Canadian History with Clarence MacPhee: Conflagration (1865-67)

Good day, friends. It's time to paddle our canoes through another exciting history lesson on Canadian History. I'm Clarence MacPhee. The ties that united the newly formed Dominion of Canada in 1867 were forged in the crucible of the American Civil War. Canada skipped being a realm and went straight to a dominion in the hope of avoiding a similar outbreak. In 1865, the last year of the American conflict, aspiring Canadian founding father John A. MacDonald believed that such disastrous disunity highlighted the need for a strong central government and dispatched the fierce nationalist Miles Harrigan to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to convene the delegates of five provinces for a vote on confederation. A former Fenian and bootlegger, Harrigan excelled in politics, advancing in parliament all the way to the Office of Lord High Executioner. Escorted by a formidable compliment of armed guards, Harrigan arrived at the Charlottetown conference during a disagreement over the national symbol. A heated exchange had broken out between proponents of Nova Scotia's paisley glacier and advocates of New Brunswick's jolly tartan. Calm was quickly restored by Harrigan's men. All flags were lowered and burned and their ashes thoroughly trampled over. From that point, the delegates had to think deeply about what their widely separated lands had in common. By 1866, the solution dawned on them: trees. Canada might unite under a leaf. At once, another quarrel erupted over the best national leaf. The guards were again called upon to restore order. Afterwards, the delegates who were well enough to return to their seats voted to let Harrigan choose the leaf. From a thick catalog, he settled on a maple. When asked why, he said because it looked like an explosion. No one objected, and the following year, the maple leaf was hoisted in the new capital city of Ottawa against a sky ablaze with fireworks on the first of July, a day now celebrated as Canada Day. Prime Minister MacDonald was relieved. A nation had been born without bloodshed. Canada had avoided a civil war and would only have to fight strangers. Above all, he got to be prime minister. Lord High Executioner Harrigan transferred to the army and left Upper Canada for a remote outpost in Upper Transvaal. He fell bravely defending the empire from Zulus in 1880. Tragic. For Canadian History, I'm Clarence MacPhee.
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