What was the Quebec Conference of 1864?

The Quebec Conference of 1864 was a 17-day conference held October 10 to 27, 1864 at Quebec City where delegates from the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland drafted the 72 Resolutions, the framework of the future British North America Act and the basis of Canadian Confederation. The Conference was the second of three Confederation conferences (after Charlottetown, before London) and the most important in technical terms because it produced the actual constitutional text.

The 33 delegates included 12 from the Province of Canada, 5 from Nova Scotia, 7 from New Brunswick, 7 from Prince Edward Island, and 2 from Newfoundland. The Province of Canada delegation included John A. Macdonald, George Brown, George-Étienne Cartier, Étienne-Paschal Taché (the chairman), Alexander Galt, Hector-Louis Langevin, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Oliver Mowat, William McDougall, Alexander Campbell, James Cockburn, and Jean-Charles Chapais. Nova Scotia was represented by Charles Tupper, William Henry, Robert Dickey, Adams Archibald, and Jonathan McCully. New Brunswick delegates included Samuel Leonard Tilley and John Hamilton Gray (the New Brunswick John Hamilton Gray, distinct from his namesake from PEI).

The 72 Resolutions adopted a federal structure for British North America. The federal government would have powers over national defence, currency, international trade, criminal law, and most general matters; the provinces would retain powers over local matters, education, civil law, and natural resources. Macdonald initially favoured a more centralised legislative union (he reportedly said 'I would prefer a legislative union, but this is not feasible because of Lower Canada and the Maritime Provinces'). The Resolutions also established a bicameral federal Parliament with an elected House of Commons (representation by population) and an appointed Senate (regional representation, with equal seats for the Maritimes, Quebec, and Ontario).

The Resolutions' approval was contested across the colonies. The Province of Canada Legislative Assembly approved the Resolutions on March 13, 1865 by 91 votes to 33 (with most French Canadian members voting in favour, despite some opposition). New Brunswick rejected the Resolutions in March 1865 (Tilley lost the election), but a second election in May 1866 reversed the result and approved Confederation. Nova Scotia approved them via the legislature in April 1866 over Joseph Howe's vigorous opposition. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland declined to join the proposed union (PEI joined later in 1873; Newfoundland in 1949). The 72 Resolutions formed the basis of the British North America Act drafted at the London Conference in late 1866.