An Irishman, McGee joined the political fray, gaining a reputation as one of Canada's best speakers. His enthusiasm earned him both praise and enemies.
In an era of rebellion in Ireland, Thomas D’arcy McGee was born into the Catholic family of James and Dorcas Catherine McGee on April 13, 1825 in Carlingford, County Louth. He was their fifth child.
McGee left Ireland at age 17, climbing aboard a ship bound for North America in 1842. He arrived in Quebec then made his way to an aunt’s home in Providence, Rhode Island. Moving on to Boston, McGee made his first public speech at a Fourth of July festivity for Irish Americans, said Canadian Biography. He gave an enthusiastic speech on animosity toward the British and earned himself a post on staff at a Catholic newspaper, the Boston Pilot.
Writing articles on the history of Irish literature, giving lectures and collecting on overdue accounts, McGee captured the minds of newspaper readers. He became editor of the eastern paper before he was 19 years old. A strong Irish-Catholic supporter, he was also a proponent of the annexation of Canada to the United States. “The United States of North America must necessarily in the course of time absorb the Northern British Provinces… Either by purchase, conquest or stipulation, Canada must be yielded by Great Britain to this Republic.” But McGee made that statement before he had gained a taste of Canada.
McGee fled to Canada after failed rebellion
McGee spent the next several years back across the ocean, working at newspapers in Dublin, Ireland and participating in rebellion against Great Britain. (He was asked to leave one newspaper and his efforts in the rebellion were not successful.) He married Mary Theresa Caffrey on July 13, 1847. (The McGees later had five daughters and one son, of whom only two girls grew to adulthood.) A year later, he was arrested for sedition, though the charges were dropped almost immediately. The McGees fled and set sail for America, arriving at Philadelphia in October 1848.
Founding newspapers and writing books about Irish life filled McGee’s time in the United States for the next ten years. The New York Nation and the American Celt and Adopted Citizen were two of his newspaper enterprises used to support Catholic-Irish living in America. Unfortunately, his vocal opinions antagonized the Bishop of New York, and the Fenians (Irish rebels), who then challenged him to a duel. McGee was forced to leave.
Gradually, McGee’s perspective of the United States changed. He moved to Montreal in Lower Canada on the invitation of the Irish Catholic community in 1857. He supported his family as editor of the newspaper, New Era. McGee also took up the study of law at McGill University, graduating in 1861, noted the Concordia University archives.
Plans for a United Canada
His eyes opening to life in Canada, McGee reversed his opinion on the annexation of Canada. He “defended Canada as a place where Catholic rights were recognized,” said Biographi.ca. Returning briefly as a lecturer to Ireland, McGee promoted Canada as the place to live instead of the United States. Back in Montreal, he devised a political plan for Upper and Lower Canada, a development for “a new nationality”. His plan was based on “railway construction, the fostering of immigration… economic cooperation between Canada and the Maritime colonies....” It would be “a federal system,” that, “would solve Canada’s constitutional problems and provide for the survival of French Canada.” His ideas included a province for the native peoples and economic assistance. It was to be a country maintaining a relationship with Great Britain, yet under its own rule.
McGee was elected to the Legislative Assembly in December 1857. A gifted speaker, he supported the union of Upper and Lower Canada and tried to make changes to George Brown’s Reform Party of the time, so that it would appeal to both provinces. (The Brown Reform Party did not last.) Re-elected in the next election, McGee made efforts to improve the civil service and other government departments. Thwarted, he was dropped from Cabinet. Running as an independent in the next election, McGee was once again voted in.
By 1863, McGee was part of the Conservative government, the Minister of Agriculture, Immigration and Statistics. Concerned about education, he made educational rights of minority religions a priority. He attended the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences in 1864, leading up to the formation of Canada and becoming one of the Fathers of Confederation. Describing his earlier actions as an Irish rebel as “folly,” he was once again in hot water with Irish immigrants, and in trouble with his own government. In the election of 1867, he lost the Irish voters and was defeated in Prescott.
The first political assassination in Canada: McGee
Tired of the political arena, McGee prepared to leave politics behind for a civil service job, offered by new Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. After a session on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill in which he gave a rousing speech about national unity, McGee was returning to his rented room at 1 a.m. As he turned the door key, he was shot in the head from behind. He died immediately, on April 7, 1868. McGee’s was Canada’s first political assassination. A young man assumed to be an angered Fenian was arrested. Though evidence was circumstantial, James Patrick Whelan was tried and publicly hung for the murder.
Thousands turned out for the state funeral of Thomas D’arcy McGee, held on his 43rd birthday. On June 29, 1927, McGee was honoured with Canada Post’s 5-cent stamp; on Parliament Hill, a statue commemorates his short but significant impact on Canadian politics. Along with his political advancements, McGee’s work included many books, newspaper articles and a large number of poems. A peaceful man, according to CBC’s history series, McGee “condemned violence and all secret societies that preached it.” It would seem he paid the full price for his values.
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