Summary of Canadian Confederation

During the years before Confederation, there was much happening in the colonies that would eventually unite to become the Dominion of Canada in 1867. The Fathers of Confederation were the architects of the plan that resulted in the proposal that would bring the individual British American colonies together under a Federalist system. There were three main conferences which were held and to be included as a Father of Confederation. These conferences were The Charlottetown Conference - 1864, The Quebec Conference - 1864, and The London Conference - 1866.
The Fathers of Confederation for the most part were leading politicians from the British Colonies interested in forming a Federal Union or a Confederation. Although not all colonies joined Canada in 1867, they eventually did join at a later date and in the case of Newfoundland, the last to join, not until 1949. As these additional Provinces joined Canada a second tier of "Fathers of Confederation" were added to the list. Without the action of these men, the union of the British colonies in North America would not have occurred.

Governor Arthur Gordon was given the choice of a Governorship in the small colony of Nova Scotia or a Caribbean colony and chose Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia had established responsible government long before Gordon arrived. He was quite aware of events unfolding in America. He felt that he could use his royal influence to convince the governors of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to help him bring together maritime politicians at a conference to begin talking about the potential for a Maritime Union and the steps that need to be taken to achieve it.
The British Government warmed to the idea of Maritime Union and saw it as a potential precursor to a more general Union of the British North American colonies. Agreement was generally reached among Politian's and Imperial powers and September 1, 1864 was set as the date that the maritime representatives would convene at Charlottetown in