Collection F 35 - John A. Macdonald collection

Sir John A. (John Alexander) Macdonald (1815-1891) was a lawyer, businessman, politician and Prime Minister of Canada from 1867 to 1873, and from 1878 to 1891.

He was born in Glasgow (Scotland), the son of Hugh Macdonald and Helen Shaw. He immigrated to Kingston (Upper Canada) with his family in 1820. He started articling as a law student at age 15, and opened his own law firm in 1835. Starting in the 1840's he was also director of a number of companies, and was involved in land acquisitions.

Macdonald was elected alderman in Kingston in 1842. Two years later he was elected member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. He was appointed a Cabinet member in 1847, serving as Receiver-General then as Commissioner of Crown Lands until he resigned with the Cabinet in 1848. He became Attorney General in 1854.

Macdonald was leader of the Canada West section of the government as well as Attorney General from 1856 to 1862. His government supported economic expansion through tariff reciprocity with the United States and railway building, and enacted reforms in governmental administration.

In 1864, Macdonald joined a coalition government and was one of the main architects of the union of the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia into the new Dominion of Canada. In particular, he was instrumental in ensuring that the central (federal) government would hold most of the powers.

Macdonald became the first Prime Minister of Canada in 1867. His Conservative government negotiated the purchase of Rupert Land from the Hudson Bay Company in 1868, but a Metis uprising led to the creation of the Province of Manitoba (1870). It also negotiated the entry into Canada of British Columbia (1871) and Prince Edward Island (1873). The Macdonald government undertook the building of a transcontinental railway from Montreal to British Columbia, but a bribery scandal surrounding this project forced it to resign in 1873.

Macdonald was re-elected Prime Minister in 1878. His second government enacted an economic "National Policy" to protect Canada's industry through high import tariffs, and saw the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A second Metis uprising in the North West Territories (1885) led to tension between linguistic groups and loss of Quebec support for the Conservatives, while Macdonald met with a growing resistance from the provincial governments to his centrist policies.

Macdonald was married twice, first to Isabella Clark then Susan Agnes Bernard. Only one of his three children lived to adulthood. Macdonald died shortly after winning the 1891 federal election.