View source for John Sandfield Macdonald

{{short description|Canadian politician and 1st Premier of Ontario}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix     = [[The Honourable]]
| name                 = John Sandfield Macdonald
| honorific-suffix     = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|size=100%|QC}}
| image                = John S Macdonald-crop.jpg
| alt                  = 
| caption              = Macdonald, c. 1870
| birth_date           = {{Birth date|1812|12|12|mf=y}}
| birth_place          = St. Raphael West, [[Glengarry County, Ontario|Glengarry County, Upper Canada]]
| death_date           = {{Death date and age |1872|06|01|1812|12|12}}
| death_place          = [[Cornwall, Ontario]], Canada
| resting_place        = St. Andrews Cemetery, [[South Stormont]], Ontario
| order1               = 1st
| office1              = Premier of Ontario
| term_start1          = July 16, 1867
| term_end1            = December 20, 1871
| predecessor1         = ''Position established''
| successor1           = [[Edward Blake]]
| order2               = 
| office2              = Joint Premier of the Province of Canada
| term_start2          = May 24, 1862
| term_end2            = March 29, 1864
| predecessor2         = [[John A. Macdonald]]
| successor2           = John A. Macdonald
| order3               = 
| office3              = Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for [[Glengarry (Province of Canada electoral district)|Glengarry]]
| term_start3          = 1841
| term_end3            = 1844
| predecessor3         = ''Position established''
| successor3           = 
| monarch1             = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| governor_general2    = [[Charles Monck, 4th Viscount Monck|Viscount Monck]]
| lieutenant_governor1 = [[Henry William Stisted]]<br>[[William Pearce Howland]]
| party                = [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Conservative]]
| otherparty           = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] (federal)
| spouse               = Marie Christine Waggaman
| relatives            = [[Donald Alexander Macdonald]] and [[Alexander Francis Macdonald]]
| signature            = John Sandfield Macdonald Signature.svg
<!--Military service-->| nickname            = 
| allegiance          = [[Upper Canada]]
| branch              = [[Canadian militia]]
| serviceyears        = 1830s–1852
| rank                = Lieutenant<br>Lieutenant-Colonel
| unit                = Queen's Light Infantry Militia (Toronto)<br>Glengarry Militia<br>Regiment of the Eastern District
| commands            = 4th Battalion, Glengarry Militia
| battles             = 
}}

'''John Sandfield Macdonald''', {{post-nominals|country=CAN|QC}} (December 12, 1812 &ndash; June 1, 1872) was the joint premier of the [[Province of Canada]] from 1862 to 1864.  He was also the first [[premier of Ontario]] from 1867 to 1871, one of the four founding provinces created at [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]] in 1867. He served as both premier and [[Attorney General of Ontario|attorney general of Ontario]] from July 16, 1867, to December 20, 1871.

He was referred to by his middle name, Sandfield, and often signed his correspondence and documents as ''J. Sandfield Macdonald''.

== Early life and legal career ==
Born in 1812 in [[Glengarry County, Ontario|Glengarry County, Upper Canada]], John Sandfield was the first of five children for Alexander and Nancy Macdonald, who were Roman Catholic Highland Scots. His mother died when he was eight.  Independent in mind, Macdonald twice tried to set out from home when he was eleven.<ref name = DCB>{{DictCanbio|ID=5113|volume=X}}</ref>

Leaving school at 16, he became a clerk at several general stores, before deciding to enter the legal profession, eventually articling under [[Archibald McLean (judge)|Archibald McLean]]. When McLean was later elevated to the Court of King's Bench for Upper Canada, Macdonald became his assistant, which allowed him to meet [[Allan MacNab]], [[Thomas Talbot (Upper Canada)|Thomas Talbot]] and [[William Henry Draper (judge)|William Henry Draper]] (with whom he would resume his articling).<ref name =DCB/>  Draper and McLean were leaders in the [[Upper Canada Tories|Tory]] political group.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Macdonald was later appointed as Queen's messenger, charged with carrying dispatches between the [[Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada|Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada]] and the [[List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States|British Minister in Washington]].{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

In 1840, while he was on one of his missions from the Lieutenant-Governor (the [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Earl of Durham]]) to the British Minister at Washington he met Marie Christine Waggaman, daughter of [[George Augustus Waggaman]], a former [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] senator from [[Louisiana]]. They were married in 1840 and raised three children.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

