Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times

The Life and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald #2

by Richard Gwyn

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

An exciting story, passionately told and rich in detail, this major biography is the second volume of the bestselling, award-winning John The Man Who Made Us , by well-known journalist and highly respected author Richard Gwyn.

John A. Macdonald, Canada's first and most important prime minister, is the man who made Confederation happen, who built this country over the next quarter century, and who shaped what it is today. From Confederation Day in 1867, where this volume picks up, Macdonald finessed a reluctant union of four provinces in central and eastern Canada into a strong nation, despite indifference from Britain and annexationist sentiment in the United States.

But it wasn't easy. The wily Macdonald faced constant crises throughout these years, from Louis Riel's two rebellions through to the Pacific Scandal that almost undid his government and his quest to find the spine of the the railroad that would link east to west. Gwyn paints a superb portrait of Canada and its leaders through these formative years and also delves deep to show us Macdonald the man, as he marries for the second time, deals with the birth of a disabled child, and the assassination of his close friend Darcy McGee, and wrestles with whether Riel should hang.

Indelibly, Gwyn shows us Macdonald's love of this country and his ability to joust with forces who would have been just as happy to see the end of Canada before it had really begun, creating a must-read for all Canadians.

Genres: Biography, History, Canada, Nonfiction, Politics, Historical

688 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

from Wikipedia: Richard John Philip Jermy Gwyn, OC (born May 26, 1934) is a Canadian civil servant, journalist and author.

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nation maker is an excellent and much-needed modern biography of Sir John A. Macdonald. I would have given it 5 stars except for the omission of one very important subject from the book (which I will discuss later). The book reinforced and enhanced my view of Macdonald as a political master with few peers in Canadian History. I haven't actually read much on Macdonald since my university days so the book greatly expanded my views on him. The author also found new material that was previously under reported. The following points stood out for me. Macdonald's personal life was even more heart breaking than I thought and his natural optimism was even greater than I imagined. His drinking problem was even worse than I thought, and did at times impact his job performance. His role in Confederation was even more important than I believed, as was his role in preserving his fragile creation until his death in 1891. The book makes a good argument that without Macdonald Canada would likely have become part of the US. Macdonald also created the template for political success in Canada by making his Conservative Party a big tent party that stood for tolerance and compromise (current Conservatives should take note). The book also makes a strong case that Macdonald was far ahead of most of his contemporaries in terms of tolerance on race and religious issues. He even extended the right to vote to First Nations men (taken away by a later government ) and tried to extend the franchise to widows and unmarried women. His speech would be seen as racist today, but really reflected the terms commonly used then. His actions and detailed views on these issues actually were surprisingly liberal. However, there are two major exceptions to this. His support for a Chinese had tax and his views of the Chinese, as well as his support for setting up Residential schools. The book failed to explore his role in setting up Residential Schools, which was a terrible omission. The TRC report (published 7 or 8 years after this book) has one damning quote from Macdonald on the horrid school system as it was being set up in the 1880s. Gwynn's book does show that up to that point, Macdonald actually was often a bit of a protective buffer from the generally odious, racist view of First Nations held by the Canadian public and politicians. The book shows that those who want Macdonald to have honours taken away from him due to his role in establishing residential school should recognize it is a more complex issue than it appears. Macdonald's record and views on First Nations are different than I believed and the most harmful policies were actually implemented after his time in office. He is hardly innocent on the school issue, but he was also not the ringleader he has been portrayed as. History often does not provide an easy guide to how we should remember. It is usually quite complex, as this book shows.

[Ian M. Pyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great follow-up to volume 1 as the author delves into all the good, bad and ugly of being a politician and leader of this country. I found that this book details that whatever happens in politics today; bi-partisan and partisan policies, patronage appointments, corruption, transfer payments, provincial freedoms. language rights, etc., went on back in those days and I don't know if anyone should be that surprised - should we?

It seemed he was in between a rock and a hard place when dealing with CPR, Louis Real, dealing with the possibility of the USA "taking over" Canada, dealing with the Metis, Indians and other indigenous peoples; that party members on both sides of the house agreed with him or not and whatever choice he made, he could not please the politicians or citizens of Canada.

Recommend for those who like Canadian political history.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gwyn concludes his biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, wasting no time in recounting the many post-Confederation tales involving Canada’s first Prime Minister. While not essential, any curious reader ought to dive into the first volume to have a better idea of the momentum garnered, bringing the story to this point. These post-Confederation years in Macdonald’s life are filled with adventure, controversy, and political actors that bring out the best (and worst) in Macdonald’s acumen. At times a little denser than Volume One, Gwyn tackles many of the major issues in Macdonald’s life, which end up also shaping Canada as a whole. Expected subjects like the Canadian Pacific Scandal, National Policy, and settling the North-West (and their subsequent rebellions) are detailed thoroughly and leave the reader with a better understanding of these subjects that may receive a paragraph or two in school textbooks. A comprehensive examination of the execution of Riel leave the reader with a well-rounded approach to Macdonald and the political scene of the latter decades of the 19th century.

At the outset, Gwyn paints a portrait of Confederation that the birth of Canada was less by desire and more by need, in contrast to the other territorial unions emerging around the world in 1867. This theme, the identity of the Canadian State, reemerges throughout, with even Macdonald questioning its foundation. From the pact approach (that all provinces came together to grant Canada its existence) to the unification under one political umbrella, Gwyn poses anew the question hotly contested by Canadian historians and political scientists alike. The additional intervention of the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the last court of appeal in Canada until 1949) that redefined the form of federalism Canada would espouse for decades to come contravened the idea that Macdonald had and acts to derail some of the expectations that Macdonald saw as inherent.

Gwyn also presents some of the lesser known areas that Macdonald strove to achieve, including early suffrage for women, Canada’s place at the table with the US and UK governments, and his eventual self-doubt about Canada’s role on the world scene. While hindsight is always clearer, the reader may not know until reading books like this just how trapped Canada was, a plaything of Imperial Britain and the annex-hungry United States. Placed in a precarious position during the US Civil War (one of the impetuses for Confederation), Canada was to be used as a bargaining chip by the British to appease the snubbed Americans, led by Grant and Seward.

