The Canadian founding : John Locke and parliament / Janet Ajzenstat.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ajzenstat, Janet, 1936-

Series:

McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 44.

McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 44

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Locke, John, 1632-1704.

Representative government and representation--Canada--History.

Representative government and representation.

Locke, John, 1632-1704--Influence.

Locke, John.

History.

Canada--Politics and government.

Canada.

Politics and government.

Canada--History--Confederation, 1867.

Confederation of Canada (1867).

National characteristics, Canadian.

Physical Description:

xvi, 199 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2007]

Summary:

Convinced that rights are inalienable and that legitimate government requires the consent of the governed, the Fathers of Confederation - whether liberal or conservative - looked to the European enlightenment and John Locke. Janet Ajzenstat analyzes the legislative debates in the colonial parliaments and the Constitution Act (1867) in a provocative reinterpretation of Canadian political history from 1864 to 1873. Ajzenstat contends that the debt to Locke is most evident in the debates on the making of Canada's Parliament: though the anti-confederates maintained that the existing provincial parliaments offered superior protection for individual rights, the confederates insisted that the union's general legislature, the Parliament of Canada, would prove equal to the task and that the promise of "life and liberty" would bring the scattered populations of British North America together as a free nation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780773531529

0773531521

9780773532243

0773532242

OCLC:

79256085