== Province of Canada politics ==

In 1841, Macdonald was approached by two local conservative political figures, [[Alexander Fraser (Upper Canada politician)|Alexander Fraser]] and [[John McGillivray (fur trader)|John McGillivray]], to stand for election for the [[Glengarry (Province of Canada electoral district)|Glengarry riding]] in the new [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada|Legislative Assembly]] of the [[Province of Canada]].  With their support, he easily won election and entered Parliament, ostensibly in support of Draper.  However, Macdonald at this point did not have firm political views, and once in Parliament, he gradually shifted towards the [[Reform movement (Upper Canada)|Reform group]] and away from Draper.<ref name = DCB/> In the first session of the Parliament, he supported the union of the Province of Canada and the government of [[Governor General of the Province of Canada|Governor General]], [[Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham|Lord Sydenham]], but for the rest of the first Parliament, he consistently voted in support of [[Robert Baldwin]], the leader of the Reformers of Canada West.<ref>Paul G. Cornell, ''Alignment of Political Groups in Canada, 1841–67'' (Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1962;  reprinted in paperback 2015), pp. 93–97.</ref> 

Macdonald served as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Light Infantry Militia in Toronto in the 1830s and early 1840s. On October 17, 1842, Macdonald was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and appointed to command the 4th Battalion of the Glengarry Militia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Patterson |first=B.Gen. W.J. |author-link= |date=1995 |title=Up The Glens: Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry Highlanders 1784–1994 |url= |location=Cornwall |publisher=Old Book Store Publishing |page=31 |isbn=}}</ref> He commanded the 4th Glengarry until 1852 when he was replaced by his brother [[Donald Alexander Macdonald]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Patterson |first=B.Gen. W.J. |author-link= |date=1995 |title=Up The Glens: Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry Highlanders 1784–1994 |url= |location=Cornwall |publisher=Old Book Store Publishing |page=31 |isbn=}}</ref>

A [[Reform Party (pre-Confederation)|Reformer]] and advocate of [[responsible government]], Macdonald served in all eight Assemblies of the [[Province of Canada]] prior to Confederation, the only person to have done so. He also served in several pre-confederation administrations. From 1849 to 1851 he served as solicitor general for Canada West in the first responsible government in United Province under [[Robert Baldwin]] and [[Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine]]. When [[Francis Hincks]] became premier, Macdonald was not made attorney general for Canada West as he has expected and resigned as solicitor general. Hincks disliked Macdonald and felt he was too independent in his thinking. Though bitter, Macdonald accepted election in 1852 as Speaker of the Assembly - a post he filled with great distinction. During political maneuvres of 1854, which led to the formation of a Liberal-Conservative ministry, he severely criticized [[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]] for alleged improprieties and thus became a leading figure in the Reform opposition, a role he shared with [[George Brown (Canadian politician)|George Brown]]. 

The Liberal-Conservative ministry led by [[John A. Macdonald]]  (no relation) and [[George-Étienne Cartier]] was defeated in 1862 when it failed to get a bill authorizing payment to the British government for defense expenses in anticipation of U.S. invasion. John S. Macdonald and [[Louis-Victor Sicotte]] became [[Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada|co-premiers]] of the Province of Canada, leading the first and only Liberal ministry in the United Province with the support of a bloc formally uniting the members of the [[Clear Grits]] from Canada West and [[Parti rouge]] Canada East. It was this time when Macdonald suffered a [[Atelectasis|collapsed lung]] from chronic [[tuberculosis]].<ref name="DCB" /> His ministry struggled to maintain confidence however, and fell in March 1864, when George Brown, a former ally turned bitter rival over confederation and representation issues, backed the Macdonald-Cartier bloc. 

==Premier and Attorney-General of Ontario==
Macdonald was elected for the [[Cornwall (provincial electoral district)|provincial riding of Cornwall]] in the [[1867 Ontario general election|first general election of 1867]] for the new province of Ontario.  He was re-elected in the [[1871 Ontario general election|election of 1871]]. 

