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{{otherpeople|John Alexander Macdonald}}
<!--Just a friendly reminder, Sir John A. Macdonald's last name is always spelled "Macdonald," not "MacDonald."-->
{{Infobox Prime Minister
| name=<small><small>]</small></small> <br>Sir John Alexander Macdonald
| honorific-suffix=<small><small><br>
| image=JaMAC.jpg
| order=1st ]
| term_start =], ]
| term_end =], ]<br>], ] &ndash; ], ]
| predecessor =''(none)''<br>]
| successor =]<br>]
| birth_date ={{birth date|1815|1|11|mf=y}}
| birth_place =], ]
| death_date ={{death date and age|1891|6|6|1815|1|11}}
| death_place =], ]
| party=]
| religion = ], converting later to ]
}}
'''Sir John Alexander Macdonald''', ], ], ] (], ] &ndash; ], ]) was the first ] of ]. 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 ]s and won praise for having helped forge a nation of sprawling geographic size, with two diverse European colonial origins, and a multiplicity of cultural backgrounds and political views.


==Personal life==
Macdonald was born in ], ].He then moved to black creek, b.c. His father was Hugh Macdonald, an unsuccessful merchant, who met his mother, Helen Shaw, in 1811. After the failure of his father's business ventures, his family ] to ], ] in 1820 along with thousands of others seeking affordable land and promises of new prosperity. In Kingston, Hugh Macdonald's business ventures were more successful than they had been in Scotland.<ref name = "CBCGC">{{cite web|url = http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/macdonald-john.html|title = Sir John A Macdonald|publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> When John was 10, he was sent off to Midland Grammar School, in Kingston, Ontario.


In 1843, at the age of 28, he married his half second cousin, ] (1811 - 1857), (they had a maternal grandmother in common). Soon after the wedding, Isabella became terribly sick with a mysterious illness. She depended on medication and spent most of her time in bed. Macdonald moved to ] in Kingston with his family in 1848 in the hope that the fresh suburban air would help Isabella's condition. This experiment, however, was a failure. Moreover his budding political and legal career prevented him from spending as much time with his wife as he felt he should, especially she obtained treatment at a hospital in ]. Isabella and John had two children, John Alexander, who died when he was 13 months old, and ], who was raised by Macdonald's sister Margaret and her husband, James Williamson, after Isabella's death in ]. Hugh John went on to become ] of the ] of ].


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In 1867, at the age of 52, Macdonald married his second wife ] (1836-1920). His only son died at birth. However, they had one daughter, Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald (1869-1933), who was born with ] and suffered from physical and mental disabilities. Macdonald always hoped she would recover, but she never did.
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==Law career==
Macdonald began articling for ], a Kingston lawyer in 1830 at the age of 15.<ref name = "CC">{{cite web|url = http://www.collectionscanada.ca/primeministers/h4-3031-e.html|title = Macdonald-Biography-First Among Equals|publisher = Libraries and Archives Canada}}</ref><ref name = "COK">{{cite web|url = http://www.cityofkingston.ca/sirj.asp|title = Sir John A. Macdonald: Father of Confederation|publisher = City of Kingston}}</ref> A promising law student, Macdonald was managing a branch office in ] at age 17.<ref name = "TCE">{{cite web|url = http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0004867|title = Macdonald, Sir John Alexander|publisher = The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> From 1833 to 1835 Macdonald operated the law firm of his cousin, ], in ].<ref name = "DCB">{{cite web|url = http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=40370|title = MACDONALD, Sir JOHN ALEXANDER|publisher = Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online}}</ref> Macdonald then set up his own law practice in August 1835 in Kingston.<ref name = "DCB" /> Macdonald was then ] on ] ].<ref name = "DCB" /> Soon after opening his own law firm he took in two students: ] and ].<ref name = "KHS">{{cite web|url = http://www.kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca/jam/jamkingston.html|title = John A. Macdonald's Kingston|publisher = Kingston Historical Society}}</ref> He earned the esteem of many by his unsuccessful but solid defence of the American raiders who were captured at the ] (1838, near Prescott, Ontario) in the ].

