Sir John A. Macdonald (1815 - 1891)

Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891)

John A. Macdonald, a Father of Confederation and Canada's first prime minister, dominated the life of the new nation for a quarter century.

Macdonald was a visionary statesman, a determined Conservative partisan, and a much-loved leader. His politics of westward expansion and of railways to the Atlantic and Pacific laid the basis of a successful transcontinental nation.

Still prime minister, Macdonald died in Ottawa on June 6, 1891. A simple stone cross marks his grave as he wished.

Submitted by Owen Anderson