What We Call Ourselves

In 1776 the Thirteen Colonies broke from being provinces in a kingdom and empire to become sovereign states in a confederacy they called a “republic.”

Re-public means simply a “People-dom” as opposed to a Kingdom. We see this emphasis in the “We the people…” language of the United States Constitution. In criminal trials, too, an accused finds themselves “versus the People” in the US, “versus the Queen” in the UK.

In his Republic Plato warns that the People as a living, breathing body retain sovereignty only as long as they do not abdicate it to something less: an aristocracy, oligarchy, or military industrial complex.

In seeing their nation as the heir of Roman republicanism—statues of Lincoln and Washington in Roman togas in the Capitol—Americans can also trace the steps by which a republic became an empire with overseas possessions and a praetorian guard.

In Rome in the régime that replaced a king, kingship came full circle with an Emperor.

In 1867 in the north half of the North American continent, the former provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, together with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, came together in a new self-governing configuration they called a “Dominion.” They were joined by three more provinces in the next five years, and another three the following century.

These were not yet a sovereign state. Steps to that point would spread over a century. But they had self rule in internal affairs with a system called “Responsible Government” that had existed in the provinces for 20 years.

Confederation, too, was an experiment: the first modern state to emerge without violence by a process of evolution. Canada did not need to replace a overseas king with a homegrown one. Canadians had already gained most powers of the Crown through their legislatures.

Canada’s Fathers of Confederation were very aware of the American Constitution. They respected this experiment even as they diverged from it in areas. One such area was States’ Rights that had led to the Civil War. Another was the separation of powers. Here they opted for the British model of integration of legislature and executive in Parliament.

A major example of American influence on Canada was what the new federation called itself. It was not a republic, having chosen to continue the connection with the Crown.

But “Kingdom” would not do either, though this was the preference of many English speaking Fathers of Confederation. To have a new “Kingdom” on its northern border would be a provocation to republicanism in the US. A compromise had to be found.

It came in a word from the Bible: “Let him have dominion from sea to sea” read by one of Canada’s Fathers, Sir Leonard Tilley and his wife at morning prayers in London during the last stages of the Confederation negotiations.

The word “Dominion” had been used in 1686 in the “Dominion of New England”: an attempt by James II to consolidate eight northeastern American colonies. The colonists saw this setup as being foisted on them, resisted, and it broke up after three years. The “Old Dominion” is also the popular name for the state of Virginia, first recorded in 1778.

The Dominion of Canada, however, persisted as an official name and a popular one for a century. It describes a geographic reality. “Dominion from sea to sea” is Canada’s motto.

Describing Canada as a “dominion” emphasizes the territorial expanse of the country. Calling the United States a “republic” emphasizes the people and organization there.

These are complementary, not opposed, themes. As pointed out in the March 15 posting, the American experience is best shared verbally, the Canadian experience visually.

We need all three aspects, land, people and organization to make a country. But the land comes first. It is living in harmony with the land, from which we arise as living creatures, than our community, national and international life is harmonious and balanced.