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\"Like all major events in Canadian history, the Quebec Conference of 1864, an important step on Canada's road to Confederation, deserves to be discussed and better understood. Efforts to revitalize historical memory must take a multidisciplinary and multicultural approach. The Quebec Conference of 1864: Understanding the Emergence of the Canadian Federation expresses a renewed historical interest over the last two decades in both the Quebec-Canada constitutional trajectory and the study of federalism. Contributors from a variety of disciplines argue that a more grounded understanding of the 72 Quebec Resolutions of 1864 is key to interpreting the internal architecture of the contemporary constitutional apparatus in Canada, and a new interpretation is crucial to appraise the progress made over the 150 years since the institution of federalism. The second volume in a series that began with The Constitutions That Shaped Us: A Historical Anthology of Pre-1867 Canadian Constitutions, this book reveals a society in constant transition, as well as the presence of national projects that live in tension with the Canadian federation\"-- Provided by publisher.

This article clarifies the intellectual origins of Canadian parliamentary government by situating Confederation within a specific strand of liberal political thought. My argument is that the Fathers of Confederation adhered to the political theory of parliamentarianism. Though liberal constitutionalists, the Fathers of Confederation expressly defended a parliamentary political framework that they considered superior to the American system of checks and balances—one characterized by a powerful elected assembly restrained by an unelected upper house, responsible ministers serving in Parliament, and a constitutional monarch. In elucidating the theory of parliamentarianism that underlies the political project of Confederation, my goal is not only to examine a problem in nineteenth-century Canadian political thought but to ground our current political situation within a larger historical perspective.

Politics Symposium: Canadian Politics at the 150th Anniversary of Confederation INTRODUCTION Canada's 2015 federal election was an exiting and consequential contest. After nearly a decade in office, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada suffered defeat at the hands of a resurgent Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau. The factors that were crucial for Liberal success in both elections are key components in the valence politics model of electoral choice, a model that was strongly influenced by early research on Canadian voting behavior.3In the next section, we discuss key valence political forces at work in the 2015 federal election.4 VALENCE VOTING IN 2015 Issues In 2015, the economy--a quintessential valence issue--dwarfed all other concerns.5When asked about the most important issue facing the country, a full 47% of the Abacus survey respondents chose unemployment or the economy more generally, with an additional 7% referring to taxes or government debt. Adding to the gloom, the price of oil on world markets had crashed, thereby sharply reducing the flow of petro-dollars that had bolstered Canada's prosperity in recent decades. The country's economic mood had darkened considerably since Prime Minister Harper and the governing Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) had last faced reelection and escaping the attendant negative political consequences would not be easy. The country's economic mood had darkened considerably since Prime Minister Harper and the governing Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) had last faced reelection... Decades of research on Canadian voting behavior testify that favorable party performance judgments on...

While there are many important points of comparison and contrast between the American and Canadian foundings, perhaps none is more important than the role of political theory. Both the United States and Canada share much in common historically, structurally, and theoretically, yet each established a very different form of federalism that has in turn developed in strikingly different ways. Starting from a common British inheritance, different theoretical applications resulted in divergent conceptions of sovereignty and representation that affected the system of federalism in each country. Our findings demonstrate the crucial importance for understanding the political philosophy of the founding relative to the ongoing dialectic of the Great Conversation. In these two nations, the federalism that developed resulted in substantive differences in representation and constitutional structures.

In The Political Theory of \"The Federalist,\" David F. Epstein offers a guide to the fundamental principles of American government as they were understood by the framers of the Constitution. Epstein here demonstrates the remarkable depth and clarity of The Federalist's argument, reveals its specifically political (not merely economic) view of human nature, and describes how and why the American regime combines liberal and republican values. \"While it is a model of scholarly care and clarity, this study deserves an audience outside the academy. . . . David F. Epstein's book is a fine demonstration of just how much a close reading can accomplish, free of any flights of theory or fancy references.\"—New Republic \"Epstein's strength lies in two aspects of his own approach. One is that he reads the text with uncommon closeness and sensitivity; the other is an extensive knowledge of the European political thought which itself forms an indispensable background to the minds of the authors.\"—Times Literary Supplement

During the Zhou dynasty, it was customary for the ruling families of the Central States to transmit their titles and states from father to son in the direct line. This paper examines the occasions when this pattern was disrupted, in particular occasions when it is clear that fraternal succession was used, and where this was not the result of usurpation or a failure of the direct line. In the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Wu seems to have developed a most unusual pattern of succession, apparently unique at this time, and a methodology for understanding Wu practice is proposed. Sous la dynastie des Zhou les familles régnantes des États centraux avaient coutume de se transmettre les titres et les territoires en ligne directe de père en fils. Cet article examine les cas faisant exception à ce modèle, notamment ceux où il est manifeste que l'on recourait à la succession entre frères sans que cela soit le résultat d'une usurpation où de l'absence d'héritier en ligne directe. Pendant la période des Printemps et des Automnes l'État de Wu semble avoir développé un modèle de succession très inhabituel, et apparemment unique à l'époque. L'article propose une méthodologie pour interpréter les pratiques suivies dans ce cas.

