Student Tasks

What were the reasons for and against joining Confederation for New Brunswick?

When determining the reasons for and against Confederation, you may want to consider the following aspects:

• the type of government in New Brunswick at the time.
• the role of newspapers in spreading information.
• the social impact of Confederation.
• the relationship between New Brunswick and Britain.
• the economy of New Brunswick prior to Confederation.
• how people in New Brunswick feel about Confederation.

Historical Context for Teachers

Early history

• The land that is New Brunswick was originally a French possession, but became a British colony as part of the Second Treaty of Paris in 1783.
• In the 1860s, New Brunswick had a population of 270 000, the majority of whom were of English origin with large minorities composed of Acadian, French, Irish and Scottish people. Among the British Loyalists who came to New Brunswick from the United States during the American Revolution was a small group of Black Loyalists.
• Though it is not the colony’s capital, Saint John is one of the Maritimes’ largest cities. Fredericton was chosen the colonial capital because it is upriver and easier to defend in case of attack.

Political and economic problems

• The two main political parties in New Brunswick in the 1860s were the Liberals and Conservatives, but voting did not always follow political party affiliations. Issues, such as railways and trade, divided politicians.
• Since the early nineteenth century, the economy and life of New Brunswick was dominated by the timber trade. The vast forests in the western part of the colony were the bedrock of this industry and, in many ways, formed a natural barrier between New Brunswick and the rest of the continent.
• Only three to four percent of New Brunswick’s trade was with the Province of Canada, while twenty percent of all British timber imports come from New Brunswick. This rich supply of lumber led to a thriving shipbuilding industry in Saint John.
• While people in the colony were involved in farming and fishing, any significant growth of an agricultural economy was slowed by attractive profits in the lumber industry.
• Britain had a preferential trading system with New Brunswick that allowed timber to be imported to Britain without tariffs (fees on goods coming from another country). When this system ended in 1847, New Brunswick had difficulty paying the high tariffs.
• New Brunswick had a close trading relationship with the American states because of their close proximity. Trade with the eastern states increased as a result of the 1854 Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and British colonies that created free trade.
• The colony’s long border with the United States was poorly defended and not easily accessible to troops from outside New Brunswick. During the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, British troops sent to defend the Maritime colonies during the winter months had to travel by sled through New Brunswick.
• Throughout the war New Brunswick was concerned about military threats from the United States as Southerners used the British colonies in the Maritimes as a base for military actions against the North.
• Building the Intercolonial Railway was important for the colony’s defence and, if built, would open up New Brunswick economically to other colonies in British North America as Saint John would be connected to Montreal in the West and Halifax in the East.
• New Brunswick attempted to build a railroad, known as the Western Extension, across the colony on their own, but they were unable to raise the money needed to complete the project and construction stopped.

Confederation introduced

• In 1862, a conference was held between the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to discuss building an intercolonial railway to link all of the colonies of British North America; however, no agreement was reached on how to finance the cost of the railroad.
• In 1863, the Governor of New Brunswick, Arthur Hamilton Gordon, promoted a union between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The colonies agreed to hold a conference to discuss union of all the Maritime colonies, but an agreement could not be reached on a time or place for the conference.
• On September 1, 1864, representatives from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island met at Charlottetown to discuss a Maritime union. Representatives from the Province of Canada requested that they be allowed to attend as well.
• At the conference, representatives from the Province of Canada, George-Etienne Cartier and John A. Macdonald, changed the discussion from a Maritime union to Confederation, a wider union of all British North American colonies. Premier Samuel Leonard Tilley and the other New Brunswick delegates supported the initial proposal.
• Based on the success of the Charlottetown Conference, the Quebec Conference was organized for October 1864 to agree on the terms for Confederation. One of the main areas of disagreement was the composition of the Senate. The Maritime colonies wanted the same number of Senate seats as United Canada to prevent the more populous Canadian provinces from having more power than the others.

Decision on Confederation

• The delegates drafted the 72 Resolutions, or Quebec Resolutions, an agreement outlining the terms of union and the formation of the country and its government.
• With little support for Confederation in New Brunswick, Tilley called an election in 1865. Albert Smith led the anti-Confederation politicians to power by a wide margin.
• In 1866, the United States ended the Reciprocity Treaty. This reduced New Brunswick’s exports to the United States and left New Brunswick without a dominant trading partner.
• In 1866, a radical Catholic Irish group called the Fenians led failed attacks into New Brunswick and Canada West. The Fenians wanted Irish independence from Great Britain and attacked British colonies in North America to pressure Great Britain. To show their loyalty to Britain, many Catholics from New Brunswick began supporting Confederation.
• Premier Smith resigned in 1866 and Tilley and his supporters easily won the next election. In the summer of 1866, Tilley passed a resolution supporting Confederation by a vote of 38 to 1.

Map of British North American colonies, 1840

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