Download or read book A Biography of Fran ois Xavier Anselme Trudel Quebec s Foremost Political Maverick in the Nineteenth Century written by Kenneth J. Munro and published by Lewiston, N.Y. : Edwin Mellen Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Francois-Xavier-Anselme Trudel was a lawyer, politician, and journalist, a maverick and free spirit who undermined all the institutions and values he professed to hold dear. He was a forceful proponent of Roman Catholicism of the harsh, conservative, ultramontane variety, who disobeyed ecclesiastical authority; he stressed family values but neglected his wife and children in his pursuit of fame and fortune; a conservative; an anti-Semite; personal in his attacks on those who disagreed with his point of view. He was a strong French-Canadian nationalist. He died a lonely figure, disliked and ridiculed by almost everyone he had come into contact with during his rather short lifetime. The man behind the self-righteous exterior is revealed in this biography, his public career fleshed out through a clearer understanding of his personal life.

Download or read book John A written by Richard J. Gwyn and published by Random House of Canada Limited. This book was released on 2008-10-28 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full-scale biography of Canada’s first prime minister in half a century by one of our best-known and most highly regarded political writers. The first volume of Richard Gwyn’s definitive biography of John A. Macdonald follows his life from his birth in Scotland in 1815 to his emigration with his family to Kingston, Ontario, to his days as a young, rising lawyer, to his tragedy-ridden first marriage, to the birth of his political ambitions, to his commitment to the all-but-impossible challenge of achieving Confederation, to his presiding, with his second wife Agnes, over the first Canada Day of the new Dominion in 1867. Colourful, intensely human and with a full measure of human frailties, Macdonald was beyond question Canada’s most important prime minister. This volume describes how Macdonald developed Canada’s first true national political party, encompassing French and English and occupying the centre of the political spectrum. To perpetuate this party, Macdonald made systematic use of patronage to recruit talent and to bond supporters, a system of politics that continues to this day. Gwyn judges that Macdonald, if operating on a small stage, possessed political skills–of manipulation and deception as well as an extraordinary grasp of human nature–of the same calibre as the greats of his time, such as Disraeli and Lincoln. Confederation is the centerpiece here, and Gywn’s commentary on Macdonald’s pivotal role is original and provocative. But his most striking analysis is that the greatest accomplishment of nineteenth-century Canadians was not Confederation, but rather to decide not to become Americans. Macdonald saw Confederation as a means to an end, its purpose being to serve as a loud and clear demonstration of the existence of a national will to survive. The two threats Macdonald had to contend with were those of annexation by the United States, perhaps by force, perhaps by osmosis, and equally that Britain just might let that annexation happen to avoid a conflict with the continent’s new and unbeatable power. Gwyn describes Macdonald as “Canada’s first anti-American.” And in pages brimming with anecdote, insight, detail and originality, he has created an indelible portrait of “the irreplaceable man,”–the man who made us. “Macdonald hadn’t so much created a nation as manipulated and seduced and connived and bullied it into existence against the wishes of most of its own citizens. Now that Confederation was done, Macdonald would have to do it all over again: having conjured up a child-nation he would have to nurture it through adolescence towards adulthood. How he did this is, however, another story.” “He never made the least attempt to hide his “vice,” unlike, say, his contemporary, William Gladstone, with his sallies across London to save prostitutes, or Mackenzie King with his crystal-ball gazing. Not only was Macdonald entirely unashamed of his behaviour, he often actually drew attention to it, as in his famous response to a heckler who accused him of being drunk at a public meeting: “Yes, but the people would prefer John A. drunk to George Brown sober.” There was no hypocrisy in Macdonald’s make-up, nor any fear. —from John A. Macdonald From the Hardcover edition.

Download or read book The Founder of New France A Chronicle of Champlain written by Charles W Colby and published by Double 9 Books. This book was released on 2024-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Founder of New France" by Charles W. Colby is an exploration biography that delves into the fascinating life of Samuel de Champlain, a pivotal figure in Canadian history. Colby's meticulous historical biography traces Champlain's journey as he navigates the complexities of French exploration and colonialism in 17th-century Canada. Through vivid prose and extensive research, Colby provides insight into Champlain's interactions with indigenous peoples and his role in shaping early North American colonization. This historical biography offers a comprehensive look at the challenges and triumphs of Champlain's endeavors, shedding light on the dynamics of colonial expansion and indigenous relations during the New World exploration era. Colby's narrative skillfully navigates the intricacies of European exploration and the experiences of early settlers in Canada. "The Founder of New France" stands as a testament to Colby's expertise in Canadian history and his ability to bring historical figures to life through detailed analysis and compelling storytelling. With its focus on exploration, colonialism, and the forging of early Canadian identity, this book remains an invaluable resource for understanding the roots of Canadian society and its enduring legacy.

Download or read book Sir George Etienne Cartier Bart written by John Boyd and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A biography of Sir George Etienne Cartier, a prominent figure in Canadian politics during the mid-19th century. Author John Boyd was a Canadian historian and writer. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Download or read book The Loyal Whig William Smith of New York Quebec written by L. F. S. Upton and published by Heritage. This book was released on 1969-12-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Smith is chiefly remembered in Canada as a distant advocate of a confederation that was not achieved until almost three-quarters of a century after his death. Born in New York, he was a member of the generation that led the American Revolution, and bore the hallmarks of a successful revolutionary. Able and ambitious, yet on the outside of his colony's establishment, he gained early prominence as a champion of religious dissent and plunged into the politics of colonial New York as a self-proclaimed Whig. However, when the revolution came, he sat out the crisis and in the end went over to the British. The reward for his loyalty to the Crown was his appointment as chief justice of Quebec. Many of his contemporaries saw his career as the maneuverings of a selfish man unwilling to risk much in any cause that would endanger his own security. But Professor Upton in this study reveals a stratum of ideas beneath the surface events of his life that gives consistency to the whole. His account of Smith's career follows him through the convoluted process of New York colonial politics, through the Revolution and his years of exile in London to his final years as chief justice of Quebec. This is the biography of an eloquent visionary who agitated for confederation, dominion status, and autonomy under the Crown years in advance of other men; it also reflects the spirit of those times, the turbulence of politics and war and the exciting growth of two new countries.