Childhood and Youth
John Alexander Macdonald was born in Scotland in 1815 but raised in the Kingston, Ontario area, where his family had emigrated in 1819. He inherited good humour, tolerance, and sociability from his father, perseverance and patience from his mother.
After six years of schooling, Macdonald began an apprenticeship in a lawyer's office at fifteen. He had, he said, "no childhood." Though he could not afford to attend university, his education was sound, and he was a voracious reader throughout his life.
As a young lawyer, he attracted attention by taking on a number of sensational cases.

Early Political Career
Macdonald was involved in Kingston politics from the age of 19, and was first elected to office in 1844 as a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. He served in cabinet as Attorney General, a post he held for most of his political life.
In 1854 he helped create the Conservative Party, a new political alliance of English and French-Canadian interests. 
Macdonald was such an effective strategist, organizer, and fundraiser, that he became leader of the Upper Canada section of the government of the Province of Canada. He shared power and responsibility with a series of French Canadian leaders, the most important and closest being George-Étienne Cartier.

Confederation
John A. Macdonald originally opposed the idea of Confederation. He was afraid of rushing into experiments that might weaken rather than strengthen British North America. The United States had just fallen apart and into civil war. Macdonald also feared that a weak Canada would open the doors to an American takeover.
Then, almost overnight, Macdonald became the staunchest proponent of Confederation. He worked hard at the Charlottetown and Québec conferences to ensure that Canada under Confederation had a powerful federal government. As a skilled constitutional lawyer, Macdonald drafted two-thirds of the provisions of the British North America Act.
On July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada was born, with John A. Macdonald as its first prime minister. 

Prime Minister
Soon after Confederation, Macdonald faced a great opportunity -- and a great problem. He arranged the purchase of the vast territory of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company, but he failed to take into account the concerns of the its Métis residents. 
The conflict exploded into the Red River Rebellion, the first of the Métis rebellions led by Louis Riel.
Under Macdonald's leadership, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories (which then included Alberta and Saskatchewan), Manitoba, and British Columbia joined Canada. However, British Columbia joined only after Macdonald promised to build a transcontinental railway, an ambitious project for the new country.

Railway & Scandal
The first attempt to build the promised transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific, led to Macdonald's greatest political humiliation.
The history of railway construction in the 1800s is full of corruption and scandal. railways were very expensive to build, and private financiers made millions by making railway loans. In 1873, news leaked out about secret donations to Macdonald's election campaign from American backers of the Canadian Pacific railway. The result was the Pacific Scandal. Macdonald's government was forced to resign in disgrace.

Trials & Tragedies
The Pacific Scandal was not the only trial in Macdonald's life. His personal life had more than its share of tragedy. 
Macdonald lost his first wife, Isabella, after a long illness. His first son died before the age of two. His second wife, Agnes, was loving and devoted. Unhappily, their only child, Mary, was born encephalitic. He himself was often sick and exhausted. Along with family difficulties he was constantly in debt, and it was not until 1872 that he achieved some kind of financial stability.  
For solace he turned to alcohol, but after 1873 he moderated his habits. 

The National Policy
Nevertheless, by 1878 Macdonald was back as prime minister, defeating the Liberal government of Alexander Mackenzie. Macdonald campaigned under the banner of the "National Policy." The main platform of the policy was a high tariff against American imports, designed to protect Canadian manufacturers by making American and British goods too expensive in Canada.
The voters welcomed Macdonald back. The Pacific Scandal was forgotten. His personal popularity was extremely high. He was on his way to becoming a national institution. 

Louis Riel
In 1885, Macdonald was still trying to complete the troubled Canadian Pacific Railway. Ironically, construction was aided, indirectly, by an old opponent, Louis Riel. 
The Northwest Rebellion, the second of the Métis conflicts, created a national crisis. The railway proved its value in rushing troops to put down the uprising. Macdonald could then persuade Parliament to help finance its completion.
The rebellion helped to complete the CPR, but when Macdonald allowed Louis Riel to be hanged as a traitor, a wide split developed between French and English Canadians. The execution of Louis Riel was one of the most controversial events of Macdonald's political life. 

Macdonald's Accomplishment
Credit for the three policies that launched Canada as a nation -- Confederation, the CPR, and the National Policy -- belong with Macdonald. His experience with American and British governments had convinced him that Canada must depend only on itself. To that end he sought to ensure Canadian unity and prosperity.  
At Macdonald's death in 1891, Sir Wilfrid Laurier spoke for millions when he said, "the place of Sir John A. Macdonald in this country was so large and so absorbing that it is almost impossible to conceive that the political life of this country can continue without him." That it did continue was tribute to Macdonald's skills. He had been chief architect, engineer, and builder of the institution of Prime Minister of Canada, and he had built it to last.