Editing Eric Williams (section)

===Federation and independence===
After the [[World War II|Second World War]], the [[Colonial Office]] had preferred that British colonies move towards political independence in the kind of federal systems which had appeared to succeed since the [[Confederation of Canada|Canadian confederation]], which created [[Canada]], in the 19th century. In the [[British West Indies]], this goal coincided with the political aims of the nationalist movements which had emerged in all the colonies of the region during the 1930s. The Montego Bay conference of 1948 had declared the common aim to be the achievement by the West Indies of "Dominion Status" (which meant constitutional independence from the British government) as a Federation. In 1958, a [[West Indies Federation]] emerged from the [[British West Indies|British Caribbean]], which with [[British Guiana]] (now [[Guyana]]) and [[British Honduras]] (now [[Belize]]) choosing to opt out of the Federation, leaving [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]] and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] as the dominant players. Most political parties in the various territories aligned themselves into one of two Federal political parties – the [[West Indies Federal Labour Party]] (led by [[Grantley Adams]] of Barbados and [[Norman Manley]] of Jamaica) and the [[Democratic Labour Party (West Indies Federation)|Democratic Labour Party]] (DLP) led by Manley's cousin, [[Alexander Bustamante|Sir Alexander Bustamante]]. The PNM affiliated with the former, while several opposition parties (the People's Democratic Party, the [[Trinidad Labour Party]] and the Party of Political Progress Groups) aligned themselves with the DLP, and soon merged to form the [[Democratic Labour Party (Trinidad and Tobago)|Democratic Labour Party of Trinidad and Tobago]].

The DLP victory in the [[Elections in Trinidad and Tobago#1958 Federal Elections|1958 Federal Elections]] and subsequent poor showing by the PNM in the [[Elections in Trinidad and Tobago#1959 County Council Elections|1959 County Council Elections]] soured Williams on the Federation. [[Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes|Lord Hailes]] ([[Governor-General]] of the Federation) also overruled two PNM nominations to the Federal Senate in order to balance a disproportionately WIFLP-dominated Senate. When Bustamante withdrew [[Jamaica]] from the Federation, this left Trinidad and Tobago in the untenable position of having to provide 75% of the Federal budget while having less than half the seats in the Federal government. In a speech, Williams declared that "one from ten leaves nought". Following the adoption of a resolution to that effect by the PNM General Council on 15 January 1962, Williams withdrew Trinidad and Tobago from the West Indies Federation. This action led the British government to dissolve the Federation.

In 1961 the PNM had introduced the ''Representation of the People Bill''. This Bill was designed to modernise the electoral system by instituting permanent registration of voters, identification cards, [[voting machines]] and revised electoral boundaries. These changes were seen by the DLP as an attempt to disenfranchise illiterate rural voters through intimidation, to rig the elections through the use of voting machines, to allow [[Afro-Caribbean]] immigrants from other islands to vote, and to [[gerrymander]] the boundaries to ensure victory by the PNM. Opponents of the PNM saw "proof" of these allegations when [[A. N. R. Robinson]] was declared winner of the [[Tobago]] seat in 1961 with more votes than there were registered voters, and in the fact that the PNM was able to win every subsequent election until the [[Elections in Trinidad and Tobago#1980 Tobago House of Assembly Elections|1980 Tobago House of Assembly Elections]].

The [[Elections in Trinidad and Tobago#1961 General Elections|1961 elections]] gave the PNM 57% of the votes and 20 of the 30 seats. This two-thirds majority allowed them to draft the Independence [[Constitution]] without input from the DLP. Although supported by the Colonial Office, independence was blocked by the DLP, until Williams was able to make a deal with DLP leader [[Rudranath Capildeo]] that strengthened the rights of the minority party and expanded the number of Opposition [[Senate of Trinidad and Tobago|Senators]]. With Capildeo's assent, Trinidad and Tobago became independent on 31 August 1962, 25 days after Jamaica. In addition to primeministership, Williams was also [[Ministry of Finance (Trinidad and Tobago)|Minister of Finance]] from 1957 to 1961 and from 1966 to 1971.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.finance.gov.tt/about_us.php?mid=31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221094134/http://www.finance.gov.tt/about_us.php?mid=31|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 February 2014|title=Former Ministers of Finance − Ministry of Finance, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago|date=21 February 2014}}</ref>