Macdonald was initially an opponent of [[Canadian Confederation]], but came to accept it and became an ally of Sir [[John A. Macdonald]]. John A. Macdonald helped manoeuvre Sandfield Macdonald into the position of first Premier of Ontario. His led a moderate ministry supported by a coalition of liberals and [[Ontario Progressive Conservative Party|conservatives]] (described in contemporary accounts as a "Patent Combination" government). In addition to serving as Premier, he also occupied the post of [[Attorney General of Ontario]].<ref name="ola">[https://www.ola.org/en/members/all/john-sandfield-macdonald Legislative Assembly of Ontario:  John Sandfield Macdonald.]</ref> In the early years of confederation, politicians were allowed to serve simultaneously in the House of Commons and in a provincial legislature. From 1867 to 1872, Macdonald was also a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] MP in the [[House of Commons of Canada]].

Macdonald instituted several notable achievements, in addition to setting up the initial machinery of government for the new Province:

:* An Act modelled on the US [[Homestead Acts]] provided for virtually free land for homesteaders on surveyed [[crown land]]s of [[District Municipality of Muskoka|Muskoka]], [[Haliburton County|Haliburton]] and north [[Hastings County|Hastings]],<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title =The Free Grants and Homesteads Act of 1868|abbr =S.O.|year =1868|chapter =8.|link= https://books.google.ca/books?id=-GiuAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PR1&pg=PA72#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> and further Acts encouraged the northern extension of railways into those areas.<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title =An Act to Incorporate The Toronto and Nipissing Railway Company|abbr =S.O.|year =1868|chapter =41;|link=https://books.google.ca/books?id=-GiuAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PR1&pg=PA219#v=onepage&q&f=false}} {{Cite canlaw|short title =An Act to extend the Cobourg, Peterborough and Marmora Railway|abbr =S.O.|year =1868|chapter =43;|link=https://books.google.ca/books?id=-GiuAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PR1&pg=PA235#v=onepage&q&f=false}} {{Cite canlaw|short title =An Act to Incorporate the Peterborough and Haliburton Railway Company|abbr =S.O.|year =1868–69|chapter =61;|link=https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovi186869onta#page/284/mode/2up}} and {{Cite canlaw|short title =An Act to Incorporate the Simcoe and Muskoka Railway Company|abbr =S.O.|year =1868–69|chapter =80.|link=https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovi186869onta#page/354/mode/2up}}</ref>
:* The [[District of Muskoka]] was created to aid in the colonization effort, from townships withdrawn from [[Simcoe County]], [[Victoria County, Ontario|Victoria County]] and the [[Nipissing District|District of Nipissing]].<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title =An Act to provide for the organization of the Territorial District of Muskoka|abbr =S.O.|year =1868|chapter =35.|link=https://books.google.ca/books?id=-GiuAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PR1&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>
:* Education aid was concentrated into the [[University of Toronto]], at the expense of the denominational colleges.
:* The election laws were reformed in 1868 to establish a single date for elections to be held (as opposed to a range of dates), and to broaden the franchise.<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title =An Act respecting Elections of Members of the Legislative Assembly|abbr =S.O.|year =1868–9|chapter =21.|link= https://archive.org/stream/statutesofprovi186869onta#page/56/mode/2up}}</ref>

His government suffered from defections by more radical Reformers. This group joined with the [[Clear Grits]] to form the opposition [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal Party]] led by [[Edward Blake]] and [[Oliver Mowat]]. In December 1871, Macdonald's government was defeated by Edward Blake's Liberals. Macdonald resigned, and died several months later.

==Family==
Macdonald's brothers, [[Donald Alexander Macdonald]] and [[Alexander Francis Macdonald]], were also politicians, and served as federal Members of Parliament. Donald, who served as an MP the longest of the three brothers, was in the House of Commons concurrently with both Sandfield and Alexander, although Sandfield and Alexander did not serve concurrently with each other.

==Legacy==
Sandfield Macdonald would be the only [[Roman Catholic]] Premier of Ontario for 132 years; not until [[Dalton McGuinty]] became premier in 2003 would another Roman Catholic assume the office. After Macdonald's tenure, [[sectarian]] tensions in the province rose, and the Conservative Party increasingly became identified with the [[Orange Institution|Orange Order]] and sectarian Protestantism. Even though most of the party's leaders were not sectarian themselves (with a few notable exceptions), Orange Ontarians became a core constituency of the party that leaders were loath to neglect. Catholics, meanwhile, increasingly voted for the Liberal Party. While the Liberals could never be called a Catholic party, the Catholic vote became as important a constituency to the Liberals as the Orange vote became to the Conservatives.