Gwyn makes his mark by illustrating how decided Macdonald appeared to be when it came to leaving Canada in a strong position before he stepped away. Macdonald’s ideas were numerous and his desire to quell dissent was not only political or partisan in nature, but also in an effort to keep the pristine image of this new nation as the 20th century appeared on the horizon. His passion, sometimes jaded, was deep and his dedication without doubt. He sought to steer Canada through its troubled early years, while also keeping the British connection stronger than ever. Gwyn personifies Macdonald in ways forgotten by the history books. A reckless drinker and power seeker may be the surface image known by many, but Gwyn delves deeper to show a softer side to Macdonald as he deals with his daughter, a more melancholic side as he contemplates his place in the larger political machine, and a side that presents a world-class diplomat when handling British concerns. It was only until the end of his career that Macdonald became tied to a strong Canada-US relations debate, one which caused his National Policy to flex its protectionist muscle.

Gwyn uses a plethora of sources to solidify his stories and the historical narration found throughout. While Donald Creighton was key in Volume One’s foundation (and the entire two-volume project, a resurrection of his only 1950s through biography of Macdonald), this second volume is supported by articles, books, political cartoons, and correspondence/diary entries to flesh out these historical events. Gwyn is no two-bit historian, he has invested much time in this project and the results are well worth any reader’s time, whose curiosity in Canada’s first Prime Minister is high. Well worth the invested time and completely readable by the everyday Canadian, Gwyn masters the art of storytelling in an award-winning fashion.

Kudos Mr. Gwyn for such a thorough and detailed account of Sir John A. With the 200th anniversary of his birth just around the corner, this is a fabulous literary investment for any reader and surely complements Creighton’s seminal work, of which I will invest time in the not too distant future. As Gwyn concludes the biography, let me conclude this review: without Macdonald Canada may, most assuredly, have never existed.

[Robert Jeens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gwyn tells a whopping good story in this book, the story of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister. There has been a lot of criticism of Sir John A. recently, and statues of him have been torn down in various cities including Montreal; his native Kingston; Charlottetown, where the Confederation Conference occurred; and Victoria. His name has also been removed from a number of schools. This book shows how mistaken this has all been. The people responsible for it obviously know very little about Canada’s history and should read this book. The primary reason is because Gwyn proves his thesis: No Macdonald, no Canada.
Not only was Macdonald our George Washington, but he was also our Thomas Jefferson, as he was the person who wrote most of the British North America Act, the Canadian Constitution. Further, he helped, with George Etienne Cartier, to found the Conservative Party of Canada, the first truly national party dedicated to reconciliation between French and English Canadians. At a time when what was to be the Liberal Party consisted of Grits and Orangemen in Ontario and radical Rouges in Quebec, the Conservatives united on the bases of patronage, nation building and railways. Most intelligent people in Britain and the United States, and a fair amount in Canada, expected Confederation to fail and for Canada to become absorbed into the United States. It might still happen. The fact that it held together for the first twenty-five years is almost entirely due to Macdonald.
However, as his contemporary critics observe, Macdonald made mistakes. Gwyn lists most of them. Probably most startling to Canadians now, Macdonald was not a democrat. He supported the property qualification to vote, so that only about 15% of Canadian men voted in the six elections he won and the one election he lost. Although not personally corrupt, he extracted as much election money as he could from businesses and individuals who relied upon government contracts. “I must have another ten thousand,” is one of the most famous lines in Canadian political history. Patronage appointments went to the most politically loyal rather than the most able (still a problem in Canada). He drank too much, and it affected his work. He put a head tax on Chinese to halt their immigration into Canada (very popularly and repeatedly demanded by British Columbia). He allowed Louis Riel to hang for treason rather than pardon him as insane. That resulted in the birth of Quebec nationalism rather than Riel dying forgotten in a lunatic asylum. After the Riel Rebellion, the Cree chiefs Poundmaker and Big Bear were unjustly jailed because some of their people had participated in it. Indian religious expressions were outlawed and suppressed. Reservations were underfunded so badly that, between 1870 and 1900, the Indian population on the Canadian prairies dropped from something like 32,000 to 20,000 from disease, lack of food, shelter and clothing, and generally the loss of a will to live. Finally, and this is the big one, he participated in setting up the residential schools for Indian children, schools generally underfunded and designed to eliminate Indian culture. Thousands of children died of disease in those institutions over the years. For some reason, Gwyn leaves that last one out of his story. That was not a good omission.
But remember he kept winning elections with these policies. When it comes to underfunding the Indian reserves and schools, the Liberals’ only objection was that it all cost too much. They criticized that Canada was just making these people dependent. And while unwilling children were unjustly taken from their homes to go to the residential schools, other children were orphans who had nowhere else to go. The suppression of culture was widely seen as necessary so that Indians could become more modern and able to live in an agricultural, industrializing country. Social Darwinism has been widely discredited as an ideology since World War II, but in the second half of the nineteenth century, all the progressive thinkers held those views.
On the other hand, the nation-building program that Macdonald undertook was a rip-roaring success and he was widely feted on both sides of the Atlantic for it. He negotiated with the colonial governments of Prince Edward Island and British Columbia to expand Confederation from the original four colonies. He negotiated with the British government and Hudson’s Bay Company to buy Rupert’s Land so that Canada’s borders expanded to include everything it has now except for Newfoundland (joined 1949). When the first Riel Rebellion broke out upon Canadian surveyors arriving in the Red River settlement, he recognized the rights of the people involved as British subjects to negotiate their entry into Confederation on their own terms. When Riel was found guilty of the murder of Thomas Scott, Macdonald subsidized Riel’s stay in the United States to keep him out of the hands of Canadian authorities. He set up the North West Mounted Police (now the RCMP). This institution won the trust of the Indians so much that they regarded the border with the USA as a “Medicine Line.” Rather than being hunted by the American cavalry, Sitting Bull brought his band to Canada after the Battle of the Little Big Horn. They knew that, in Canada, unlike in the United States, white people who mistreated or killed Indians would be tracked down and brought to justice. He gave (propertied) Indians the right to vote (Laurier repealed it). He had the Canadian Pacific Railway built from coast to coast, though it almost bankrupted the country. After the American Civil War, Macdonald sat on a commission that negotiated a settlement of outstanding issues between Britain and the United States that led to a lasting rapprochement between the two most important countries to Canada. He set up the centralized, boring Canadian banking system that protects us from spectacular bank failures. He came up with the “National Policy”, a policy of tariffs to keep out manufactured goods so that infant Canadian industry could develop. It worked. Because of his accomplishments, Queen Victoria offered him a barony, but he turned it down because he thought it might make him unpopular.
Gwyn starts the book by commenting that 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation, also saw the Meiji Restoration in Japan and the second war of German unification. That is an important point that needs to be developed further. The three wars of German unification cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The civil wars around the Meiji Restoration cost thousands of lives in Japan. Confederation did not cost any lives. About a hundred people were killed in the two Riel Rebellions. Canada, although governed by the Conservative Party, was the most liberal creation of the most liberal empire that has ever existed. Peace, order, and good government. Thank you, Sir John A. Macdonald, for your service to the country, and thank you Richard Gwyn for your portrayal of a man with his flaws and immense strengths.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having finished Richard Gwyn’s second volume on the life of Sir John A. Macdonald, I must say, I am impressed. My reading of Macdonald historiography suggested to me that Donald Creighton’s (1902-79) two-volume biography of Canada’s first prime minister was hagiographic; that might well be, but in his own work, I believe Gwyn admirably displays a respect for Macdonald and his historical context while not shying away from “Old Tomorrow”’s flaws. This was more startling to me given that it’s seemed as if for over a decade, Macdonald has been far more scrutinized than celebrated within Canada.

