John Alexander MacDonald came to Canada with his parents, Hugh and Helen (nee Shaw) at the age of five. In Scotland, Hugh MacDonald was a businessman whose ambition exceeded his abilities; the family came to Canada, where Helen's sister had relatives, hoping for a fresh start after a couple of Hugh's ventures failed.

The family arrived in Kingston, Ontario in 1820. At this time, Kingston was one of the largest towns in Upper Canada. Later, John A. would be a leader of the community, but when his family first arrived, they were relatively poor. A Scottish commitment to education prompted the MacDonalds to send young John and his sisters to public school to receive what schooling he could. When he was fifteen, his parents took John out of formal schooling, and arranged for him to become a lawyer's apprentice.

Despite his youth, the following few years brought a rather meteoric rise for John's career. He was articled to Kingston lawyer George Mackenzie, who saw enough promise in the young boy to entrust him with the management of a second firm in Napanee, two years later when John was seventeen.

MacDonald biographer Donald Swainson writes, "John possessed an excellent intelligence, a love of reading, and an industrious nature. It quickly became clear that he was a responsible lad with a natural aptitude for the law."

Two years later, MacDonald's political career began with the position of Secretary of the Prince Edward District School Board. By this time, MacDonald was nineteen, had been entrusted with the management of two different law offices, but was yet too young to stand for the bar!

When MacDonald's mentor, George Mackenzie, died in 1834, John A. returned to Kingston to fill the shoes of his teacher as leader within the Scottish Presbyterian community. By the time MacDonald turned twenty-one and was admitted to the bar, he was in charge of his own law firm in one of the biggest towns in Upper Canada. Now, he took on two law students of his own, Oliver Mowat and Alexander Campbell, the future premier of Ontario and Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario respectively.

Swainson describes John A. as a tall, slender man, "with a mass of long dark curly hair that covered part of his coat collar and flopped over his ears. His chin was strong, his forehead high, and his nose so large that it became a standing joke. MacDonald loved stylish clothes and was a striking-looking man, but he was not handsome. In fact he was famed for his homeliness."

With a healthy appetite for company, MacDonald joined a number of organizations, including the St. Andrews Society, a club for Kingston's Scots, where he became a leading member. Like many of his friends and family, MacDonald also became a Conservative. Swainson calls MacDonald a flexible Conservative: "He lived in a world of real people and real problems. Conservatism was his guide, not his straitjacket."

Indeed, as the Conservative party courted scandal and disgrace in the 1840's, MacDonald remained apart from the extremist and sometimes reactionary activities of his fellow party members.

But before the future Prime Minister became immersed in politics, he married. MacDonald met Isabella in Scotland during a trip to England and Scotland in 1842. "We have no way of knowing what passed between them," Swainson concedes, "but it must have been pleasant, for 'Isa' resolved to visit her Kingston relatives in the following year." When she came to Canada in 1843, the courtship was swift, and the young couple was married. The following year, MacDonald was off to sit in Parliament, then held in Montreal.

From this point on, MacDonald's political successes would be offset by personal tragedy and financial difficulty. Isa's health failed shortly after he went to Parliament, and she would be weak and often bedridden for the rest of her life. The MacDonalds had two sons, John Alexander Jr., who died shortly after his first birthday, and Hugh John. Isa died in 1857.

Despite personal difficulties, by this time, John A. MacDonald had an appointment with history. The government of the time was debating confederation. Some politicians were in favor of annexation by the United States, but MacDonald and other moderate Conservatives argued for Union of the country: "We are a great country," he said, "and shall become one of the greatest in the universe if we persevere. God and nature have made the two Canadas one -- let no factious men be allowed to put them asunder."

The British North America Act, which formed Canada and granted it independence from the British monarch. Sir John A. was instrumental in the forming of this nation. Later that year, he formed another confederation, marrying Susan Agnes Bernard, whom he met during his time in London for the signing of the British North America Act. Bernard, twenty-one years his junior, provided MacDonald with the normal, stable home life he could not have enjoyed during his first marriage.

The newlyweds enjoyed a short honeymoon in Oxford before returning to Ottawa where MacDonald planned the festivities in honor of Canada's birthday. The British North America Act came into effect on July 1, 1867. "Dominion Day 1867 was magnificent in every respect," Swainson writes. "The weather was perfect -- sunny but not too hot. Ottawa greeted Canada's birthday with a 101-gun salute at midnight. Early the next morning festivities, by no means confined to Ottawa, began with a vengeance. Every city, town, village, and hamlet celebrated in its own way…. It was a happy day, and John A. MacDonald was the hero. Everybody knew that he was to be Canada's first Prime Minister. Because of his pre-eminence, he was singled out for special recognition. Not the least of the notable events on that first Dominion Day was the announcement that MacDonald had been made a Knight Commander of the Bath. He was now Sir John A. MacDonald."