Charlottetown Conference

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The Charlottetown Conference (A Conference to discuss the Confederation of Canada) was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, for representatives from colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation. The conference took place between September 1 through 9, 1864.^[1] The conference had been planned as a meeting of representatives from the Maritime colonies; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.^[2] Britain encouraged a Maritime Union between these colonies, hoping that they would then become less economically and politically dependent on the Crown, and provide for greater economic and military power for the region in light of the American Civil War.^[3] However, another colony, the Province of Canada, comprising present-day Ontario and Quebec, heard news of the planned conference and asked that the agenda be expanded to discuss a union that would also include them.

Coincidentally there was a circus in Charlottetown during the conference, and it was much more interesting to the majority of the population. At the very least, the circus made making accommodations for all the delegates difficult, since there had not been a circus in Prince Edward Island in over 20 years.^[4] There was no one working at the public wharf at the foot of Great George Street when the Canadian delegates arrived on the steamship SS Victoria, so Prince Edward Island representative William Henry Pope had to handle receptions by himself, including rowing out to greet the new arrivals. Owing to the unexpectedly large number of visitors in the city, a sizeable proportion of the Canadian delegates remained aboard the Queen Victoria while others found accommodations at the Franklin.^[5] Meanwhile, circus-goers and the Maritime delegates had taken up the accommodations in town.