The second volume covers Macdonald’s term as Canada’s first prime minister until his death in 1891, just after winning his sixth(!) federal election. During that span, he was only out of power between 1873-78. Major episodes in Macdonald’s later life include the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Pacific Scandal, his handling of the two Louis Riel uprisings, and Canada’s relationship with its southern neighbour and Britain. Gwyn also recounts Macdonald’s personal life, including his relationship with his surviving son which steadily improved over the years, his second marriage to Agnes, and his tender care and concern for his developmentally-disabled daughter Mary. I smiled at Gwyn’s recounting of how Macdonald had responded to a letter from a young girl who had been spurred by a boy she had affection for (p. 307-08).

Nation Maker delves more into Macdonald’s policies towards the First Nations and Métis than the first volume though shockingly, disappointingly, it entirely ignores any discussion of Canada’s controversial residential schools. Today, residential schools are widely regarded as the colonialist state’s means of accomplishing a “cultural genocide,” and Macdonald is accused of being an enemy of the First Nations. A figure such as Egerton Ryerson may be more associated as an architect of the residential school system, but Macdonald himself oversaw the portfolio of “Indian Affairs” as part of his administrative duties. Yet Gwyn claims that, “Macdonald understood Indians better than any prime minister would for the next century, let alone any predecessor. In his dealings with them he made mistakes, but they were the product of political and administrative miscalculations, never of prejudice (p. 14).”

“Far more than any other public figure of the time, [Macdonald] knew Indians personally” and he enjoyed friendships with the likes of the Reverend Peter Jones (Kahkewaquonaby), John Cuthbertson, and Peter Martin (Oronhyatekha) who even went so far as to name “his son John Alexander after him” (p. 418). As Gwyn admits, Macdonald was not guiltless in his dealings with Canada’s indigenous peoples, but he was also acting in the latter half of the 19th century as a leader of a nascent nation of vast territorial scope and low population. Governments were not expected to provide as many public services as has now become the expectation with the welfare state (though interestingly, even in Macdonald’s day, he had to contend with critics who accused the government of doing too much for First Nations, even after the disappearance of the buffalo when indigenous peoples were starving).

One of the main causes of First Nations suffering in Canada was the rapid decline of buffalo on the prairies:

The “tragedy of the commons” - the overexploitation of a resource that no one owns but to which everyone has access…All the hunters contributed to this annihilation: the American professional hunters with their devastating repeater rifles, the Plains Indians with their wasteful “buffalo jumps” over cliffs and the Métis with their massive hunts…Thousands of carcasses were left untouched on the plains, many with only their tongues (the greatest delicacy) taken. One Métis historian reckoned that one in three slain buffalo was put to no use (p. 108).

Previously, there had traditionally been two buffalo hunts per year, one in the summer, one in the fall, but the high profits to be gained by hunting buffalo led the Red River Métis to add a third hunt but these hunts drove the buffalo further west so that by the mid-1880s “all the buffalo were gone” (p. 109). While Gwyn thus sees the annihilation of the buffalo as a collective sin conducted by settlers and indigenous peoples alike, there are those who would object and make the case that the overhunting of the buffalo was a systematic attempt of colonial governments to eliminate one of the indigenous people’s most reliable food sources.

Macdonald’s establishment of the North-West Mounted Police (the precursor to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is also notable. Before Louis Riel’s uprising and its aftermath dashed any true possibility for a “commingling of the races,” Macdonald had advocated that the NWMP would be “a mixed one of pure white and British and French half-breeds” (p. 119). The NWMP were a vital force in protecting First Nations and Métis from settler violence. Gwyn claims that during Macdonald’s day, Canada’s First Nations were better off than their American counterparts (40,000 of whom were killed in the Indian Wars whereas the only First Nations actively killed by Canadian forces were those who participated in the North-West Rebellion) but that now the situation is probably reversed, with Native Americans faring better today. As Gwyn relates, during Macdonald’s time:

At this time, Canadian Indian policy was far superior, in effectiveness and sensitivity, to American Indian policy. As the Halifax Chronicle put it, the policy and treatment here were “humane and successful,” while in the United States the approach was of “war and extermination.” The Globe similarly described American policy as “a dark record of broken pledges, undisguised oppression and triumphant cruelty.” A great many Americans thought exactly the same way. A report to the House Committee on Indian Affairs concluded admiringly that Canadians will be “known in history as having striven to do justice to the aborigines,” and a study for the U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners described Canada's system as "immeasurably superior to our own.”

