Talk:John A. Macdonald: Difference between revisions

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{{WPReligion|class=|importance=|Interfaith=yes|InterfaithImp=}}
{{WPBiography
|living=no
|class=B
|priority=Top
|listas=Macdonald, John A.
}}
{{WikiProject Canada|class=B|importance=high|ppap=yes|history=yes}}
== Birthplace ==
sir john a. macdonald was born near glasglow at the brunswick place nt "in" glasglow

:Do you have any evidence of this? If so, why not edit the article? [[User:HistoryBA|HistoryBA]] 23:13, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

== Spelling of Name ==
Is there some reason that JAD's name is rendered here as Macdonald rather than as MacDonald?

:No reason other than that's how he and his family spelled the name. Some Macdonalds are Macdonalds and some MacDonalds are MacDonalds. There is no rule except family tradition, and it should be respected. [[User:Indefatigable|Indefatigable]] 01:29, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I'm doing a project why did he want confederation thanks

==broken code?==

There seems to be some buggy code in the article; look at the bottom. Can anybody look at it or fix it?--[[User:Sonjaaa|Sonjaaa]] 07:48, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

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Macdonald was not the longest serving Prime Minister. William Lyon Mackenzie King was.

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What colour was his hair?

== Real Birthday ==

Should we not have his birthday listed as his real birthday [[January 10]] and not the day he celebrated it? [[User:SFrank85|SFrank85]] 02:23, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

== Poster ==

terrific poster! [[User:Rjensen|Rjensen]] 03:37, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Thank you...I saw it in a history book a while back, and recently found it...plus it also answers another question above. :)[[User:Habsfannova|Habsfannova]] 03:41, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

== What was John A. Macdonald's first language and religion? ==
Creighton John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician.
p 11: "his accent and mode of speech were formed in a family and among relatives where broad Scots was continually spoken. But he was only five and a half years old when he was brought to Canada; and he grew up a typical Midland District boy, with the expressions and turns of phrase which were characteristic of the region
p 17 "the sober Presbyterians were to show themselves ready to criticize and reject the leadership of the Anglican Loyalists who up to that time had run the province and the town.
pp 74-76 he makes an early mark as champion of Presbyterian cause locally
[[User:Rjensen|Rjensen]] 03:55, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

: This is hardly unequivocal. Reverting. [[User:TrulyTory|TrulyTory]] 14:30, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Hell can scorch a feather ==

A common saying in those days. Source is: "At sixty-three he leaped from the government benches at the opposition, shouting, "I can lick you quicker than hell can scorch a feather!" and was with difficulty
restrained from doing it." in ''The Struggle for the Border'' by Bruce Hutchison - 1955 pp 328-9 [[User:Rjensen|Rjensen]] 18:21, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
:Thanks, Rjensen. [[User:HistoryBA|HistoryBA]] 23:11, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

==O'Connor stuff from Oct 10==

:''Macdonald's younger half-brother, Angus O'Connor, was a respected sports promoter/trainer of amateur athletes during the late 1800s. O'Connor's son "Jumpin" Joe O'Connor was a heavy-weight boxing champion in the British Commonwealth. (see [[Kangaroos]] and Humans). While young O'Connor was in Australia, as Commonwealth champion, he challenged all-comers; and the challenge was accepted by French-Canadian Strong-man [[Louis Cyr]].''

It has to be a hoax because whoever wrote it in goofed by saying the "British '''Commonwealth'''" instead of the "British '''Empire'''". "Commonwealth" was not used until the 1940s/1950s. [[User:Gcapp1959|GBC]] 22:38, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

: I see there is a similar paragraph in the [[Louis Cyr]] article. Even if it's true, I think it's too trivial to include even in a "Trivia" section. I'll wait 24 h, and if there are no objections I'll delete the item. [[User:Indefatigable|Indefatigable]] 18:20, 11 October 2006 (UTC)


== Goals and Beliefs ==
What were John. A. Macdonald's goals and beliefs? They are not actually included in this article.[[User:456.789.123|456]] 20:02, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

I believe Mr. Macdonald's goals were for a Canada dominated by the Protestant English. According to a number of books on the period, including Maggie Siggin's vibrant biography of Louis Riel, Macdonald can only be described as a manipulative political animal with a deep undercurrent of racism (for e.g., he scorned the "impulsive half-breeds" [Macdonald's word] in putting together policy that would render Metis in the Red River valley disenfranchised and impoverished).

== John? ==

Was his name actually John or was it Johnathan?

== Family Confusion ==

It says within the article that John's father married his mother. This really should be reworded; to me it sounds as if John's father married ''his own'' mother. <small>—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/76.68.23.230|76.68.23.230]] ([[User talk:76.68.23.230|talk]]) 00:34, 17 January 2008 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

== Education? ==
From where did he receive his LL.D. to practice law? [[User:NorthernThunder|NorthernThunder]] 02:26, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
:That's an honourary degree. MacDonald's was from Cambridge in the UK. MacDonald actually didn't have an LL.B which is what you'd need to practice in Ontario today. Back then one could practice law from an [[|Articled clerk|apprenticeship]] alone. --[[User:JGGardiner|JGGardiner]] 07:49, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

== A-class or not ==
I've quick-failed this article for A-class, as it contains no in-line citations at all. Once this is fixed, please feel free to submit this article for an [[WP:BIOAR|A-class review]]. [[User:Errabee|Er]][[User talk:Errabee|<font color="orange">rab</font>]][[User:Errabee|ee]] 13:51, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
:Sorry, I've spotted one Harvard-style (not my favourite, but allowed). Plus the trivia section must be incorporated in the prose. [[User:Errabee|Er]][[User talk:Errabee|<font color="orange">rab</font>]][[User:Errabee|ee]] 13:53, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

