The Canadian Federalist Experiment: From Defiant Monarchy to Reluctant Republic

by Frederick Vaughan

The story of how a group of men The Fathers of Confederation forged a new nation Canada from the splintered remains of a failed British North American empire has oft been told, says Vaughan (political science, U. of Guelph), but his telling is one of moral as well as political defiance. It was the 19th century, yet the Father insisted on retaining

232 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2004

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a person who's fairly versed in the US historical, philosophical and current events materials, I kept thinking that Canadian historical and philosophical thoughts were neither interesting nor that important compared to the US'. Canada the timid, quiet, weak on competition and maybe a little slow on catching up to the rest of the world. Read some other books about Canadian history and you might think similarly: there's not much passionate call to freedom or pursuit of happiness. There's not much inspiring stories produced about Canadian leaders and entrepreneurs -- though in reality, there are quite a few of them in Canadian history. Sure we got stories of Canadians in the battle of 1812 and WW II but not much else. However, after reading this book, I've just begun to understand how profoundly wrong I was.

Vaughan shows the riches of Canadian experience, starting from the very beginning as French and British colonies and how internal and international events shaped the foundation and continuing development of Canadian way of life and conversation. In this book, Vaughan discusses the lessons that Canadians learned --from English civil war, American and French revolutions as well as the subsequent American civil war-- contribute to their tendency to support Hobbesian philosophy of strong government, which the American founding fathers rejected. There are lots of discussions of how the other philosophical thinkers such as Montesquieu, John Locke and Alexis de Tocqueville tempers Canadian thoughts. Most importantly Vaughan shows how various forces, such as religious and commercial interests, shapes Canada through its 146 years journey.

Don't get your hopes up too high, of course. There're lots of things Vaughan don't discuss such as Canada's interaction with its metis and native cultures, the contribution and role of international ethnic groups to Canada and what the road would be like in the future. Yet, if there ever was a primer book that all Canadian students, immigrants and citizens should read about Canada, this is one. A fairly short book that would help introduce a better sense of understanding and identity of this amazing country. True North, strong and free.