Most important, Indians agreed. Their name for the border was the Medicine Line, meaning that above it there was healing. Except for the Loyalists, all the major moves of population north into Canada were by Indians, beginning with the Six Nations and followed by groups such as the Potawatomis, Chippewas and Ottawas. The most recent arrival was Sitting Bull, who after his victory over General Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876, led his warriors across the border because they would be safe there, protected by the law and the North-West Mounted Police (pp. 426-27)

Louis Riel was Macdonald’s most troublesome opponent and he remains one of Canada’s most fascinating, enduring figures. The terrible irony is that those who tout Riel as a Che Guevara-style freedom fighter likely would be up in arms about his theocratic fanaticism, which reached a zealous pitch during the North-West Rebellion as he styled himself a prophet and demanded that the papacy depart Rome for Manitoba. Even some First Nations and Métis today reject Riel as a central figure, looking more towards Riel’s capable lieutenant Gabriel Dumont as an emotional lodestar (p. 494). Gwyn traces the cult of Louis Riel to the American “leftist writer” Joseph Kinsey Howard, who wrote a historically inaccurate in 1952 entitled Strange Empire which portrayed Riel as one who “championed the cause of downtrodden Aboriginals against capitalists and the political establishment” (interesting, the novel’s title is the same as that of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation series, p. 493). Gwyn suggests that Riel’s Europeanness (he was only one eighth Métis) is what has made him such an indelible figure in Canadian history; he is more relatable to than an indigenous leader such as, say, Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear).

Riel’s second rebellion also thwarted Macdonald’s proposal for expanding the vote to First Nations across the country:

In February 1885, a month before the rebellion broke out, Macdonald put a Franchise Bill before Parliament. As one reform of the electoral system, he suggested a way both to “protect” Indians and to “civilize” them. Indians, he declared, should be granted the right to become enfranchised - to gain the vote and so become full citizens - but without, as in the past, having to give up in exchange any of their special rights as Aboriginals, either those gained by treaty or by the Indian Act (p. 419).

The Liberal opposition sharply objected and accused John A. of proposing this legislation as a ploy to win indigenous votes and support among his own MPs was lukewarm to say the least. Gwyn suggests that while “Macdonald’s motives may not have been pure, but any votes he gained would have been more than cancelled by those of outraged western settlers” (p. 419). Macdonald argued that escaped slaves from the USA who entered Canada were given the vote without objection but that the First Nations “who had formerly owned the whole of this country, were prevented from sitting in the House and from voting for men to represent their interests there” (p. 420). Macdonald assured the son of his friend Peter Jones/Kahkewaquonaby “that the Franchise Act would not ‘affect or injure the rights secured by treaty or by the laws relating to the Red Men of the Dominion,’ and concluded, ‘I hope to see some day the Indian race represented by one of themselves on the floor of the House of Commons” (p. 420).

The Electoral Franchise Act did pass but because of the North-West Rebellion, First Nations west of Ontario were not given the vote (and it should be noted, even then voting was limited to propertied men over 21 though Macdonald had also expressed support for extending the vote to “spinsters” and widows). Yet the indigenous vote was short-lived as Laurier’s government repealed it in 1898, with one Liberal MP sneering in Parliament “that it had been ‘an insult to the free white people of this country to place them on a level with pagan and barbarian Indians” - all this, and Laurier remains safely on Canada’s $5 bill (p. 420). Regarding the failed campaign for women’s suffrage (also unpopular and a vote-loser for Macdonald at the ballot box, though one scholar claims Macdonald was wildly popular among women), Gwyn states, “Two facts are unquestionable: [Macdonald] was the first national leader in the world to attempt to grant women the vote, and because of him Canada’s Parliament was the first in the world to debate the issue” (pp, 520, 522).

Even as the Canadian government punished First Nations for their role in Riel’s rebellion, Macdonald himself sought to lessen restrictive conditions on the indigenous peoples; “When Hayter Reed proposed a strict application of the pass system to control the movement from their reserves not just of the ‘disloyal’ tribes, but of all Indians on the prairies, Macdonald pointed out that the pass system violated the treaty terms and insisted that, if the Indians protested, the new rules should not be enforced” (pp. 489-90). But Macdonald wasn’t entirely saintly; the government cut the rations of these disloyal tribes (pp. 487-89).

One of the surprising aspects of Gwyn’s research is how much he cites Masters-level theses in his research, yet this dearth demonstrates Canadians’ ambivalent relationship with our own history. In an era where Macdonald is denounced perhaps Masters-level theses are the small oases where a more nuanced, even positive, portrayal of John A. is available.

It is not just in his dealings with First Nations that Macdonald is criticized. In my home province of British Columbia, Macdonald is vilified for introducing the Chinese head tax (a fee of $50) and for restricting the number of new Chinese allowed into BC. The rate of new Chinese entering BC plummeted “from 4000 in 1885 to just 214 in 1886” and he also withdrew the right to vote from those of “Mongolian or Chinese” descent (the former action impacted temporary workers, the latter “immigrants already in Canada,” p. 533). Yet Macdonald’s actions were in response to growing unrest among BC’s populace, who numbered “only thirty thousand European settlers” and he shared with many of these European settlers the belief that Chinese immigrants would never fully assimilate into the wider culture (this view is not uncommon today among North Americans towards immigrants in general, but perhaps especially Muslims) but he also desperately needed temporary Chinese workers to help finish constructing the railroad. Macdonald’s policies, no doubt racist, were nevertheless more moderate than many Canadians demanded and should be compared to the USA’s total ban on all Chinese migration and to the actions of his successor, Wilfrid Laurier; “The later Laurier government increased the head tax to a prohibitive five hundred dollars, and in 1923, Canada followed the United States with a complete exclusion of immigrants from China” (p. 533).

