Sir John Alexander Macdonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891) and the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation.
When Macdonald was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston in the Province of Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario). As a lawyer he was involved in several high-profile cases and quickly became prominent in Kingston, which elected him in 1844 to the legislature of the Province of Canada. By 1857, he had become Premier.