condition after her return from New York. This experiment, however, was a failure. Worse still, shortly after the Macdonalds moved into their new home, 13-month-old John Alexander was found dead in his crib, a possible victim of SIDS or sudden infant death syndrome. Isabella became pregnant again in 1849, yet another miracle for a 40-year-old chronically ill woman. Their second son, Hugh John, was born on March 13, 1850. "We have got Johnnie back again," Macdonald wrote to his sister. "I don't think he is so pretty, but he is not so delicate. He was born fat & coarse."

Hugh John and his father were never close. The boy was raised by Macdonald's sister Margaret and her husband, James Williamson, after Isabella's death in 1857.

Debt and drinking

Macdonald's frequent absences from his law practice to care for Isabella and the expenses of providing medical and nursing care drove him into debt. Salaries for politicians during this period were meager stipends. His partner objected to his casual habit of using law firm revenues to pay his expenses and in 1849, Alexander Campbell decided to leave the partnership. Macdonald had already turned to the bottle for solace during the 12 lonely years of Isabella's illness. They were years in which, according to Donald Creighton, he had become "a bachelor husband who had to go for companionship to bars and lounges and smoking rooms; a frustrated host who drank too much on occasion, partly because it was the only way he could entertain, and because it passed the empty time, and because it was an easy way to forget." According to Richard Gwynn, a biographer, Sir John was not a steady alcoholic but rather a binge drinker. Long periods of abstinence would precede bouts of intense inebriation lasting weeks. Once while debating an opponent the drunken Sir John flooded the speaker's podium with vomit. He apologized to the crowd by explaining that whenever he heard his opponent speak he would lose his stomach. Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his alcoholism. Two apocryphal stories are commonly repeated; the first describing an election debate in which Macdonald was so drunk he began vomiting while on stage. His opponent quickly pointed this out and said: "Is this the man you want running your country? A drunk!" Collecting himself, Macdonald replied "I get sick ... not because of drink I am forced to listen to the ranting of my honourable opponent." The second version has Macdonald responding to his opponent's query of his drunkenness with "It goes to show that I would rather have a drunk Conservative than a sober Liberal."

Second marriage and daughter

In 1867, at the age of 52, Macdonald married his second wife Susan Agnes Bernard (1836–1920). They had one daughter, Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald (1869–1933), who was born with hydrocephalus and suffered from physical and mental disabilities. Macdonald always hoped she would recover, but she never did. She died in 1933.

Supreme Court appointments

Macdonald chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada by the Governor General:

• Christopher Salmon Patterson (October 27, 1888 – July 24, 1893)
• John Wellington Gwynne (January 14, 1879 – January 7, 1902)
• Sir William Johnstone Ritchie (as Chief Justice, January 11, 1879 – September 25, 1892; appointed a Puisne Justice under Prime Minister Mackenzie, September 30, 1875)

Freemasonry

Macdonald was a Freemason, initiated in 1844 at St. John’s Lodge No. 5 in Kingston. In 1868, he was named by the United Grand Lodge of England as its Grand Representative near the Grand Lodge of Canada (in Ontario) and the rank of Past Grand Senior Warden conferred upon him. He continued to represent the Grand Lodge of England until his death in 1891. His commission, together with his apron and earmuffs, are in the Masonic Temple at Kingston, along with his regalia as Past Grand Senior Warden. Among the books in his library was a very rare copy of the first Masonic book published in Canada, A History of Freemasonry in Nova Scotia (1786).

Trivia

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (January 2008)

• Macdonald's temper sometimes got the better of him, such as in one incident in the House of Commons when Donald Smith angered him so much, that he charged across the Commons floor to physically attack him. While he was restrained, Macdonald was unrepentant, proclaiming "I'll lick him faster than Hell can scorch a feather!"
• Macdonald resembled British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. At Disraeli's funeral in 1881, another British official thought that he saw Disraeli's ghost in attendance, although it was actually Macdonald.
• The Vancouver Sun reported on June 30, 2005, that Macdonald's birthplace in Glasgow, Scotland, is under threat of demolition.
• Macdonald's private train car, which he named The Jamaica, was given to him by the Canadian Pacific Railway for his work on the railway.
• According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Macdonald's nicknames included Old Chieftain and Old Tomorrow*. *For his habit of putting off any large political problems until conditions were personally favourable to him.
• Macdonald's nephew Newton Ford was the father of iconic Canadian-born American actor Glenn Ford.
• As of 2008: Macdonald was the first of two Canadian Prime Ministers to die in office (The other is John Thompson).
• Macdonald was the favourite target of the "Grip" magazine's premier cartoonist John Wilson Bengough; who came to fame by ridiculing Macdonald's government, during the Pacific Scandal.

Legacy

Macdonald is depicted on the Canadian ten-dollar bill. He also has bridges (Macdonald-Cartier Bridge), airports (Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, and highways (Macdonald-Cartier Freeway) named after him, as well as statues and a plethora of schools across the country. In Kingston, Macdonald Park and Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard are both named in his honour and a bronze statue of the man stands at the corner of King and West streets. The law building at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario is named in his honour. The Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton and Macdonald House, part of Canada's high commission in London, are also named for him.

Macdonald and his son, Hugh John Macdonald, briefly sat together in the Canadian House of Commons before the elder Macdonald's death.

In 2004, Macdonald was nominated as one of the top 10 "Greatest Canadians" by viewers of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is considered by some Canadian political scientists to be the founder of the Red Tory tradition.