Let me give you my two cents: Macdonald should still be on the $10 bill because he was one in a million.

[Adrian]

Capital job of covering the life of Canada's first, best prime minister. The events you expect to be covered well- building of the CPR and clash with Riel- are. But there are surprises in Gwynn's analysis. He points to the Washington Conference at which Canada was only a subsidiary player in negotiations between Britain and the US where JAM first established himself and where Canada proved to be a nation in its own right. Macdonald is criticized here for his lackadaisical attitude toward British control over Canadian affairs (it's unbelievable that the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London undercut our Supreme Court for years!) and for a racist policy toward the Chinese who built the railway. But on balance JAM ruled wisely and his Franchise Bill of 1885 proves his attitude toward natives and women's suffrage were well ahead of their time. Excellent.

[Paul Heidebrecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical biography at its very best! And what a person to write about--few human beings can claim to have envisioned and created a nation but John A. Macdonald did. You can't understand Canada if you don't know anything about this man. He managed to finesse both Britain and the United States and patch together an almost incompatible collection of peoples stretched across half the top half of a continent using a railroad to do it. No one did politics better than this man but few were more loved or respected in Canada's history. I can't recommend Gwyn's two-volume set on John A. enough.

[Gerardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book reflecting what happened during the first decades of Confederation. Easy to read, looks very well documented. Only negative side is the author is a captive fan of Macdonald. There is nothing wrong about it except the narrative in several key passages looks strongly biased.
Other than that, if you know nothing or almost nothing about Canadian history from 1867 to 1891, this book is an excellent start point.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the WOW to end all WOW's! God in heaven, where is Sir John A Macdonald now, when we need him more than ever. If you ever wondered what ever happened to the giants that once bestrode the Earth like gods...read this second volume of Richard Gywn's masterful overview of Macdonald's life. None of us could ever be as interesting as Canada's titanic first Prime Minister.

[Cindy Wiedemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I should probably be embarrassed to admit how uneducated I am on the history of Canada's early beginnings or even our politics, but i learned a lot from this book, great stepping stone to learning more. Sadly I discovered 400 pages in that it is infact volume 2 of a set and had somehow not noticed. so this book covers the time period of start of confederation until Sir John A's death, so well written I was feeling a bit teary eyed. I highly recommend all Canadians and non Canadians of interest to read this book. I did literally laugh out loud at the many many times it stated that one of the important factors leading to Canada as a country and other territories/provinces joining was the strong desire from coast to coast of anything but being absorbed by the US and becoming American. a Sentiment many still cling to even to this day. If nothing else, at the time it was something people coast to coast could agree on. The amazing feat of the railway from one end to the other despite some scandals and possible treason was completed a long dream of Macdonalds. I read one review of this book which I usually don't but this is how i discovered it is a set, and the review stated they were disappointed that there was no mention of residential schools. I am sure the author had his reasons, I would find it interesting to see how it fits in when MacDonald was trying to fight for Indigenous to keep their status as a distinct people while having equal rights with Canadians and even to be able to vote without the requirement of the time to own property in order to vote. how did that translate into the schools I would be curious to know. This is such a huge topic in conjunction with Sir John A that it really is a dis-service not to include at least a bit about it. Perhaps the goal was to present all the positive things he did for the country, but then they spent a huge amount of time on Riel so I don't really know. I am not super educated on Riel either and learned some, and actually now have an interest in learning more.... since he helped shape so much in terms of Metis and other indigenous groups. I recommend reading this book but perhaps after reading volume 1 which I look forward to reading later.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

As much as this is a biography of the last half of Sir John A. MacDonald's life, it's equally a fantastic and detailed history of the new nation of Canada between 1867 and 1891. I learned so much about the early decades of Canada and to me that was what made this book great. But I also learned a lot about Canada's first Prime Minister, the man who had the will and skill to weld together 4 disparate British colonies that had little in common to unite them into one new nation. It is an interesting story and much of Canada's early accomplishments can be traced back to Sir John A.'s hard work and tenacity.

I cannot give this book a full 5 stars (despite Goodreads rating system) however. I will deduct half a star for the authors tendency to go on extremely long, and often boring tangents on various topics. Context is a good thing in a book like this, but it was sometimes very hard to get through some of it in this book. It just felt the book went too off topic at times.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a deep dive into Canadian history in the late 19th century, a period of history relatively unknown to Canadians outside of the construction of the CPR and the aftermath of this project.

It is also utterly hagiographical, an effort by the late Richard Gwyn to construct some kind of national mythos around Macdonald in order to perhaps allow Canadians to have the kind of figurehead that George Washington represents in the United States.

This is evident from perhaps one of the most batshit insane lines I've ever read in a non-fiction book, found fourteen pages into this six-hundred page volume:

"Macdonald understood Indians [sic] better than any prime minister would for the next century, let alone any predecessor. In his dealings with them he made mistakes, but they were the product of political and administrative miscalculations, never of prejudice"(emphasis mine).

To say that the first prime minister of Canada operated in his relationship with indigenous people without prejudice is entirely false. Extant writings refer to his views on them as "savages," and he argued in Parliament for them to be allowed to experience famine in the wake of the loss of the buffalo, so that they might be better wrangled by the newly-created North-West police. There is no mention of residential schools, which were founded in 1876 by Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government during the only hiatus in Macdonald's tenure from Confederation until his death. While Mackenzie certainly bears fault for that, no mention is made of the schools at all through the book, despite the fact that Macdonald lead the country for another fifteen years after Mackenzie.

Macdonald's dealing with the "Indians" (apparently, despite writing well into the twenty-first century, Gwyn could not find it in himself to use any term more progressive than the occasional 'Aboriginals' " are constantly contextualized as being relatively kind for the time, and certainly better for Gwyn than the literal genocide found in the United States. Perhaps cultural genocide did not rate quite so highly in Gwyn's view. To deny Macdonald's role in that is to deny history.

