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The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald
1st Prime Minister of Canada
In office July 1, 1867 – November 5, 1873 October 17, 1878 – June 6, 1891
Preceded by	(none) Alexander Mackenzie
Succeeded by	Alexander Mackenzie John Abbott
Personal details
Born	(1815-01-11)January 11, 1815 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	June 6, 1891(1891-06-06) (aged 76) Ottawa, Ontario
Political party	Conservative

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC (January 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first Prime Minister of Canada. 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 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 Glasgow, Scotland. 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 emigrated to Kingston, Upper Canada 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. 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, Isabella Clark (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 Bellevue House 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 New Haven, CT. Isabella and John had two children, John Alexander, who died when he was 13 months old, and Hugh John, who was raised by Macdonald's sister Margaret and her husband, James Williamson, after Isabella's death in 1857. Hugh John went on to become premier of the Province of Manitoba.

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.

Law career

Macdonald began articling for George Mackenzie, a Kingston lawyer in 1830 at the age of 15. A promising law student, Macdonald was managing a branch office in Napanee at age 17. From 1833 to 1835 Macdonald operated the law firm of his cousin, Lowther Pennington Macpherson, in Picton. Macdonald then set up his own law practice in August 1835 in Kingston. Macdonald was then called to the Bar on February 6 1836. Soon after opening his own law firm he took in two students: Oliver Mowat and Albert Campbell. He earned the esteem of many by his unsuccessful but solid defence of the American raiders who were captured at the Battle of the Windmill (1838, near Prescott, Ontario) in the Rebellions of 1837.

Political rise

Gainsford.

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 gauntlets, 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. (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 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.
• Ontario's Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway 401) is named after Macdonald and fellow Father of Confederation George-Étienne Cartier which also was used for Ottawa's International Airport named Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.
• 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.
• The Vancouver Sun reported on June 30, 2005, 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 National Post reported on June 30, 2005, that Canadian Wal Mart stores are selling the figure.
• 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-American actor Glenn Ford.
• As of 2006: Macdonald was the first of two Canadian prime-ministers to die in office (The other is John Thompson).
• 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 John Wilson Bengough; 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 Canadian ten-dollar bill. He also has bridges, airports, and highways named after him (such as the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway), as well as a plethora of schools across the country. Macdonald and his son, Hugh John Macdonald briefly sat together in the Canadian House of Commons prior to 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.

References

1. "Sir John A Macdonald". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
2. "Macdonald-Biography-First Among Equals". Libraries and Archives Canada.
3. "Sir John A. Macdonald: Father of Confederation". City of Kingston.
4. "Macdonald, Sir John Alexander". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
5. ^ "MACDONALD, Sir JOHN ALEXANDER". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
6. "John A. Macdonald's Kingston". Kingston Historical Society.

• ""Sir John A. Macdonald: Father of Confederation"". City of Kingston. City of Kingston, Ontario. n.d. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
• Donald Creighton. John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician (1952), vol 1 to 1867
• Donald Creighton. John A. Macdonald, old chieftain (1955) v 2
• P. B. Waite, Macdonald: his life and world (Toronto and New York, 1975)
• Dictionary of Canadian Biography article by J. K. Johnson and P. B. Waite
• 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

• 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 A. MacDonald Memorial at Place du Canada in Montreal, Quebec
• Ontario Plaques - The Macdonald-Mowat House 1872
• 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)

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• Articles with trivia sections from June 2007
• John A. Macdonald
• Prime Ministers of Canada
• Fathers of Confederation
• Leaders of the historical Conservative Party of Canada
• Canadian Ministers of Railways and Canals
• Members of the 1st Ministry in Canada
• Members of the 3rd Ministry in Canada
• Premiers of the Province of Canada
• Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
• Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada
• Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
• Anglican politicians
• Canadian Anglicans
• Ontario lawyers
• Converts to Anglicanism
• Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
• Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
• Canadian knights
• Orange Order
• Orangemen
• People from Glasgow
• People from Kingston, Ontario
• Red Tories
• Scottish migrants to pre-Confederation Ontario
• Deaths by stroke
• 1815 births
• 1891 deaths
• Leaders of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons