During the years before Confederation, there was much happening in the colonies that would eventually unite to become the Dominion of Canada in 1867. The Fathers of Confederation were the architects of the plan that resulted in the proposal that would bring the individual British American colonies together under a Federalist system. There were three main conferences which were held and to be included as a Father of Confederation. These conferences were The Charlottetown Conference - 1864, The Quebec Conference - 1864, and The London Conference - 1866.
The Fathers of Confederation for the most part were leading politicians from the British Colonies interested in forming a Federal Union or a Confederation. Although not all colonies joined …show more content…
The Canadian members arrived at Charlottetown after the Conference had begun but quite quickly managed to take centre stage and proposed a union with many economic, political and social advantages. The result was that the project of Maritime Union was set aside and the members of the conference all agreed to pursue the objectives of a British North American union, and meet again in Quebec City in October.

July 1st, 1867, Ottawa was the site which witnessed the birth of a new country as the ceremonies were initiated in the new capital of Canada, an old logging operation along the Ottawa River which took the name of the River as its own. The location was a compromise choice which signalled a new beginning for the four provinces which now formed Canada. The location which was in the Northwest part of the four provinces may have indicated the immense expansion which was to take place over the next 10 years to the Pacific Coast.
The new country consisted of approximately 3, 300, 00 million citizens. Mainly in Ontario, with about 42% being of the Catholic faith. (Mainly of French and Irish descent) Most of the others were of English Protestant descent. About 81% of the people lived on farms or in the countryside with industry being only a minor part of the overall economy. Montreal was the largest city with about 100,000 people and then came Toronto and Quebec City with about 60,000 each and Ottawa at