Nov 26th, 2018

In this log there will several archived articles from the Library and Archives Canada. The first being “The Botheration Scheme,” by the Morning Chronicle in Halifax, which is about the state of politics surround Nova Scotia just 10 years prior to confederation in Canada. The second, “Confederation and the people,” by The Evening Times in Hamilton which is about the influence some newspapers had on the constitution. The third being “No Confederation,” by the Morning Chronicle in St. John’s which is about teaching the peoples of the possible dangers on confederation. The fourth “The 1st of July,” by the Pictou Colonial Standard in Nova Scotia which is about the perks of confederation. The fifth and final, “The New Dominion,” by the Saint John Morning News which is about how good the confederation will be for the people of Canada. All of these articles show a chronological difference in attitudes towards the Canadian confederation in the maritime areas.

A recurring theme in these articles, is about how much power the journals and newspapers have in swaying public opinion. This is obviously true about The Evening times Article because it revolves around what newspaper are saying. “Our appreciation of the labors of the press compel us to place great value upon newspaper schemes,” (The Evening Times, 1864, no page) is a quote from the article that shows how much power some forms of media do have. The use of concise wording seems to just string people along and get them hooked. Or the use of attacking words like this quote, “when I look at the objectors; I see only opponents of all that is selfish, unprincipled, vindictive, and disloyal,” (Pictou Colonial Standard,  1867, no page).

All of these articles in either a positive or negative light critique to the confederation of the colonies in Canada. From these critiques arise many questions that the party that wrote them have. One question i have for these kind of articles is how did they become so influential? In retrospect they are mere documents with a certain person’s point of view or beliefs that only sometimes had some kind of factual backup. How did these writers find the right audience to preach to, did they just get lucky or did they just love in a place with people that have much of the same opinion? These writers would even change their opinions and people would still eat up their writings like it is a thanksgiving turkey dinner.

 

About 24 hours after i handed in this reading log i realized that i missed my the main article of reading log 9 “Responses to Confederation Proposals” . Below here is my addition to my original log for the missing article.

“Responses to Confederation Proposals,” is another document that shows how all moments in history have at least two possibly opposing sides. One side being for the confederation of Canada and other being against it. This piece casts further light on the plight French Canadians in Lower Canada had prior to confederation, whether they would join the confederation or face annexation by the Americans. Other provinces faced more economic differences when it came to confederation like how in New Brunswick people were skeptical on even if the Inter colonial railway would be built on its lands. This article shows that there is always two sides to a stick no matter which way you shake it.