Did you know that the three Maritime Provinces began discussions about forming a union in 1864?
Each delegation included representatives of the Government and the Opposition. In the spring of 1864 the legislatures of the three colonies agreed to hold a conference to discuss the possibility of uniting. The movement stalled there, as none of the colonies would commit to a time and place for the conference. It was not until the Province of Canada asked for an invitation that a meeting was hurriedly organized for September 1 at Charlottetown. Not only did the three premiers - Sir Charles Tupper of Nova Scotia, Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley of New Brunswick and John Hamilton Gray of PEI - come but they also brought members of their Government and Opposition.
Maritime Union
In the 1860s the British colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island believed they would be strengthened by forming some sort of union between them. When the new Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick Arthur Hamilton Gordon arrived in 1861, he quickly lent his support to the government of the day and a meeting was called. The leaders – Sir Charles Tupper of Nova Scotia, Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley of New Brunswick and John Hamilton Gray of PEI agreed to meet. That conference, originally held to talk about uniting the Maritime provinces, quickly evolved to include Canada and became the foundation of the creation of our country.
The idea of Maritime union - the reorganization of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia into a single British colony - was not new. Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick had once been administered as parts of Nova Scotia, until 1769 and 1784, respectively. Several of Lieutenant - Governor Gordon's predecessors, including J. H. T. Manners-Sutton, had also favored reuniting the three colonies.
In addition to historical precedent, there were more pressing reasons to reorganize the colonies. The United States, embroiled in the Civil War, posed a military threat. Many prominent colonial politicians felt that the united colonies would be able to mount a more effective defense. In Britain, the Colonial Office also favored a reorganization of British North America. The British hoped that union would make the colonies less reliant on Britain, and therefore less costly to maintain. Gordon's own ambition may also have been a factor - he envisioned himself as the governor of the united Maritime colonies.
In the spring of 1864 the legislatures of the three colonies agreed to hold a conference to discuss the possibility of uniting. The movement stalled there, as none of the colonies would commit to a time and place for the conference. It was not until the Province of Canada asked for an invitation that a meeting was hurriedly organized for September 1 at Charlottetown. Not only did the three premiers come but they also brought members of their Government and Opposition. The Canadians arrived at the Charlottetown Conference well prepared to argue for a wider union of British North America, and support for a Maritime union quickly waned. Disappointed, Gordon left the conference before it had finished.