Biographical and historical studies

• Bliss, Michael. (1994) Right Honourable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from Macdonald to Mulroney.
• Bowering, George. (1999) Egotists and Autocrats: The Prime Ministers of Canada.
• Careless, J.M.S. (1963) Canada: A Story of Challenge. (Revised Edition) Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.
• Collins, Joseph Edmund. (1883) Life and times of the Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald: Premier of the Dominion of Canada
• Creighton, Donald. (1952) John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician vol 1: 1815–1867. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited.
• Creighton, Donald. (1955) John A. Macdonald: The Old Chieftain vol 2: 1867–1891. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited.
• Creighton, Donald. (1964) The Road to Confederation: The Emergence of Canada: 1863–1867. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.
• Guillet, Edwin C, (1967) You'll Never Die, John A!. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.
• Gwyn, Richard. (2007) The Man Who Made Us: The Life and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald. vol 1: 1815–1867. Random House Canada.
• Hutchison, Bruce. (1964) Mr. Prime Minister 1867-1964. Toronto: Longmans Canada.
• Johnson, J.K. (1969) Affectionately Yours: The Letters of Sir John A. Macdonald and His Family. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.
• Johnson, J.K. and Waite, P.B. (2007) "Sir John Alexander Macdonald," in Canada's Prime Ministers, Macdonald to Trudeau: Portraits from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• McSherry, James. (1984) The invisible lady: Sir John A. Macdonald's first wife. In Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, pp. 91–97.
• Phenix, Patricia. (2006) Private Demons, The Tragic Personal Life of John A. Macdonald. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
• Pope, Joseph. (1894) Memoirs of the Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald, G.C.B., First Prime Minister of The Dominion of Canada, Vols. 1&2. Ottawa: J. Durie & Son.
• Pope, Joseph. (1915) The Day of Sir John Macdonald: A Chronicle of the First Prime Minister of the Dominion. Toronto: Brook & Co.
• Pope, Joseph (1921) Correspondence of Sir John Macdonald: selections from the correspondence of Sir John Alexander Macdonald. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
• Sletcher, Michael. (2004) "Sir John A. Macdonald," in James Eli Adams, and Tom and Sara Pendergast, eds., Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era. 4 vols., Danbury, CT: Grolier Academic Reference.
• Swainson, Donald. (1989) Sir John A. Macdonald: The Man and the Politician. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press.
• Waite, P. B. (1971) Canada 1874-1896: Arduous Destiny. Toronto, McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
• Waite, P. B. (1975) Macdonald: His Life and World. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. ISBN 0-07-082301-4.
• Waite, P. B. (1976) + (1999) John A. Macdonald. Don Mills, ON: Fitzhenry and Whiteside Limited.
• Wallace, W. Stewart. (1924) Sir John Macdonald. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited.

Notes

1. Pope, Sir Joseph (1930) Memoirs of The Right Honourable John Alexander Macdonald. Toronto: ON: The Musson Book Company Ltd., p.3. Pope relates that Hugh Macdonald recorded the time of Sir John's birth as 4:15, January 11, 1815.
2. "The North-West Council". Vol II No. 197. Manitoba Daily Free Press. February 19, 1876. p. 8.
3. Mr. Prime Minister 1867-1964, by Bruce Hutchison, Toronto 1964, Longmans Canada.
4. Gwyn, p. 86.
5. Phenix, p.49.
6. Swainson, p.29.
7. Gwyn, pp.54–55.
8. Swainson, p.31.
9. Creighton, p.84. The two thousand dollar figure is from Gwyn, p.55.
10. Waite, P.B. (1975) Macdonald: His Life and World. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, p.24. Waite notes that "strictly speaking" Isabella was "a half-second cousin." The two had a maternal grandmother in common.
11. Creighton, p.85.
12. Phenix, pp.56–57.
13. Phenix pp.56 & 59
14. Swainson, p.33. Macdonald concluded his partnership agreement with Campbell on the same day as his wedding. See, Phenix, p.61.
15. Creighton, p.99.
16. Phenix, p.70.
17. Phenix, pp.69–71, 82 & 86.
18. McSherry, James. (1984) "The invisible lady: Sir John A. Macdonald's first wife." In Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, pp. 91–97. See also Phenix, pp.71–72 & 77.
19. Creighton, p.112
20. Phenix gives a detailed account of the couple's arduous travels, pp.72–79.
21. Gwyn, p.83
22. Phenix, p.85.
23. Johnson, J.K. (1969) Affectionately Yours: The Letters of Sir John A. Macdonald and His Family. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, p.53.
24. Phenix, pp.93–94. Phenix writes: "According to Dr. Josephine Faveraux of the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, the rate of SIDS increases in infants and toddlers born to mothers addicted to opiates, especially if alcohol has also played a part in the equation."
25. Phenix, p.100.
26. Johnson, p.71.
27. Creighton, pp.147–149.
28. Creighton, pp.260–261.
29. Canadian Prime Ministers
30. Sir John A. Macdonald, Freemason
31. Sir John A. Macdonald: Architect of Modern Canada
32. Glenn Ford, Leading Man in Films and TV, Dies at 90

External links

• "Macdonald-Biography-First Among Equals". Libraries and Archives Canada.
• "Sir John A. Macdonald: Father of Confederation". City of Kingston.
• "John A. Macdonald's Kingston". Kingston Historical Society.
• The Canadian Museum of Civilization – Face-to-Face – The Canadian Personalities Hall
• Sir John A. Macdonald: Architect of Modern Canada
• John A. Macdonald, Confederation and Canadian Federalism
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• "Sir John A. Macdonald, Freemason"
• Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament
• Image of The Jamaica with Sir and Lady Macdonald aboard
• John Macdonald's Gravesite
• Correspondence of Sir John Macdonald; selections from the correspondence of the Right Honorable Sir John Alexander Macdonald, first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada, made by his literary executor Sir Joseph Pope (1921)
• "Macdonald, Sir John Alexander". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography article by J. K. Johnson and P. B. Waite
• The John A. Macdonald Portal, edited by Alastair Sweeny

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