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Quebec Resolutions (Seventy-Two Resolutions)

Delegates of the Quebec Conference (principal drafter John A. Macdonald) · 1864

The 1864 blueprint for Canadian Confederation, chiefly drafted by John A. Macdonald at the Quebec Conference.

Macdonald was the principal drafter of these resolutions, the blueprint for Canada's constitution.

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Scanned page of the printed Report of Resolutions from the Quebec Conference, October 10, 1864, with the title and numbered resolutions 1 to 14 in dense print, annotated with handwritten marks, and pen-and-ink caricature profiles of men in the margins.
Report of Resolutions adopted at the Quebec Conference, October 10, 1864. Library and Archives Canada.

About this source

What it is

This is the printed Report of Resolutions adopted by delegates at the Quebec Conference in October 1864, held today by Library and Archives Canada. The seventy-two resolutions set out the basic plan for uniting the British North American colonies.

Why it matters

John A. Macdonald was the principal drafter of these resolutions, which became the basis of Canada's system of government. They show how the division of federal and provincial powers was worked out by delegates before Confederation was ever made law.

Look closer

  • What can the handwritten annotations and marginal caricatures tell you about how this document was used?
  • Why do you think the delegates needed to agree on resolutions before any law could be written?
  • Whose interests might have been left out of a conference attended only by colonial politicians?

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

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