Instead, we get a Macdonald who loves his family, a grandfatherly figure who, while he has a bit of a drinking problem, is the right man to usher Canada through its formative years. While his role in the nation's construction cannot be denied, the march through the years of Macdonald's tenure represents a continued bias toward the man and not an objective view of history.

In brief:

Macdonald's corruption in the Pacific Scandal is largely chalked up to hubris and error, not ruthlessness or cunning.

Macdonald's actions with regard to the Red River & North West Rebellions are presented largely as correct -- any actions that might seemed unjust are explained away as being the will of the capricious Ontarians, out for blood after Riel's rebellion cost lives. Certainly, Louis Riel is a complicated figure, and his legacy is debated even today -- and yet his farce of a trial is mentioned only on a few pages, and his significance to the history of Manitoba and the Métis is largely underrated.

Macdonald's final years are largely presented as those of the elder statesman who doesn't know anything different, and this is where I think it is impossible to draw a direct comparison between him and Washington -- Washington (whose faults and evils deserve an essay of their own) had vision, Macdonald did not; Confederation and Canada were born out of pragmatism. There is no coherent ideology, save for perhaps Britishness and anti-Americanism. As a result, this is not a figure that can carry a whole story.

There is an honest biography of Macdonald that can be written that doesn't use his drunkenness as a sign of his imperfect nature in order to elide his greater evils. This is not it.

Writing this, I am aware I gave the first volume four stars. As a historical volume, I think it largely merits that -- it makes the foundation of Canada mostly readable (it's really a dull tale, even for Canadians interested in this stuff), even as it pumps up its centrepiece figure. And yet I still think it has more value, because it is less focused on Macdonald, and more on the country itself. The Macdonald in that book had yet to become the complicated figure he would be.

I wish Gwyn had written about that man instead.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

We cannot understand Canada if we do not know anything about the Nation Builder 'Sir John A Macdonald'.

I wanted to read Canadian history and how Canada was created as a country.

I was impressed as to how long and tirelessly hard Macdonald worked to create confederation of Canada. The fact is Sir Macdonald was the greatest Prime Minister of Canada. To join east coast to west coast Canadian Pacific Railway was built with a scandal of corruption and deceit involving Sir Macdonald but finally the railway was completed as planned. Cheap labour of Chinese temporary workers was abused and how head tax was implemented. Macdonald was good politician, however the rights of Aboriginals and Metis was never resolved satisfactorily. Even today the very people who own this land are still living in poverty, lacking housing, education, development of their reserves and healthcare. The differences of Quebec and rest of Canada erupted over the hanging of Louis Riel. Quebec still claims to be distinct society status. Annexation sentiment of USA further enforced resolution of Sir Macdonald to establish union of provinces to create a strong nation. Biography includes federal powers, laws, provincial powers, economics, involvement of the British monarchy and United States and the sad time of depression.

Canadian history is not very old, however it is very interesting how confederation was created. Biography of Sir John A. Macdonald by Richard Gwyn is well researched and well written. I should have read 'The Man Who Made Us' first. I am going to read it now. I would recommend this book for every Canadian.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essential view of the author is that without John A. Macdonald, Canada would not exist.

John A. united Lower Canada (now Quebec) and Upper Canada (now Ontario) with the colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Confederation of 1867.

Afterward, Manitoba joined in 1870, British Columbia on the West Coast joined in 1871, and Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) joined in 1873. Except for P.E.I., these provinces were united physically by the transcontinental railroad that took years to build at tremendous cost overruns and scandals. One was so egregious that it forced Macdonald from power, and Alexander Mackenzie was elected prime minister from 1873 to 1878. Later, Macdonald was re-elected and reigned until 1891, when he died in office.

If not for John A. and the railroad that he endlessly fought for and promoted in the Canadian Parliament, Canada would have been annexed piecemeal by the U.S. colossus.

Page 27 (my book)

[Canada’s] population [in 1867] was 3.5 million, one in three of them French speaking.

Page 29 1867

There were just two public libraries in the entire country.

There were numerous contentious issues Macdonald had to deal with. One was the perpetual struggle between English Ontario and French Quebec. Macdonald wanted a strong federal government, but as the provinces started to gain in political expertise, they whittled away at the federal powers in Ottawa (Canada’s capital).

Page 540 by the 1880s

A coherent intellectual argument had been advanced that the provinces were in effect co-governors of the country together with the federal government.

The most threatening issue was with the “settling” of the West. There was a toxic mix in Manitoba of Métis, Plains Indian, and settlers – some of whom wanted annexation to the U.S. and others who wanted to be Canadian. The settlers were also clashing with the Métis and their charismatic leader, Louis Riel. He was the trigger for the North West Rebellion of 1885 – a struggle of the Métis to keep the little that was left of their homeland.

Page 413

Macdonald’s goal was to create a nation; Riel’s was to save a nation.

Macdonald sent out the N.W.M.P. (the North-West Mounted Police, now the R.C.M.P.) and a military detachment to quell the rebellion in what is now Saskatchewan. Louis Riel was captured and put on trial for treason – and was executed on November 16/1885 in Regina, Saskatchewan. Macdonald, in what was the most serious blunder in his career, could have pardoned Riel. Instead, he made a martyr of him, causing an uproar across Canada between those who saw him as a hero (many in Quebec) and the Orangemen in Ontario who despised anything French and Catholic, and were elated to have Riel hung.

Page 482

One week after his death, a crowd of some fifty thousand gathered in Montreal’s Champs de Mars to listen to speeches…while flags flew at half-mast and effigies of Macdonald burned.

Ironically, over time, Riel has come to be venerated by many in English Canada (as the author points out on page 494).

With the near extermination of the vast buffalo herds, the life of the Plains Indians was shattered.

Page 416

The Plains Indians underwent a cultural catastrophe that encompassed every aspect of their life.

Page 417

This is the great tragedy of Canadian history; and it is one that is not yet ended.

The Plains Indian people were also treated brutally – and there was little concern by any Canadian about this.

Page 492

In 1886, there were some 128,000 Indians in Canada; by 1900, the count was down to 98,000. Social Darwinism [survival of the fittest] had become part of the Canadian conversation.

