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John A. Macdonald, 1815-1891 First Prime Minister of Canadian Confederation - Chronology
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Sir John A. Macdonald, Ottawa

Sir John A. Macdonald, Ottawa
Library and Archives Canada
C-021290

Fathers of Confederation, 1867, circa 1965

Fathers of Confederation, 1867, circa 1965
Rex Woods
Based on work by Robert Harris
Library and Archives Canada
C-148218

John A. Macdonald's Trip Through the Rockies by the Newly Completed CPR, July 1886

John A. Macdonald's Trip Through the Rockies by the Newly Completed CPR, July 1886
Charles William Jefferys
Glenbow Museum, Calgary
991.100.002

1815
Born on January 10 or 11 in Glasgow, Scotland.

1820
Emigrates with his family to Upper Canada (today’s Ontario).

1835
Opens a legal practice in Kingston and becomes involved in local politics.

1843
Marries Isabella Clark, with whom he has two children, only one of whom — Hugh John — survives.

1844
Is elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Kingston, in the Province of Canada (today’s Québec and Ontario).

1864–1867
Plays the leading role in constitutional conferences at Charlottetown, Quebec City, and London (UK), at which delegates from separate British North American colonies devised and drafted the blueprint for Confederation.

1867
As a widower, marries Susan Agnes Bernard,
with whom he has a daughter, born with a disability.
Confederation is declared on July 1; Macdonald becomes the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada, remaining in office until 1873.

1869–1870
Negotiates with the Métis Nation which resists the Canadian takeover of the Red River Colony; the colony enters Confederation as the Province of Manitoba.
Sends troops to Manitoba; local Métis experience harassment and violence.

1871
Represents Canada on the British Commission negotiating the Treaty of Washington, which establishes peaceful relations between Canada and the US.

1873
Creates the North-West Mounted Police to enforce Canadian law among Indigenous people and settlers in the Canadian West.

1874–1878
Serves as Leader of the Opposition after the resignation of his government over the 1873 Pacific Scandal.

1878
Becomes Prime Minister again, until 1891.

1880–1884
Uses starvation tactics to force Plains First Nations onto reserves.
Introduces a nationwide system of Indian Residential Schools.

1885
Sends troops to quell an uprising in present-day Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Authorizes the hanging of Métis leader Louis Riel and eight Plains First Nations men as well as the imprisonment of prominent Plains First Nations leaders.
Authorizes the pass system which prohibits First Nations people from leaving their reserves without permission from a government agent.
Criminalizes traditional Indigenous gatherings and ceremonies on the Prairies and the West Coast.
Passes the Chinese Immigration Act, imposing a head tax on anyone of Chinese origin upon entering Canada.
Pushes the transcontinental railway through to British Columbia, where the Last Spike is driven on November 7.

1891
Dies in office on June 6 in Ottawa.

John A. Macdonald, politician, Montreal, copied 1862

John A. Macdonald, politician, Montreal, copied 1862
Photo: William Notman McCord Museum, Montreal, Notman Photographic Archives
I-5052.0

Sir John A. Macdonald, Ottawa, 1869

Sir John A. Macdonald, Ottawa, 1869
Photo: William Notman McCord Museum, Montreal, Notman Photographic Archives
N-0000.26

John A. Macdonald, Montreal, 1863

John A. Macdonald, Montreal, 1863
Photo: William Notman McCord Museum, Montreal, Notman Photographic Archives
I-7951.1

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