Ch. 2 Confederation Conflict

Question 1

Beothuk

Answer 1

Aboriginal people of Newfoundland; believed to have disappeared — due to exotic diseases, loss of territory, and armed conflict with European colonists — by the second quarter of the 19th century.

Question 2

Cariboo Wagon Road

Answer 2

A pair of routes to the gold-bearing regions on the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, initiated in 1860. One begins in Fort Douglas, the other at Yale. It effectively bankrupted the unite colony of British Columbia.

Question 3

Confederation League

Answer 3

Founded by Amor de Cosmos and John Robson in 1868, promoting the idea of BC’s union with Canada through newspapers and direct lobbying of administrations in Victoria, Ottawa, and London. Their goals included responsible government in the colony, reciprocity with the United States, and austerity measures to address colonial debt.

Question 4

Disallowance

Answer 4

An effective veto held by Ottawa that could be used to overturn provincial legislation.

Question 5

Dominion Lands Act (1872)

Answer 5

The legal mechanism that made possible the distribution of western lands.

Question 6

Escheat Movement

Answer 6

An organized movement in 19th century Prince Edward Island with the objective of ending absent landlordism and the distribution of lands to tenant farmers.

This delayed PEI from considering confederation, as they did not want to lose their momentum with pursuing England on this issue.

Question 7

Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway

Answer 7

1871; the E&N was built to connect the coalfields of the central island with the British Columbia capital, Victoria.

It was also provided as a consolation for the cancelling the CPR route that would have connected to Victoria.

Question 8

Graving or Dry dock

Answer 8

A repair facility for shipping. The Esquimalt graving dock was funded by Ottawa and part of the deal struck for joining confederation.

Question 9

Harbour Grace Affray (1883)

Answer 9

Newfoundland dispute in which Orange Lodge Protestants and Catholic
neighbours came to blows; led to five deaths and a dozen casualties.

Question 10

Indian Agent

Answer 10

An agent of the federal government’s Department of Indian Affairs (or, later, DIAND) with responsibility for managing and/or supervising one or more Aboriginal communities.

Question 11

Kanakans

Answer 11

Hawaiians or Pacific Island workers. This group of people were drawn to BC during the goldrush.

This term may have been used disparagingly or in a derogatory fashion, however, the word means “human being” in the Hawaiian language.

Question 12

Medicine Line

Answer 12

The 49th parallel north, so named by the First Nations of the Plains because it worked as an invisible barrier to stop attacks northward by United States soldiers.

Question 13

Moravian Brethren

Answer 13

An early Protestant sect from central Europe; established missions in Labrador, with the first permanent site established at Nain in 1771.

Question 14

Nativist millenarians

Answer 14

Movements among mostly Indigenous peoples under imperialism that attempt to throw off their occupiers and return to an idealized past way of living; sometimes imbued with a mystical element that could involve divine intervention.

Question 15

Pacific Scandal (1873)

Answer 15

Macdonald’s Conservative Party was given significant funds from the Canadian Pacific Railway, which caused the CPR to lose the opportunity to complete the Intercolonial Railway, cost Macdonald his administration, and brought the Mackenzie Liberals into office.

Question 16

Peace, order, and good government (POGG)

Answer 16

From Section 91 of the BNA Act as regards “residual” or “residuary powers” (granted to the Queen, the Senate, and House of Commons to make laws), and which could cover anything and everything that was either not itemized or as yet not imagined in the constitutional division of authority.

Question 17

Pig War

Answer 17

Colloquial name for a dispute between the United States and the British Empire over the San Juan Islands, from 1859-1873. It increased the fears BC colonists had about American invasion and encouraged them to join confederation for protection.

Question 18

Populist

Answer 18

In politics, an appeal to the interests and concerns of the community by political leaders (populists) usually against established elites or minority — or scapegoat — groups. The rhetoric of populists is often characterized as vitriolic, bombastic, and fear-mongering.

Many British elite in Victoria and New Westminster opposed confederation. This opposition led to a populist assembly.

Question 19

Scrip

Answer 19

A system introduced by Canada for extinguishing Métis land title, beginning in 1870. Scrip documents indicated individual entitlement to land, although not necessarily to land on which one was already settled. While the numbered treaties dealt with whole First Nations communities collectively, scrip was negotiated on an individual and household basis.

Question 20

Section and quarter section (Block system)

Answer 20

The system used by land surveyors to divide land and property. One section is meant to be 1 mi (1.6 km) square.

This system was used by Canadian land survey teams to redraw the map of the Red River settlement, completely ignoring existing land divides previously created through the seignurial system.

Question 21

Seigneurial System (ended 1854)

Answer 21

Used in New France; based on a feudal system in which land was granted under a royalty system, and the tenant was responsible for farming the land to meet their physical needs (food, heat, and shelter). This system was abolished in 1854.

Question 22

Treaty of Paris

Answer 22

Ended the Seven Years’ War. France ceded all of its territory east of the Mississippi to Britain (including all of Canada, Acadia, and Île Royale) and granted Louisiana and lands west of the Mississippi to its ally Spain. Britain returned to France the sugar islands of Guadeloupe. France retained St. Pierre and Miquelon along with fishing rights on the Grand Banks.

Question 23

Ultramontanist

Answer 23

Elements in Catholicism that emphasize papal authority over secular authority and, after 1870, papal infallibility. Seeks a large, extensive role for the church in daily life and objects to the main features of modernity, especially the growth of the secular state. Although ultramontanism faded in Europe after 1870, it remained a powerful force in Canada to the 1960s.

Question 24

White Dominions

Answer 24

Former British colonies dominated by a European population or elite; includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Newfoundland to ca. 1934-1949.

Question 25

Yale Convention

Answer 25

Meeting between British Columbian delegates to determine the colony’s demands as regards joining Confederation. Their goals included responsible government in the colony, reciprocity with the United States, and austerity measures to address colonial debt.

Anthony Musgrave newly appointed governor of BC (previously governor of NFLD) was appeasing in order for the colony to join. He did not want a repeat of what had happened with NFLD (not joining confederation).

The deal included: elimination of colony’s debt, funding for Esquimalt graving dock, and including BC in the CPR.