''Confederation Party'' was a term for the parties supporting

Canadian confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Dominio ...

in the

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Coun ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, and

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in the 1860s when politics became polarised between supporters and opponents of Confederation. The Confederation parties were accordingly opposed by Anti-Confederation parties in those three jurisdictions. A conference was held on September 1, 1864, in Charlottetown when the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

became interested in it. John A. Macdonald was a huge promoter of Confederation and even made an alliance with his political rival, George Brown to make it happen. In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the Confederation parties became Conservative parties aligned with the federal

Liberal-Conservative Party The Liberal-Conservative Party (french: le Parti libéral-conservateur) was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, and again from 1922 to 1938, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as la ...

of Sir John A. Macdonald (generally known simply as ''Conservatives''), while Anti-Confederation parties became Liberals. This approximated the political dichotomy that existed prior to Confederation although, because of the realignment, some former Liberals became Conservatives and vice versa. The acceptance of the Confederation Party was greatly influenced by the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. Other reasons were an aggressive American foreign policy and the Fenian Raids of 1866. Some of the Maritime provinces were worried that the autonomy would be weakened if they took up the Confederation. It was also feared that the French-Canadian interests would be weakened if the Confederation was embraced in

Canada East Canada East (french: links=no, Canada-Est) was the northeastern portion of the United Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The ne ...

(modern-day

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

References

* "Sir John Alexander Macdonald". ''collectionscanada.gc.ca''. n.p., n.d. Web. 25 October 2011. * Political parties in pre-Confederation New Brunswick Political parties in pre-Confederation Nova Scotia Politics of Nova Scotia {{Canada-party-stub

See also

References