and then give as much attention as you please to the public weal.â
Â
FIVE
A Conservative in a Conservative Country
In a young country like Canada, I am of the opinion that it is of more consequence to endeavour to develop its resources and improve its physical advantages than to waste the time of the legislature and the money of the people on abstract and theoretical questions of government. John A. Macdonald
M acdonald took the advice and joined the Orange Lodge; to cover all bases, he later joined the Masonic Lodge and the Oddfellows. In February 1843 he announced that he would contest a vacant seat for alderman in Kingstonâs Fourth Ward. Helped by the Chronicle âs praise for his âwell-known talents and high character,â he won easily. As word of his new diligence in civic duties spread, he was elected president of Kingstonâs influential St. Andrewâs Society. He was also an active supporter of the campaign to establish a university, Queenâs, at Kingston.
He applied the same diligence to the task of sorting out his business affairs. For several years, Alexander Campbell had served him exceptionally well as a law clerk. Macdonald now promoted him to junior partner. Their agreement gave Campbell a third of the profits of the general business, excluding those generated by Macdonald from his own work as solicitor of the Commercial Bank. The deal was well structured: the practicewould continue to provide him with a salary, but Macdonald no longer needed to be there all the time.
He closed the contract with Campbell on September 1, 1843. That same day he entered into another contract, a lifelong one. Macdonald married the woman with whom heâd fallen in love.
It had happened during his holiday in Britain the year before. Itâs just possible that the âvery prettyâ Margaret Wanklyn who had toured Windsor Castle on his arm had set him to thinking about the pleasures of the permanent company of a woman with whom he âsympathized wonderfully.â On the Isle of Man, he had gone to call on his cousin, Margaret Greene, who was living in a farmhouse near the small capital of Douglas. Born a Clark in the same Highland site of Dalnavert where Macdonaldâs mother had been born, Margaret had crossed the Atlantic to live with an uncle in Georgia. There she had married a John Ward Greene, the descendant of a hero of the Revolutionary War, but had been widowed a few years later and retreated back across the Atlantic to the Isle of Man to stretch out her finances. She was living comfortably but carefully with her two unmarried sisters, Jane and Isabella.
Macdonald and Isabella clicked almost immediately. By the time he left, Macdonald had secured from Isabella a commitment to come toKingston the following year, ostensibly to visit yet another of her sisters, Maria, now the wife of John Alexander Macpherson, a son of Colonel Macpherson. Isabella made the journey. As was by now inevitable, a proposal was made and was accepted. And so on that September morning, they exchanged vows and matching gold wedding rings in St. Andrewâs Church in Kingston. Right after the wedding, Macdonald hurried over to his law office to sign his agreement with Campbell. By marriage, and thereby the acquisition of respectability, Macdonald had cleared the last hurdle to his political candidacy.
Isabella Macdonald (née Clark), probably close to the time of her marriage. Her wan, girlish vulnerability helped get her in under Macdonaldâs radar screen.
No election date had yet been announced, but it was now only a year away.
Because Macdonald would go on to become so successful a politician, it has often been taken for granted that his motive for getting into the game was to get to the top as soon as possible and, once there, to remain at the top for as long as possible. In fact, itâs wholly possible that Macdonaldâs principal motive for entering public life was to make
Â
FIVE
A Conservative in a Conservative Country
In a young country like Canada, I am of the opinion that it is of more consequence to endeavour to develop its resources and improve its physical advantages than to waste the time of the legislature and the money of the people on abstract and theoretical questions of government. John A. Macdonald
M acdonald took the advice and joined the Orange Lodge; to cover all bases, he later joined the Masonic Lodge and the Oddfellows. In February 1843 he announced that he would contest a vacant seat for alderman in Kingstonâs Fourth Ward. Helped by the Chronicle âs praise for his âwell-known talents and high character,â he won easily. As word of his new diligence in civic duties spread, he was elected president of Kingstonâs influential St. Andrewâs Society. He was also an active supporter of the campaign to establish a university, Queenâs, at Kingston.
He applied the same diligence to the task of sorting out his business affairs. For several years, Alexander Campbell had served him exceptionally well as a law clerk. Macdonald now promoted him to junior partner. Their agreement gave Campbell a third of the profits of the general business, excluding those generated by Macdonald from his own work as solicitor of the Commercial Bank. The deal was well structured: the practicewould continue to provide him with a salary, but Macdonald no longer needed to be there all the time.
He closed the contract with Campbell on September 1, 1843. That same day he entered into another contract, a lifelong one. Macdonald married the woman with whom heâd fallen in love.
It had happened during his holiday in Britain the year before. Itâs just possible that the âvery prettyâ Margaret Wanklyn who had toured Windsor Castle on his arm had set him to thinking about the pleasures of the permanent company of a woman with whom he âsympathized wonderfully.â On the Isle of Man, he had gone to call on his cousin, Margaret Greene, who was living in a farmhouse near the small capital of Douglas. Born a Clark in the same Highland site of Dalnavert where Macdonaldâs mother had been born, Margaret had crossed the Atlantic to live with an uncle in Georgia. There she had married a John Ward Greene, the descendant of a hero of the Revolutionary War, but had been widowed a few years later and retreated back across the Atlantic to the Isle of Man to stretch out her finances. She was living comfortably but carefully with her two unmarried sisters, Jane and Isabella.
Macdonald and Isabella clicked almost immediately. By the time he left, Macdonald had secured from Isabella a commitment to come toKingston the following year, ostensibly to visit yet another of her sisters, Maria, now the wife of John Alexander Macpherson, a son of Colonel Macpherson. Isabella made the journey. As was by now inevitable, a proposal was made and was accepted. And so on that September morning, they exchanged vows and matching gold wedding rings in St. Andrewâs Church in Kingston. Right after the wedding, Macdonald hurried over to his law office to sign his agreement with Campbell. By marriage, and thereby the acquisition of respectability, Macdonald had cleared the last hurdle to his political candidacy.
Isabella Macdonald (née Clark), probably close to the time of her marriage. Her wan, girlish vulnerability helped get her in under Macdonaldâs radar screen.
No election date had yet been announced, but it was now only a year away.
Because Macdonald would go on to become so successful a politician, it has often been taken for granted that his motive for getting into the game was to get to the top as soon as possible and, once there, to remain at the top for as long as possible. In fact, itâs wholly possible that Macdonaldâs principal motive for entering public life was to make
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