John A: The Man Who Made Us: The Life and Times of John A. Macdonald. Vol. 1: 1815–1867 (review)

With this book Richard Gwyn has surpassed himself. Well known as a political commentator for the Toronto Star and the author of at least six books, including biographies of Joey Smallwood and Pierre Trudeau, he now brings us the first half of a biography of ‘the man who made us,’ John Macdonald, one of the principal ‘Fathers’ of Confederation and the first prime minister (for twenty years) of the new dominion. It has all the distinction and quality Gwyn has led us to expect from his previous writings: articles, books, columns, and all. I think it is his best work. It is certainly the John A. whom scholars and students, whom all Canadians (will there soon be a French translation?) will want to get to know.

It is a wonderful read, flowing informally and informatively as it gives new life and vitality to the story of the charming rascal – Sir Hector Langevin called him ‘un fin renard’ – who more than any other single person ensured the success (ongoing now for 144 years) of the foundational agreements over what has become Canada’s ‘New Nationality.’

Gwyn credits Donald Creighton’s fifty-year-old definitive and monumental work on Macdonald for providing him with stimulation and challenge. True: to readers of my age nothing can replace the Creighton achievement, or the Laurentian thesis, or again a Macdonald as super-hero (though my own view is that until 1873 Cartier is the real hero). Gwyn’s Macdonald is a real human being, afflicted with a terribly sad, dysfunctional family life but endearingly blessed with powerful gifts both for remarkable political insight and for deeply loyal friendships. Creighton’s Macdonald is awesome. Gwyn’s is admirable and attractive. We should all be grateful to him that he not only rose to the Creighton challenge but especially that he has made us all want to read more and more about Sir John A. John A. is a magnificent portrait, truer, I think, to the real Macdonald than anything else I have ever seen or read.

The book is also about Sir John’s times, that is, about the issues, people, and places within them: the mindsets and political habits of mid-Victorian Canadians; the rebellions, responsible government, and the peripatetic capital; Maritime differences and the Grand Trunk railway; the ‘double majority’ and the ‘double shuffle’; the clergy reserves, the Rideau Canal, the Orange Order, and the spread of ultramontanism; the Victoria Bridge and Maritime Union; the non-minuted debates of the Quebec Conference; business imperatives, sectarian riots, separate schools, and the two nations making peace in the bosom of a single state; they are all there, often in a new and original light, still, highly relevant, always clearly presented as an explanation for our own day.

Gwyn’s story is compelling. Also, the footnotes, the note on sources, and the bibliography make it an essential reference book for scholars, and no doubt for decades to come.

I am eagerly looking forward to volume 2.

ps. The Gordon Fulton photograph on the front cover shows an unusually handsome and smiling man. Why is he not on our ten-dollar bills?