In 1813, Prince Edward Island was a struggling colony that was far from perfect. The new Lieutenant Governor, Charles Douglass Smith, was seemingly a tyrannical and uncontrollable force trying to drive Prince Edward Island into the ground. He was widely unpopular and recalled from his position because of a petition at the end of his ten year streak. Although in most accounts Smith was said to be terrible and out of control, in a closer look, he can easily be seen as a great Lt. Governor that took action. Lieutenant Governor Charles Douglass Smith did what he had to to stop the massive corruption on the Island, solve the Land Question, and, while doing so, always had the Island's needs in mind. Although his personality gave him a bad reputation, Smith was set out to fix the Island and keep it safe. Even when Smith was doing questionable things his actions were all coming from his drive to help the Island be a protected, prepared, and functional colony. Smith's ten year governing of P.E.I. was the first attempt at a better Island, and Smith himself was surely misunderstood. His intentions were right and his actions are now understandable.
When Prince Edward Island was granted individual colony standing by the Motherland in 1769 it took on not only all the expenses of it's government, but also much corruption.1 The first of the three Lieutenant Governor's of Prince Edward Island, Walter Patterson, was not exempt from the corruption. When the Island was divvied up into 67 different lots in 1767, each lot was given to a proprietor who had their name in the lottery to gain land on Prince Edward Island. As P.E.I. progressed, the absentee landlords refused to sell to tenants who had cleared the land and built up its worth. This predicam...
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...e outlook on C.D. Smith's governing.
Bumstead, J.M. “The Loyal Electors of Prince Edward Island.” The Island Magazine 08 (1980): 8-14.
A journal article on the Loyal Electors, Joseph DesBarres, and mentioning Smith.
Bumstead, J.M. “One and a Half, Maybe Two, Cheers for Charles Douglass Smith.” The Island Magazine 40 (1996): 28-35.
A journal article solely defending C.D. Smith's time as governor and his actions.
MacKinnnon, Wayne E. The Life of the Party. Summerside:Williams and Crue LTD, 1973.
This source is against my argument but will be used to show on of the many negative opinions on C.D. Smith.
Morgan, R.J. “DesBARRES, JOSEPH FREDERICK WALLET.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 6. University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. A November 6, 2013. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/desbarres_joseph_frederick_wallet_6E.html.
Biography of Joseph DesBarres.
The beginning of 1763 marked one of the major events that would contribute to the end of British colonial relations. On February 3, 1763 the French and Indian War finally ended in British victory, but while the British celebrated the French’s defeat, colonists feared the oncoming reverberations the war would have on them. The main motive behind the war was for possession over the French fur trade territory in North America. To the colonists, the war was being fought by and for Britain not the colonies. The benefits of the victory only pertained to Britain. The after effect of the war for the colonies was the trampling on their need for expansion. During the war, Native Americans had fought with the French because of how well they treated them. Britain was notorious for abusing the Native Americans, therefore once the French were defeated; they began attacking western settlements of colonists. To avoid confrontation, the Proclamation of 1763 was passed by Parliament. The Proclamation established a limit to the greatly needed colonial expansion. Specifically, the Proclamation forbid settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The passing of the Proclamation of 1763 infuriated colonists ...
Virginia in 1676 was a colony in turmoil. For a number of years the popularity of Governor Sir William Berkeley had suffered, especially among smaller farmers and those living on the edge of the frontier. Issues of complaint included land ownership, requirements on voting rights, high taxes, low tobacco prices, restrictive Navigation Acts, and, most importantly, lack of protection from attacks waged by Native Americans. Berkeley’s attempts to negotiate peace with the Native Americans caused him to avoid confronting violations of treaty obligations for fear of making the situation worse. As a result, as a greater percentage of the white population began to infiltrate Indian lands, more and more Virginians, especially unemployed colonists who had formerly been indent...
In Hasting’s article she explores the ways in which Canada sought to annex Britain’s West Indies colonies in the early twentieth century. One of the major benefits of expanding into the West Indies was to increase trading and goods that were being traded, this was made possible with the expanding steamship technology that increased its commercial and passenger routes south. The second factor of Canada’s campaign to annex the West Indies was to prove itself as a new territory that was expanding it’s borders, which suggested Canada as a contender among other countries such as Britain and France who had a long history of colonization. Hasting’s explores the factors contributing to Canada’s anticipated success in annexing the West Indies. The article discusses Canada’s potential in trying to create harmonious political relationship with the Bahamas in 1911, and how the issue
Although most of the inhabitants of Nova Scotia were New Englanders, they refused to join the Thirteen Colonies in 1775 and 1776 in an attempt to break connections with the British. They did not want to break the precedence the British left; they would instead trail a policy of neutrality. Ironically, it was the same neutrality in which the Acadians believed in; the same one the New Englanders looked down upon in the first place. With the settlement of the New Englanders in Nova Scotia, one question was meant to be answered: Why did Nova Scotia not join the Thirteen Colonies in attempt to break ties with the British in 1775 and 1776? The article discusses three theories that were created to answer the question.
