The Great and Little Remembered Life of Sir John A. Macdonald (Day Eleven)

Today's featured article on Wikipedia focuses on the life of Sir John Alexander Macdonald (11 January 1815 – 6 June 1891).  Macdonald "was the first Prime Minister of Canada(1867–1873, 1878–1891). The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career which spanned almost half a century. Macdonald served 19 years as Canadian Prime Minister; only William Lyon Mackenzie King served longer."

Macdonald was born in Scotland, third of five children, and "[h]is father was Hugh Macdonald, an unsuccessful merchant..." And,

when he was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston in the colony of Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario). He articled with a local lawyer, who died before Macdonald qualified, and Macdonald opened his own practice, although not yet entitled to do so. He was involved in several high-profile cases and quickly became prominent in Kingston...

When in 1864 no party proved capable of governing for long, Macdonald agreed to a proposal from his political rival, George Brown, that the parties unite in a Great Coalition to seek federation and political reform. Macdonald was the leading figure in the subsequent discussions and conferences, which resulted in the British North America Act and the birth of Canada as a nation on 1 July 1867.

Macdonald was designated as the first Prime Minister of the new nation, and served in that capacity for most of the remainder of his life, losing office for five years in the 1870s over the Pacific Scandal (corruption in the financing of the Canadian Pacific Railway). After regaining his position, he saw the railroad through to completion in 1885, a means of transportation and freight conveyance that helped unite Canada as one nation. Macdonald is credited with creating a Canadian Confederation despite many obstacles, and expanding what was a relatively small country to cover the northern half of North America. By the time of his death in 1891, Canada had secured most of the territory it occupies today.

Yet, in Canada today, Macdonald remains mostly as a passing thought: 

Unlike his American counterpart, George Washington, no cities or political subdivisions are named for Macdonald (with the exception of a small Manitoba village), nor are there any massive monuments. A peak in the Rockies, Mount Macdonald (c. 1887) at Rogers Pass, is named for him. In 2001, Parliament designated 11 January as Sir John A. Macdonald Day, but the day is not a federal holiday and generally passes unremarked. Macdonald appears on the present Canadian ten-dollar bill.   

Nevertheless, "Macdonald's biographers note his contribution to establishing Canada as a nation. Swainson suggests that Macdonald's desire for a free and tolerant Canada became part of its national outlook: 'He not only helped to create Canada, but contributed immeasurably to its character.'"