==Political rise==
]
In 1843, Macdonald entered politics, standing for the office of ] in Kingston, a position to which he was elected.<ref name = "CC2">{{cite web|url = http://www.collectionscanada.ca/confederation/023001-2360-e.html|title = Sir John A. Macdonald - Canadian Confederation|publisher = Libraries and Archives Canada}}</ref> He exhibited his first interest in politics. In 1844 he was elected to the legislature of the Province of Canada to represent Kingston<ref name = "QHE">{{cite web|url = http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/SirJohnA.Macdonald-JohnAlexanderMacdonald-CanadianHistory.htm|title = Sir John A. Macdonald|publisher = The Quebec History Encyclopedia}}</ref>, gained the recognition of his peers and in 1847 was appointed Receiver General in ]'s administration. However, Macdonald had to give up his portfolio when Draper's government lost the next election. He left the Conservatives, hoping to build a more moderate and palatable base. In 1854, he helped with the founding of the Liberal-Conservative Party under the leadership of Sir ]. Within a few years, the Liberal-Conservatives would attract all of the old Conservative base as well as some centrist Reformers. The Liberal-Conservatives came to power in 1854 and under the new administration Macdonald was appointed ]. During his time in cabinet, Macdonald was usually the most powerful minister, even when other men held the premiership. In the next election Macdonald continued his rise in politics by becoming ] with Sir ] of Canada East for the years 1856 and 1857.

Taché resigned in 1857, and ] took his place. In the election of 1858, the Macdonald-Cartier government was defeated and they resigned as Premiers. In an interesting piece of politics, the ] asked Cartier to become the senior Premier, only a week after his defeat. Cartier accepted and brought Macdonald into office along with him. This was legal as any member of the cabinet could re-enter the cabinet provided they did so within a month of resigning their previous position. Macdonald focused on communications and defence, especially the Intercolonial Railway. Canada had to pressure the Colonial Office, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and PEI to, as one historian notes, "consider an ambitious scheme proposed by their pushing and turbulent neighbour, Canada."

The coalition government was again defeated in 1862. Macdonald then served as the leader of the opposition until the election of 1864, when Taché came out of retirement and joined ranks with Macdonald to form the governing party yet again.

] knighted John A. Macdonald for playing an integral role in bringing about Confederation. His creation as a Knight Commander of the ] was announced at the birth of the Dominion, ], ]. An ] was held in August which put Macdonald and his Conservative party into power.

] election poster from 1891.]]
Macdonald's vision as Prime Minister was to enlarge the country and unify it. Accordingly, under his rule Canada bought ] and the ] from the ] for £300,000 (about $11,500,000 in modern Canadian dollars). This land became the ]. In 1870 Parliament passed the ], creating the province of Manitoba out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in response to the ] led by ].

In 1871 Britain added ] 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 ] (then called the "North-West Mounted Police") to act as a police force for the vast Northwest Territories.

After the ] in 1873, in which Macdonald was accused of taking bribes to award contracts for the construction of the railway, he was forced to resign and ] leader ] formed a ]. The subsequent ] was won by the Mackenzie Liberals. Macdonald was returned to power in 1878 on the strength of the ], a plan to promote trade within the country by protecting it from the industries of other nations and renewing the effort to complete the previously promised ], which was accomplished in 1885. That year, Louis Riel also returned to Canada and launched the ] in the territory of ], but now that there was a railway through the area the North-West Mounted Police were quickly sent to put it down. The trial and subsequent execution of Riel for treason caused a deep political division between French Canadians, who supported Riel (a culturally French ]) and English Canadians, who supported Macdonald.

In ], 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 ], ], Sir John A. suffered a severe ], which robbed him of the ability to speak, and from which he would never recover. He died a week later on ], ] at the age of 76. He would ] in the ] Chamber (Prime Ministers now lie in state in the Hall of Honour in the ]) where grieving Canadians turned out in the thousands to pay their respects. His ] was held on ], attended by hundreds of thousands of people. He is buried in ] near ]. None of his children left heirs and is survived by relative Hugh Gainsford.