Page 481

Before the North-West Rebellion [1885] Canadians had seen them as “our Indians” … because the relationship between the two groups [Indigenous and European] was so much superior to its American equivalent. Afterwords, Aboriginal people came to be regarded as just “the Indian” or, worse, as “the Indian problem”.

And then there was the railroad.

Page 337

Macdonald’s [transcontinental railroad] was also that most un-Canadian of events – the taking of a great dare.

Page 404 John Henry Pope 1884

The day the Canadian Pacific [railway] busts, the Conservative Party [of John A. Macdonald] busts.

As Pierre Berton enumerated in his book “The National Dream” the railway made Canada a “continental nation” – and with it came more problems where regionalism set in with each province demanding more and more power. This continues to the current day.

Canada, due to the on-and-off again depression of the 1880s and 1890s, started to lose people to the United States, something it could ill-afford as its population was still small. As the author points out, Canada was a hodgepodge of a nation from coast-to-coast with not many unifying factors. There was a constant demand from Washington for trade ties or tariffs (sound familiar?), which threatened to become political ties.

Page 47

Macdonald courted power in order to nurture a fragile, fragmented collection of quasi-colonies into a nation that could survive alongside the most dynamic nation-state in the world.

The author provides a convincing portrait of how John A. Macdonald unified these frail entities, some sparsely populated, across a vast continent and make it into Canada. The country has changed dramatically since its inception, losing much of its “Britishness” and now existing on its own with a vibrant multicultural complexity.

Page 591

Macdonald’s lifelong mission was to ensure that a second “new nation” besides the United States could exist in North America. That is what he set out to do, and it is what he did.

It took a strong and committed personality to accomplish this - and he did much of it with a spirit of cooperation.

[Brian Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nation-Maker is the second of a two-part biography by Richard Gwyn. An excellent read; historical critics laud it for incorporating lots of new research that didn't appear in the classic Creighton biography of Sir John A, but also Richard Gwyn is a journalist and has that a narrative flair which makes this an excellent piece of popular history. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to know about the origins of this country. It gave me an appreciation of both what is, what might have been, and helps make sense of some of the issues that plague us today. Plus ca change!

I especially like the interweaving of the personal (the man) with the context (the times).

I'll re-read both volumes sometime later.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superbly well-written book about our founding father and first Prime Minister and the early days of Canada as a nation following Confederation in 1867. This is an important book for Canadians wishing to understand the foundation of our country and the issues and events of that time that have shaped us into what we are today. This book should be a must read in all of our schools. And to Sir John A, thanks!

[Jeff V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work! Thank you Mr. Gwyn.

[Christopher Jacoby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book several years ago when it was first published. I read the first volume and then bought the second volume; I got about half way through and then stopped. It was been on my shelves since then.

I instantly fell back into it. The book is highly readable and organized mostly along a linear time line, but Gwyn does a great job mixing in thematic chapters. It was also really great to learn about Macdonald from just a generally 'human' view. All his triumphs, frailties, and the bounds of historical context are presented clearly. This book provides much more than textbooks, encyclopedia entries, statue plaques or other sound bites. And finally, Gwyn is able to relate a considerable amount of drama to MacDonald's life and the situations he had to deal with.

One particular interesting chapter is about Macdonald's thoughts and actions towards the First Nations people in the latter half of the 19th century. This seems of particular interest now as there seems to be more sentiment to removing current John A Macdonald statues because of his policies. Gwyn generally gives a defence of Macdonald's policies arguing that Macdonald was generally more progressive towards First Nations than his Canadian peers and the United States. He also states that he was probably the best European to deal with First Nations because "far more than any other public figure of the time, he knew Indians personally. As a young lawyer he had defended several criminal cases." In 1885 Macdonald tried to introduce the franchise to the First Nations. Now this is seen as part of a process of assimilation. But Macdonald saw it as a way to give First Nations a say in government. Macondald's sentiment being that First Nations, "who had formerly owned the whole of the country, were prevented from sitting in the House and from voting for men to represent their interests there." This policy was met with racist rebuttals from the rest of the House and was eventually dropped. He also opposed allowing First Nations to own specific parts of the Reserve because he then thought that this would allow First Nations into an "unfortunate process [where he] sells or leases his land and becomes a vagrant without property."

Gwyn strongest case here is that generally the First Nations preferred to deal with Canada and Macdonald. "Their name for the border was the Medicine Line, meaning that above it there was healing." Canadians did not kill First Nations people. "Forty thousand American Indians were killed ... by the U.S. Army of the West; above the Medicine Line, the only deaths were a small number killed during the North West Rebellion." While the United States eroded Reservations, Macdonald consistently stated that "they cannot be dispossessed" even if it "obstructs settlement." Finally no First Nations in the United States ever said of the U.S. Army as Chief Crowfoot said of the North West Mounted Police: "The Police have protected us as the feathers of the bird protect it from the frosts of winter."

Of course, Macdonald was racist by our standards and he should have done more. If there is one 'out' that Gwyn gives Macdonald it is that whenever there were lapses in his policy the theme that Macdonald is 'only human' comes up. The Buffalo extermination was "faster than anyone had anticipated." There was no notion of 'government relief' as there is today. Additionally, teaching farming to a group of people who had only ever known hunting was "excruciatingly difficult." Additionally, farming teachers were usually failed farmers. This in part led to a famine that ravaged the First Nations for the next decade. Additionally, the First Nations were afflicted with European diseases and their numbers declined from, "32,000 in 1880 to some 20,000 five years later." Macdonald should have done more, but at this point he was more focused on completing the railway. Gwyn ends with a quotation from another book Prairie Fire :The 1885 North-West Rebellion that concludes: "The policy the North-West Indians so detested was not so much a policy of John A Macdonald's government as it was a policy of the Canadian people."

[Jim Heninger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed reading Gwynns biography of John A MacDonald. I am ashamed to admit that in my late 40s I still struggled to recognize this historical figure on my own 10$ bill. Who is that guy? After having read this history however I am now ashamed that this is the only place I see his face. Why don’t we know more of this character? - truly if not for him we would be driving down Washington street and spending greenbacks on private health insurance, star and stripe flags and fireworks. Many of us would be strapping on our side arms and chanting U S A U S A U S A.

