Primary sourcePhotographSeptember 1864

Charlottetown Conference Delegates, September 1864

George P. Roberts · September 1864

A group photograph of the delegates at the Charlottetown Conference, including John A. Macdonald, where the idea of Confederation began.

Macdonald is seated among the delegates in this photograph from the conference that launched Confederation.

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Black-and-white group photograph of about two dozen men in 19th-century suits and top hats posed on the front steps and lawn of a shingled colonial building with white columns and a fanlight doorway. — George P. Roberts, Charlottetown Conference Delegates, September 1864.

About this source

What it is

This photograph by George P. Roberts shows about two dozen delegates posed outside a colonial building at the Charlottetown Conference of September 1864, the meeting where talks on uniting the British North American colonies began.

Why it matters

John A. Macdonald, then Attorney General of Canada West, is seated among the delegates, including George-Étienne Cartier, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Charles Tupper, and others who would go on to help found Canada. The photograph captures the start of the Confederation process in a single formal image.

Look closer

What does the formal posing and dress of the delegates suggest about how they saw the occasion?
Why might a photographer have been brought to record this meeting?
Who is missing from this photograph, and what does that tell you about who had political power at the time?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Sir John A. Macdonald and Samuel Leonard Tilley on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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