Changing British Attitudes
Britain decided to change the rules and make a free trade policy. The Canadian's were angry with this new rule because that meant they wouldn't get money for trading. So the Canadians decided with the other colonies that they would place taxes (tariffs) on the items coming in to get money. This then made the British upset because then the British would have to pay the colonies for goods. The Corn Laws were also a factor in this fallout between the British and their colonies because The Corn Laws raised the prices of wheat etc so it would be too expensive to import grain from other countries and that protected the sales of British farmers. Britains attitude towards the Canadians started changing for the worse. A group called the little Englanders convinced the British to stop supporting Canada and the other colonies because the British were wasting their money on their colonies while they were gaining more and more money and the Britain didn't want to support a country that was becoming stronger and more independent. Britain was loosing money so when the Canadians approached them with the idea of independence they agreed. So Britain stopped giving the colonies money and Canada then had an idea to unite with the other colonies to make a government. Britain's attitude change was a big factor leading to confederation. Even though they gave up the colonies they still wanted as much economic control as possible.
Helpful Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Laws
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137814/Corn-Law
http://prezi.com/hvad8is3ln0t/changing-british-attitudes/
http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1850/1850-04-changing-england-1850s.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/137814/Corn-Law
http://prezi.com/hvad8is3ln0t/changing-british-attitudes/
http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1850/1850-04-changing-england-1850s.html