This book was certainly written by a person who admired the man - even put him up on a pedestal - but I am convinced that as a Canadian this is someone we should know more about - and elevate.

Of course we don’t want to be American! Blah! But we would do well to follow their lead in knowing our history and teaching it to our children!

I understand and agree with some who noted that it is not right that the book leaves out any mention of residential schools - but it was written on 2011!! Give the author a break! It is candid about Macdonald’s shortcomings - which frankly reflect the shortcomings of his day and age.

I feel I am bettered for having read this book about a man who shaped the country I am happy to live in. I am pleased to understand my nations history and the story of a founding father who was far from perfect, but accomplished so much in spite of it.

I left out one star from my rating because the last 100pages were a struggle for me to finish. The book was written chronologically - and as MacDonald aged, so did the pace of his life - and the book, I felt. I’m embarrassed to admit it - that I am much more a starter than a finisher... maybe it is fitting for me to treat this politician as we all treat any other living politician today - with a general loss of interest as they age and become set in their ways.

[Colin Freebury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gwyn writes that “my purpose in writing this biography was to try to make Canadian history alive and relevant again”—a goal he certainly achieved for me. His feel for, indeed his passion about, Macdonald himself, as well as for contemporary politics and related issues, underlies this two-volume biography. I found it to be extremely well researched and well written.

Macdonald benefited from a certain measure of luck in succeeding in building a nation that reflected the best British traditions of governance and jurisprudence, and that therefore had to remain independent of the United States of America. It was a near-run thing, dependent not only on vision and political skill but also on timing, external restraint, and the absence of a decisive American will to absorb its northern neighbour. One is left to wonder whether today’s prime minister will prove equally fortunate in resisting renewed American pressures, at a moment when economic leverage, political polarization, and a more openly transactional view of sovereignty may test Canadian independence in ways Macdonald could scarcely have imagined.

[Jodi Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very easy and enjoyable read. Gwyn's "Nation Maker" looks at Sir John A. Macdonald's post-Confederation career. Just as Canadian Confederation was not a guarantee, neither was the young country's success as an independent state on the North American continent. Gwyn shows both the personal and professional lives of a complicated man both of his time and ahead of it and how he helped make Canada what it is today. Gwyn's style makes this volume, with its companion "John A.: The Man Who Made Us", a very approachable biography to Canada's first prime minister.

In this era of reconciliation, it was interesting to read of Macdonald's efforts to include indigenous peoples in the government of the country and of his response to both the collapse of the bison and the Metis uprising of 1885. It would seem his failings, just as his successes, played their part in shaping the country's history.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The definitive biography of Canada's first Prime Minister from Confederation in 1867 until his death in 1891. The book is very much a "life and times" and includes fascinating little known episodes from late 19th century Canadian history including the earliest parliamentary debate in Canada concerning womens' suffrage. Gwyn does an excellent job of capturing the personality and character of Macdonald and the political figures of his time, including his famous adversary Louis Riel. The focus of the book is Macdonald's political achievements including Confederation and the railway but Gwyn also analyzes Macdonald's shortcomings and provides a balanced assessment of his legacy.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece. Informative and enjoyable from cover to cover, the second volume of Gwyn's biography of Macdonald is the easiest ~700 pages one could read. It makes clear that Canada - either as we know it or at all - was not inevitable but the result of conscious, often skilled efforts by individuals. Most notably, its subject.

Ultimately, the biography leaves no doubt that Gwyn was Creighton's heir.

“I am an old man but I shall perchance look down from the realm above upon a multitude of younger men—a prosperous, populous and thriving generation—a nation of Canadians who will see the completion of the road.” —Sir John A Macdonald

[Lib DM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gwynn was a very talented writer and his thorough research is impressive. The first half of the book I found interesting, and even though the author marvels over MacDonald, I just don’t find him all that impressive. But he was undoubtedly the nation maker. I just found the last half of the book entirely boring. Not to the fault of Gwynn. It’s just that our history is not very exciting. Just a scrappy group of low level academics patching together something resembling a nation. But it’s our history nonetheless!

[James Junke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, highly readable history of MacDonald’s pivotal role in building Canada from a fragile confederation to a rapidly maturing country, navigating between a patronizing and often unhelpful Britain and an annexationist United States. A gifted, complex, flawed character. His role is establishing residential and day schools for first nations peoples is not mentioned but by his actions and words over many decades he is less the demon than he is now portrayed. A product of a deeply racist culture which has much reconciling to do.

[Paul C. Stalder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gwyn has a talent for presenting rich history in a truly readable manner. While this book is brimming with information, the pages turn with the ease of a novel. Perhaps the crowning achievement, however, is Gwyn's ability to draw connections between past and present. He doesn't simply tell the story of Sir John A. He shows you how his life continues to influence ours.

[Paganus Kiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as thorough as I thought it would be. Macdonald, the accidental founding father is less the heroic figure than the atypical politician and self-possessed egotist. To be followed by many others; sorry the illusions disappear as one grows older. My one comment is thanks for ensuring we were not absorbed by the Moloch to the south; beyond that, no accolades from me.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is very easy to fall in love with Gwynn tells Canada’s history and the story of MacDonald, but the joy of the book is keeping as unbiased a perspective as possible. Told with freshness and vitality and with unending appreciation, the author shows the meaning of MacDonald and his continued relevance on who we are today. Splendid history writing.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A honest narrative on the man who made us. Re-wrote into history the fact that Sir John A. wanted to extend the vote to women. And, that two of Canada's Fathers of Confederation were assassinated...and I won't tell you who!

[David Cavaco · Rating 5 out of 5]

If not for Sir John A. MacDonald, there would be no Canada. If not for the willpower, resolve and policies of Prime Minister MacDonald, Canada would have been annexed into the United States. This second volume by Richard Gwyn is fantastic and should be shared among all of Canada. Amazing book!