During the 1750's, the most wealthy people in the town held the most property, meaning they obtained the most power and money. As time moved on, though, voting requiremen...
The issue of electoral reform has become more important than ever in Canada in recent years as the general public has come to realize that our current first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system, formally known as single-member plurality (SMP) has produced majority governments of questionable legitimacy. Of the major democracies in the world, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the only countries that still have SMP systems in place. Interestingly enough, there has been enormous political tension and division in the last few years in these countries, culminating with the election results in Canada and the USA this year that polarized both countries. In the last year we have seen unprecedented progress towards electoral reform, with PEI establishing an electoral reform commissioner and New Brunswick appointing a nine-member Commission on Legislative Democracy in December 2003 to the groundbreaking decision by the British Columbia Citizen’s Assembly on October 24, 2004 that the province will have a referendum on May 17, 2005 to decide whether or not they will switch to a system of proportional representation. This kind of reform is only expected to continue, as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty decided to take BC’s lead and form an independent Citizen’s Assembly with the power to determine whether or not Ontario will have a referendum regarding a change to a more proportional system. There is still much work to do however, and we will examine the inherent problems with Canada’s first-past-the-post system and why we should move into the 21st century and switch to a form of proportional representation.
Gibbins, R A New Senate for a More Democratic Canada. Calgary: The Canada West Foundation, 1981
As the government of Canada was taking its first steps as a united country after confederation it was eying a vast amount of land which is now part of the Canadian prairies and Manitoba. The Canadian government was interested in Rupert’s land because Canada wanted to expand from sea to sea (A Mari Usque Ad Mare) therefore accomplishing sir MacDonald vision for a bigger better Canada. One of the main reasons why Canada was eager to buy Rupert’s land was because good farmable land was scarce in Ontario. In addition many settlers were thinking of moving toward the west (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) the Canadian government was ecstatic about this because it was like hitting two birds with one rock why? Provided Canada was afraid of the American expansion toward the north. Lest, it wanted settlers to settle in the west therefore claim it for Canada. When Macdonald found out that settlers were interested in moving to the west he wanted them to settle as soon as possible and preferably before their neighbours. However, Rupert’s land was in the way and it was up for sell from the once powerful Hudson’s Bay Company whom controlled the area. In conclusion the British fur trade giant had been in decline for years and now it was up for grabs. The Canadians were afraid of The Americans, who had just paid Russia millions of dollars for Alaska in 1867, whom were also looking for other properties to expand their Republic and eyed the territory. But Canada saw Rupert's Land as the natural extension of its new nation which included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec and it was not going to let it get away. However, The Hudson's Bay Company was prepared to sell to the Americans who would pay top dollar. But on March 20, 1869, ...
Lefler, Hugh T., and William S. Powell. Colonial North America. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973.
George Coles, a persistent politician, insisted that Prince Edward Island was not being provided with strong leadership, Gray was forced to drop the topic of Confederation. To the Islanders, a government dominated by Upper and Lower had little appeal. A colony as small as Prince Edward Island would have very few representatives in a federal government. They were not prepared to pay taxes to build an Intercolonial Railway, which could not run on their island. Islanders also opposed Confederation over the issue of absentee landlords. Their dislike of the landlords ...
Sprague, D.N. (1980). Government Lawlessness in the Administration of Manitoba Land Claims, 1870-1887. 10 Man. L.J. 433 (1979-1980)
A small archipelago off the northwest coast of Britsh Columbia is known as the “islands of the people.” This island is diverse in both land and sea environment. From the 1700’s when the first ship sailed off its coast and a captain logged about the existence, slow attentiveness was given to the island. Its abundance, in both natural resources physical environment, and its allure in the concealed Haida peoples, beckoned settlers to come to the island. Settlers would spark an era of prosperity and catastrophe for the native and environmental populations.
Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. “Thomas Morton, Historian”. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No.4 (Dec., 1977), pp. 660-664. The New England Quarterly, Inc. .
In “ A Description of New England ”, Smith starts by describing the pleasure and content that risking your life for getting your own piece of land brings to men. On the other hand, Bradford reminds us how harsh and difficult the trip to the New World was for the p...
Kate, Stanley & Murrin, John; Colonial America, Essay in Politics and Social Development; U.N.C. Press; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; 1983.