Editing Canadian Confederation (section)

===Influences leading to Confederation===
Several factors influenced Confederation, caused both by internal sources and pressures from external sources.{{refn|{{sfn|Martin|1995|pp=23–57}}<ref name=Martin1990>{{cite book |first=Ged |last=Martin |title=The Causes of Canadian confederation |pages=[https://archive.org/details/causesofcanadian0000unse/page/12 12–24] |year=1990 |publisher=Acadiensis Press |isbn=978-0-919107-25-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/causesofcanadian0000unse/page/12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Smith |title=British Businessmen and Canadian Confederation Constitution-Making in an Era of Anglo-Globalization |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |year=2008}}</ref>}}

Internally, there was political deadlock resulting from the contemporary governmental structure in the Province of Canada and distrust between English Protestants and French Catholics.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Canada West |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canada-west|access-date=February 21, 2021}}</ref> Further, demographic pressure from an expanding population and economic nationalism wanting economic development butted against a lack of an inter-colonial railroad, which hampered trade, military movement, and transportation in general.<ref>The Intercolonial Railway, ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' http://biographi.ca/en/theme_conferences_1864.html?p=4</ref>

Externally, the [[Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty]] (a free trade policy, starting in 1854, whereby products were allowed into the United States without taxes or tariffs, which was then considered to be beneficial for Canada) was cancelled by the United States in 1865, partly as revenge against Britain for unofficial support of the south in the [[American Civil War]]. Additionally, the U.S. doctrine of "[[manifest destiny]]" raised fears of another American invasion (Canadians had fended off American incursions during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, [[Fenian raids]], and [[St. Albans Raid]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The St. Albans Raid |work=Townships Heritage WebMagazine|url=http://townshipsheritage.com/article/st-albans-raid|access-date=February 21, 2021}}</ref>), only further inflamed by the [[Alaska Purchase]] of March 30, 1867, which had been supported in the U.S. Senate (by [[Charles Sumner]] among others) precisely in terms of taking the remainder of North America from the British. The American Civil War had also horrified Canadians and turned many from the thought of republicanism.<ref>The American Dimension, ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', http://biographi.ca/en/theme_conferences_1864.html?p=3</ref> In Britain, political pressure came from financiers who had lost money by investing in the failed [[Grand Trunk Railway]] and the [[little Englander]] philosophy fed a desire to withdraw troops from Britain's colonies.