Thornton discusses the incongruities of growing up in a white-middle-class suburban neighborhood, that was deeply segregated but not openly racist. As an adult, the undercover racism of her uprbringing offends her greatly and for that reason, that flying of the Confederate flag is a gravely offensive matter.

Slavery was not the most important issue for which George Washington is remembered; nor were his views on the institution as revealing as those of some of his fellow Founding Fathers. But Washington was a slaveowner for all of his adult life and he lived in Virginia, which was dominated by tobacco plantations based on slave labour. Slavery was central to the socio-economic life of the Old Dominion: after 1750 40 per cent of the North American slave population lived there and the first United States census of 1790 showed 300,000 slaves in Virginia. The tobacco they produced was the most valuable staple crop grown in North America. At his home Mount Vernon, situated on the upper Potomac river overlooking the Maryland shore, Washington created an estate, based on the latest agricultural practice, that was also a set of plantation farms centred around the work of enslaved Africans. Slavery, then, was clearly a persistent part of Washington's life and career. Because of this and his pre-eminent position in American public life, Washington's use of slave labour and his views on an important paradox of American history in the revolutionary era – the coexistence of slavery and liberty – deserve close attention. One man's dilemma in dealing with the morality of his own slaveholding was mirrored in the broader context of what the United States could or would do about the problem of slavery.

Charles g. d. roberts was about forty years old when he wrote the foregoing description of a winter dawn in rural New Brunswick, but the day on which he was born, 10 January 1860, may have been ushered in by just such a morning. The kitchen smoke may have been curling from the chimney of an Anglican rectory in a country parish about ten miles north of Fredericton. In any event, it was undoubtedly a joyous day for the young parents: the energetic rector, who had just turned twenty-seven on Christmas Day, and his impulsive, high-spirited wife. Their first-born child

To apply this idea to Canada presents a problem I did not encounter in studying the United States or the Fifth Republic. Despite the importance of the Declaration of Independence in American history, it is the drafting of the Constitution of the United States in 1787 and the subsequent debates over its ratification that define the founding of the present American Republic. Although the origins of France itself trail off into some dim and distant past, there can be no doubt that the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958. In studying the founding of the present regimes in France and the United States, I knew at once where to turn. With Canada, it was not as simple. The Proclamation Act, the Quebec Act, and the Act of Union present worthy challenges to Confederation as the founding period of Canada and, even if these challengers are ultimately exposed as impostors, the Confederation period itself harbors enough important events--most notably, the crucial meeting in Quebec City in October 1864--to make the Confederation debates something less than the sole contender for serious study of Canada's founding.(f.3) Despite these methodological problems, I shall focus exclusively on the Confederation debates of 1865(f.4) I do so because no other event from the Confederation period has records as complete as these and, more importantly, because these records reveal a sustained level of serious-and at times profound--public argument which, I believe, is unequalled in Canadian constitutional history. Before concluding our study of the railroad as an example of administration in the Confederation debates, we should note the theme of technology driving constitutional reform. Speaking in favor of the resolutions, [John Ross] invoked Lord Durham's famous (or infamous) Report of 1839 in which he argued that a railroad \"between Halifax and Quebec would, in fact, produce relations between these provinces that would render a general union absolutely necessary.\"(f.57) This same passage is cited by Anselme Paquet, an opponent of Confederation, as a reason for rejecting the Quebec Resolutions.(f.58) The curious fact that the same author is cited verbatim, first for Confederation and then against it, is explained by the diametrically opposed memories of Lord Durham in the two Canadas as of 1865. Generally loved and admired in Ontario, in Quebec he was, quite simply, despised.(f.59) What is interesting for our purposes, however is that both friends and foes of Lord Durham agree with his prediction that an Intercolonial Railway would be a particularly apt means for achieving political unity. Logically enough, Ross and Paquet cite Lord Durham's argument, each to his own end of bringing about Confederation (for Ross) or of stopping it (for Paquet.) For the latter the railroad should be opposed because it would lead to political union as the mal-aime Durham had correctly surmised. For the former, the railroad should be supported for precisely the same reason. For our study of the administrative-constitutional link, however, the important point is that Lord Durham had the wit to foresee technological innovation as a sure path to constitutional reform and that men on both sides of the 1865 debate recognized that he was right. The Confederation fathers of 1865 had no need of promptings from Lord Durham to see the connection between the Intercolonial Railway and Confederation. Thus, anticonfederationist [James Currie], noting that \"some leading men in Halifax had said 'the Railway first, and Confederation next,'\" argues that the simplest way to defeat Confederation would be to reject the railway proposal. He was satisfied that \"if the Intercolonial Railway project were taken out of the scheme [that is, the proposed constitution], we would not hear much about it afterwards.\"(f.60) Although Currie, like Lord Durham, saw a close connection between the railway and Confederation, he did not fear the railway as simply a means to Confederation. His argument was that the Confederationists in the Maritime provinces cared only about the railway but would cynically embrace Confederation as a necessary evil. This position was expanded by A.A. [Dorion] who attributed to [Samuel Tilley], the prominent New Brunswick Confederationist, the sentiment \"no railway, no Confederation.\" Indeed, A.A. Dorion went on to denounce the entire Confederation plan as nothing but an elaborate scheme to rescue the financially troubled Grand Trunk Railroad.(f.61)