Nineteenth century religious tensions aside, Macdonald's election as Ontario's first Premier makes his Catholicity an important historic symbol. Similarly the selection of [[John Sparrow David Thompson|John Thompson]], Canada's first Roman Catholic Prime Minister only twenty five years after Confederation, was indicative of the ambitions of Roman Catholics to be full and equal participants in the newly created country.

Macdonald is buried in historic St. Andrews Cemetery in St. Andrews West, [[South Stormont]], Ontario. The gravesite is marked by a bronze plaque, the first under an [[Ontario Heritage Trust]] program to honour Ontario premiers at their burial sites, similar to a national program to mark the graves of prime ministers.<ref>[https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/pages/programs/premiers-gravesites-program/premiers-honoured Premiers' Gravesites Program: Premiers Honoured.]</ref><ref>[https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/clmhc-hsmbc/sep-gra National Program for the Grave Sites of Canadian Prime Ministers ]</ref>

The [[Macdonald Block Complex]], a major set of four office towers which house ministries of the Ontario government, is named after Macdonald.

A statue of Macdonald stands in front of the east side of the [[Ontario Legislative Building]] in [[Toronto]]. The monument, unveiled in 1909, was sculpted by [[Walter Allward]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ola.org/en/visit-learn/parliament-government/explore-queens-park |title=Ontario Legislative Assembly: Explore Queen's Park – No. 15 – John Sandfield Macdonald (1812–1872). |access-date=2020-08-18 |archive-date=2021-01-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116205555/https://www.ola.org/en/visit-learn/parliament-government/explore-queens-park |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He was portrayed by [[Aidan Devine]] in the 2011 [[CBC Television]] film ''[[John A.: Birth of a Country]]''.

== Archives ==
There is a John Sandfield Macdonald [[fonds]] at [[Library and Archives Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Finding aid to John Sandfield Macdonald fonds, Library and Archives Canada|url=https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001493.pdf}}</ref>
The archival reference number is R3034. There is also a John Sandfield Macdonald [https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20129 collection] at the Archives of Ontario.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Sandfield Macdonald collection, Archives of Ontario |url=https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/DESCRIPTION_WEB/WEB_DESC_DET?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=sisn%20129 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2023-07-06}}</ref>

== Electoral history ==

=== Provincial ===
{{1867 Ontario general election/Cornwall}}
{{1871 Ontario general election/Cornwall}}

=== Federal ===
{{1867 Canadian federal election/Cornwall}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=10973}}
* [https://www.ola.org/en/members/all/john-sandfield-macdonald John Sandfield Macdonald {{!}} Legislative Assembly of Ontario] 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081017065455/http://www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques_STU/Plaque_Stormont21.html Ontario Plaques – John Sandfield Macdonald]
* [https://aims.archives.gov.on.ca/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL/YQKzn1DPHNT2N9/1/1/129?RECORD&UNION=Y John Sandfield Macdonald collection], Archives of Ontario
* [https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/macdonald_john_sandfield_10E.html MACDONALD, JOHN SANDFIELD – Dictionary of Canadian Biography]

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{{succession box
 | title=[[Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada]] – Canada West
 | before=[[John A. Macdonald]]
 | after=[[John A. Macdonald]]
 | years=1862–1864
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{{succession box
 | title=Member of Parliament for [[Cornwall (federal electoral district)|Cornwall]]
 | before=None
 | after=[[Darby Bergin]]
 | years=1867–1872
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{{succession box
 | title=Member of the Legislative Assembly for [[Cornwall (provincial electoral district)|Cornwall]]
 | before=None
 | after=[[Alexander Fraser McIntyre]]
 | years=1867–1875
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{{succession box
 | before=[[John Alexander Macdonald]]
 | title=Attorney General of Canada West
 | years=1862&ndash;1864
 | after=[[John Alexander Macdonald]]
}}
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{{succession box
|before=[[Augustin-Norbert Morin]]
|title=Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces of Canada
|years='''1852&ndash;1853'''
|after=[[Louis Victor Sicotte]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{ONPremiers}}
{{Ontario PC Leaders}}
{{Ontario Attorneys General}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, John Sandfield}}
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1872 deaths]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Premiers of Ontario]]
[[Category:Premiers of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive Council of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada West]]
[[Category:Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario]]
[[Category:Attorneys general of Ontario]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:People from Cornwall, Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Attorneys-general of the Province of Canada]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario]]