The Road to confederation

The British North America Colonies were having problems in their economical structure, railway system, and their government. As problems in the colonies rises, the only solution at the time was to form a confederation between all the colonies and joining them into one unified nation. Therefore, Trade, transportation, and political are three very important factors affecting British North America.

Trade is one of the key factors affecting British North America. This is because there is intercolonial trade and external trade. Intercolonial trade is trade among the British North American colonies. Intercolonial trade was partial due to the need of efficient transportation systems. In order to protect their goods from other colonies they used tariffs and duties which are taxes. This is because British North America wanted to keep more money in the British pocket. The colonies economic development essentially depended on external trade. External trade means trade outside of British North America. The exports primarily went to Britain and the United States. British North American goods had an advantage over American goods. This was called colonial preference which means giving favoured treatment to colonial trade. Britain began to move away from colonial preference in 1846 when it repealed the Corn Laws. Corn Laws are British laws that governed import and export of grain. Britain continued to change to a system of free trade. Free trade is trade without duties or tariffs. This intended that all imported goods were allowed in duty free which lowered costs to consumers. The colonies also had a good export trade to the United States. British North America and the United States signed the Reciprocity Treaty in 1854, which meant the same reduction of tariffs. Exports grew, and it looked as though the colonies had successfully found another market for their goods. In 1865, the United States announced its intention to back out of the Reciprocity Treaty because of a few