==[[The Jamaica]]==
There is a single sentence article about Macdonald's private rail car. I've nominated it for deletion if anyone is interested. It is currently mentioned in the trivia section here. --[[User:JGGardiner|JGGardiner]] 21:09, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

== Copyright violation ==

From the article:
:Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his alcoholism. He is known to have been drunk for many of his debates in parliament. Two apocryphal stories are commonly repeated; the first describing an election debate in which Macdonald was so drunk he began vomiting while on stage. ...
From http://www.malaspina.org/home.asp?topic=./search/details&lastpage=./search/results&ID=461:
:Macdonald was well known for his wit and also for his alcoholism. He is known to have been drunk for many of his debates in parliament. One famous story is that during an election debate Macdonald was so drunk he began vomiting violently on stage while his opponent was speaking. Picking himself up Macdonald told the crowd, "see how my opponent's ideas disgust me." In another version of the story, he responded to his opponent's query of his drunkenness with "It goes to show that I would rather have a drunk Conservative than a sober Liberal."
Obvious copyright violation. This text was not GFDL'd. --[[User:206.191.28.13|206.191.28.13]] 03:57, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
:*The section in question contains the following disclaimer:
{{quote|[This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Sir John A. Macdonald .]|malaspina.com, on the section in question}}
::I think, therefor, that there's no problem. [[User:WilyD|Wily]]<font color="FF8800">[[User talk:WilyD|D]]</font> 04:06, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

==Bath==
Should mention knighting in order. --[[User:Daniel C. Boyer|Daniel C. Boyer]] 18:01, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

==Birthdate==

Interesting to see the continuing war over Macdonald's date of birth. The footnote which cites historian Waite, explains the controversy. Seems to me --- and I'm only guessing --- that the January 11 date is probably the correct one. Macdonald's father recorded January 11 in his memorandum book. It's also the date that Macdonald himself celebrated and according to biographer Richard Gywn, January 11 is the day of "the joyous celebratory dinner staged each year in Kingston, Ontario." Gwyn also notes that January 11 appears on all the plaques and statues that honour Sir John. [[User:Bwark|Bwark]] ([[User talk:Bwark|talk]]) 17:34, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

JOHN A MACDONALD WAS GAY!!! <small>—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Bren9182|Bren9182]] ([[User talk:Bren9182|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Bren9182|contribs]]) 13:58, 17 April 2008 (UTC)</small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->Also he had a duaghter name kadeesha from his wife arangi in the year of , 1846-->

==Major revisions make this a much weaker article==
For some reason, someone has eliminated the sections on Macdonald's early life and early career, the effect of the rebellions of 1837 and the section on his personal life. Even the bibliography section has been tampered with, eliminating significant books on Macdonald. I spent hours editing this article, but all my contributions are gone. Too bad. Canada's first prime minister deserves a better entry than this mishmash. [[User:Bwark|Bwark]] ([[User talk:Bwark|talk]]) 21:05, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

:I reverted [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_A._Macdonald&diff=214037237&oldid=214035399 here] but noticed that there was more vandalism remaining, notice the links to Peru? With my next [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_A._Macdonald&diff=next&oldid=214037237 edit] instead of cleaning out the vandalism I ended up cutting the article in half but I have no idea why. I've [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_A._Macdonald&diff=214692319&oldid=214557067 reverted] to 14 May as that looks like the last good version. [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|CambridgeBayWeather]] [[User_talk:CambridgeBayWeather|Have a gorilla]] 20:46, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

::Interesting, look at [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_A._Macdonald&oldid=132537271 this] from the 21 May 2007. Somehow that's the version I reverted to. [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|CambridgeBayWeather]] [[User_talk:CambridgeBayWeather|Have a gorilla]] 20:51, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

== Rebellions of 1837 ==

I suggest omitting this paragraph:

"It was surely wisdom to have nothing to do with the whole affair. And yet, he took the case. Even he might have found it difficult to say why. A curious interest in people, a relish for cases which were odd and difficult, a jaunty recognition of the fact that professional prestige involved publicity, and, perhaps, a certain stubborn, independent conviction that these helpless and deluded men deserved at least the bare minimum of assistance – all these may have helped to move him to his decision."

It seems to me to be unencyclopedic speculation. [[Special:Contributions/24.36.74.15|24.36.74.15]] ([[User talk:24.36.74.15|talk]]) 00:01, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

== Too Much Creighton ==

Biographer Donald Creighton's name appears a dozen times in the body text. Is there any chance of cutting this down, and if possible referring to a broader array of sources? [[Special:Contributions/24.36.74.15|24.36.74.15]] ([[User talk:24.36.74.15|talk]]) 03:38, 12 July 2008 (UTC)
:So far, Creighton's two-volume biography is the definitive work on John A. Macdonald. However, many other historians are cited along with Richard Gwyn's recent biography. If you can cut down the Creighton citations, be my guest. [[User:Bwark|Bwark]] ([[User talk:Bwark|talk]]) 18:01, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

==Sections on early life and personal life==

I can't understand why these sections were deleted. Obviously Macdonald is a major figure in Canadian history and information on his early life and personal life is needed in any biography. I have restored these sections. [[User:Bwark|Bwark]] ([[User talk:Bwark|talk]]) 18:01, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Revision as of 19:06, 26 September 2008