The Quebec Conference of 1864
Understanding the Emergence of the Canadian Federation
A new interpretation of a key period in Canadian political history.
Description
Like all major events in Canadian history, the Quebec Conference of 1864, an important step on Canada's road to Confederation, deserves to be discussed and better understood. Efforts to revitalize historical memory must take a multidisciplinary and multicultural approach. The Quebec Conference of 1864 expresses a renewed historical interest over the last two decades in both the Quebec-Canada constitutional trajectory and the study of federalism. Contributors from a variety of disciplines argue that a more grounded understanding of the 72 Quebec Resolutions of 1864 is key to interpreting the internal architecture of the contemporary constitutional apparatus in Canada, and a new interpretation is crucial to appraise the progress made over the 150 years since the institution of federalism. The second volume in a series that began with The Constitutions That Shaped Us: A Historical Anthology of Pre-1867 Canadian Constitutions, this book reveals a society in constant transition, as well as the presence of national projects that live in tension with the Canadian federation.
Reviews
"The essays in The Quebec Conference of 1864 analyze a variety of lesser-known contemporary understandings of the Quebec Resolutions that will be of benefit to students of the period. They also contribute to the editors' aim of providing a modified originalist perspective, whereby historical context "is crucial to comprehending the internal architecture of the contemporary Canadian constitutional edifice" (9). It is to be hoped that such an approach spurs further discussions on the broader historical context of Canadian Confederation that may even supply some of what was missing from this volume." Canadian Historical Review