== Supreme Court appointments ==
Macdonald chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the ] by the ]:
* ] (], ] – ], ])
* ] (], ] – ], ])
* Sir ] (as Chief Justice, ], ] – ], ]; appointed a ] under Prime Minister Mackenzie, ], ])

== Freemasonry ==
Macdonald was a ], initiated in 1844 at St. John’s Lodge No. 5 in Kingston. In 1868, he was named by the ] as its Grand Representative near the ] (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 gauntlets, are in the ] 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==
{{Trivia|date=June 2007}}
*Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his alcoholism. He is known to have been drunk for many of his debates in parliament. 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." (Montreal Gazette, 30 May 1862)
*Macdonald's temper sometimes got the better of him, such as in one incident in the ] when ] 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 ]. At Disraeli's funeral in 1881, another British official thought that he saw Disraeli's ghost in attendance, although it was actually Macdonald.
*Ontario's Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (]) is named after Macdonald and fellow Father of Confederation ] which also was used for Ottawa's International Airport named ].
* While there is some debate over his actual birthdate, January 10 is the official date recorded and January 11 is the day Macdonald celebrated it.
*'']'' reported on ], ], that Macdonald's birthplace in Glasgow, Scotland, is under threat of demolition.
*In 2003, Nafekh Technologies, Inc. created a John A. Macdonald action figure which was initially sold in specialty stores. The ] reported on ], ], that Canadian ] stores are selling the figure.
*Macdonald's private train car, which he named ], was given to him by the ] for his work on the railway.
*According to the ], 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 ]-] actor ].
*As of ]: Macdonald was the first of two Canadian prime-ministers to die in office (The other is ]).
*Having personally written the largest part of the Canadian constitution ( BNA act ), and having been the main lobbyist for its adoption at London, Macdonald can truly be called the "Father of his country."
*Macdonald was the favourite target of the "Grip" magazine's premier cartoonist ]; who came to fame by ridiculing Macdonald's government, during the Pacific Railroad scandal.
*At least two bronze public statues of Macdonald stand in Canadian city parks. One in downtown Montreal and one in Kingston Ontario's city park.

==Legacy==
Macdonald is depicted on the ]. He also has bridges, airports, and highways named after him (such as the ]), as well as a plethora of schools across the country. Macdonald and his son, ] briefly sat together in the ] prior to the elder Macdonald's death.

] ], from ] to ].]]

In 2004, Macdonald was nominated as one of the top 10 "]" by viewers of the ]. He is considered by some Canadian political scientists to be the founder of the ] tradition.

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = "Sir John A. Macdonald: Father of Confederation"
| work = City of Kingston
| publisher = City of Kingston, Ontario
| date = n.d.
| url = http://www.cityofkingston.ca/sirj.asp
| accessdate = 2007-05-29}}
* to 1867
* ]. ''John A. Macdonald, old chieftain'' (1955) v 2
* P. B. Waite, ''Macdonald: his life and world'' (Toronto and New York, 1975)
*
* Michael Sletcher, ‘Sir John A. Macdonald’, in James Eli Adams, and Tom and Sara Pendergast, eds., ''Encyclopedia of the Victorian Era'' (4 vols., Danbury, CT, 2004).
* Patricia Phenix. ''Private Demons, The Tragic Personal Life of John A. Macdonald'' McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, ON, 2006.

== External links ==
*
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* at Place du Canada in Montreal, Quebec
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{{Persondata
|NAME=Macdonald, John Alexander
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=1st Prime Minister of Canada (1867-1973,1878-1891)
|DATE OF BIRTH={{birth date|1815|1|11|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF BIRTH=], ]
|DATE OF DEATH={{death date|1891|6|6|mf=y}}
|PLACE OF DEATH=]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, John A.}}
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Revision as of 23:26, 16 October 2007

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