Turning a sparsely populated, spread out colony into something prosperous was itself a big challenge. With the British fading and the areas southern neighbor and French minority on the rise, a Canadian politicion John A Macdonald came forward with a plan to make a coherent country. Not everyone agreed with everything he did, but by the end od a long career, most appreciated the effort. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelists.
Well you have to admit that this stamp resembles a same time period American founding father stamps. Describing Macdonald that way might inspire queasiness in Canada. He has a few statues and a John A Macdonald day, but it is not even a holiday. Some of it is partisanship, he was right and if you are left? or French( I think I am supposed to say Francophone?) Or maybe it was the still strong then affiliation with Britain, making local leaders seem less powerful. In any case, this stamp may look the same, but what it conveys is different.
Todays stamp is issue A45, a one cent stamp issued by the Dominion of Canada on June 29th, 1927. The stamp shows former Prime Minister John A Macdonald and was part of a 5 stamp issue celebrating 60 years sine the Canadian British colonies confederated as the Dominion of Canada. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.30 used.
John A Macdonald, there was a rival unrelated politician named John S. Macdonald, was born in Scotland to an unsuccessful shopkeeper. When still a child, the family moved to Kingston, Upper Canada where he was still an unsuccessful shopkeeper. Macdonald knew he didn’t want to go into trade so became a lawyer. At the time there were no law schools, instead you started with a test of general knowledge, then apprenticed with a lawyer and then took a second test of legal knowledge. If all went well, you were then called to the bar. All went well for Macdonald. his apprenticeship was with an up and coming young lawyer who died near the end of Macdonald’s studies, leaving him an established practice in Kingston, then the capital of upper Canada. One of his early clients was a 16 year old newlywed Irish immigrant that came to him seeking legal advise on a store she wanted to buy. She became rich and was a lifelong supporter and some say lover of Macdonald. Established, Macdonald went on a long English tour, coming back to Canada with a distant cousin Isabel as his bride. She was sickly and melancholy and she moved to Savannah, Georgia in the USA in the hope that would improve her condition. Macdonald visited her there and she had two children, but in this period Macdonald began drinking heavily. Isabel died in 1857. His surviving son was raised by an aunt.
Great Britain was paying a lot for the colonies in Canada. As such they were anxious to turn over the burden to Canadians. At the time Canada was just Upper Canada which is now Ontario, and Lower Canada, French Quebec. The Maritimes were separate colonies and the west an open frontier. Not a particularly promising country. Economic growth was quite slow and there was a serious net migration to the faster growing USA. Macdonald foresaw one country incorporating the Maritimes and with the west settled by Anglo Canadians. To unite the place he saw and supported a continent wide Canadian Pacific Railroad. The case for the railroad was not economic, it had to be greatly subsidized, and still required dealing with money borrowed from crooked interests. Several times, nineteenth century Canadian governments including Macdonald’s fell due to railroad corruption. In Manitoba there were rivalries between English and French settlers, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/15/canada-1955-cellebrating-50-years-of-alberta-being-a-province/ . In British Columbia there was resistance to large numbers of Chinese railroad workers brought in that worked at half pay. Macdonald sided forcefully with the English Settlers meaning the west would be English. He also initiated a Chinese “Head tax” that charged $50 per Chinese they let into Canada. This was necessary Macdonald said otherwise the Aryian nature of British America would be compromised. It sounds harsh and ended in 1923 when Chinese immigration to Canada was banned completely. When trying to build a country where there isn’t one, diversity is not a strength. Many apologies no doubt from current Canadian leadership. Macdonald also supported high tariffs in the hope that Canadian manufacturers could survive American competition.
Macdonald lived long enough and returned to power enough times to see his prized Canadian Pacific Railroad completed. It did what he hoped and united the countries’ economy. He was in fact reelected the same year he died of a stoke.
Well my drink is empty and one perhaps shouldn’t toast a fellow with a drinking problem. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting