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{{Short description|Canadian Father of Confederation (1825–1868)}}
{{For|the Quebec riding|D'Arcy-McGee}}
{{For|the Quebec riding|D'Arcy-McGee}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
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{{Short description|19th-century Irish-Canadian politician and Father of Confederation}}

{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Thomas D'Arcy McGee
| name = Thomas D'Arcy McGee
| honorific-suffix =
| image = ThomasDArcyMcGee.jpg
| image = ThomasDArcyMcGee.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption =
| constituency_MP = [[Montreal West (electoral district)|Montreal West]]
| constituency_MP = [[Montreal West (electoral district)|Montreal West]]
| parliament = Canadian
| parliament = Canadian
| predecessor = ''New position''
| predecessor = ''Riding established''
| successor = [[Michael Patrick Ryan]]
| successor = [[Michael Patrick Ryan]]
| term_start = 1867
| term_start = 24 September 1867
| term_end = 1868
| term_end = 7 April 1868
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1825|04|13}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1825|04|13}}
| birth_place = [[Carlingford, County Louth]], Ireland
| birth_place = [[Carlingford, County Louth]], Ireland
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| nationality =
| nationality =
| spouse =
| spouse =
| death_cause = [[Assassination|Assassinated]] by [[gunshot wound]]
| death_cause = [[Assassination]] (gunshot wound)
| party = [[Liberal-Conservative Party|Liberal-Conservative]]
| party = [[Liberal-Conservative Party|Liberal-Conservative]]
| relations = [[Frank Charles McGee]], Great-nephew
| relatives = [[Frank Charles McGee]] (great-nephew)
| children =
| children =
| residence =
| residence =
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| committees =
| committees =
| portfolio =
| portfolio =
| religion =
| signature = Thomas D'Arcy McGee Signature.svg
| signature = Thomas D'Arcy McGee Signature.svg
| website =
| website =
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}}
}}


'''Thomas D'Arcy McGee'''(13 April 1825{{snd}}, and a [[Fathers of Confederation|Father]] of [[Canadian Confederation]]. The young McGee was an [[Irish Catholics|Irish Catholic]] who opposed [[British rule in Ireland|British rule]] in [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]], and worked for a peasant revolution to overthrow British rule and create an independent [[Irish republicanism|Irish Republic]]. He escaped arrest and fled to the [[United States]] in 1848, where he reversed his political beliefs. He became disgusted with [[American republicanism]], [[anti-Catholicism in the United States|Anti-Catholicism]], and [[Classical Liberalism]]. McGee became intensely [[conservative]] in his political beliefs and in his religious support for the embattled [[Pope]] [[Pius IX]]. He moved to the [[Province of Canada]] in 1857 and worked hard to convince the [[Irish Catholics]] to cooperate with the [[Protestant]] British (members of the church) in forming a Confederation that would make for a self-governing Canada within the [[British Empire]]. His passion for Confederation garnered him the title: 'Canada's first [[nationalist]]'.<ref>Richard Gwyn, ''John A: The Man Who Made Us, Vol I.'' Vintage Canada, 2008: pg. 217</ref> McGee denounced the [[Fenian Brotherhood]] in both Canada and the United States, which was a [[secret society]] of exiled [[Irish republicanism|Irish Republicans]],
'''Thomas D'Arcy McGee''' (13 April 1825{{snd}}7 April 1868) was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a [[Fathers of Confederation|Father]] of [[Canadian Confederation]]. The young McGee was an [[Irish Catholics|Irish Catholic]] who opposed [[British rule in Ireland|British rule]] in [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]], and was part of the [[Young Ireland]] attempts to overthrow British rule and create an independent [[Irish republicanism|Irish Republic]]. He escaped arrest and fled to the [[United States]] in 1848, after which some of his political positions reversed. He remained ardently Catholic, but his Irish nationalism moderated. He became disgusted with [[American republicanism]], [[anti-Catholicism in the United States|Anti-Catholicism]], and [[classical liberalism]]. McGee became intensely [[monarchist]]ic in his political beliefs and in his religious support for the embattled [[Pope]] [[Pius IX]].

He moved to the [[Province of Canada]] in 1857 and worked hard to convince fellow [[Irish Canadians]] to cooperate with Canadian [[Protestant]]s in forming a self-governing Canada within the [[British Empire]]. His passion for Confederation garnered him the title: 'Canada's first [[nationalist]]'.<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Gwyn |title=John A.: The Man Who Made Us: The Life and Times of John A. Macdonald.|volume= One: 1815&ndash;1867|publisher=Vintage Canada |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-679-31476-9 |page=217}}</ref> McGee also vocally denounced the activities of the [[Fenian Brotherhood]], a [[paramilitary]] [[secret society]] of exiled [[Irish republicanism|Irish Republicans]] who resembled his younger self politically, in Ireland, Canada, and the United States. McGee succeeded in helping achieve Confederation in 1867, but was assassinated by the Fenian Brotherhood, which considered McGee guilty of [[Shoneenism]], in 1868. Montreal Fenian Brotherhood member [[Patrick J. Whelan]] was convicted of McGee's murder and executed.


==Early life==
==Early life==
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2021}}
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2021}}
Widely known as '''D'Arcy McGee''', he was born on 13 April 1825 in [[Carlingford, County Louth|Carlingford, Ireland]], and raised as a [[Roman Catholic]]. From his mother, the daughter of a [[Dublin]] bookseller he learned the [[history of Ireland]], which later influenced his writing and political activity. When he was eight years old, his family moved to [[Wexford]],<ref>https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/12273/1/fulltext.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}</ref> where his father, James McGee, was employed by [[Irish Coast Guard|the Irish coast guard]] (then under [[His Majesty's Coastguard]] and likely at the Wexford Town Station near Customs House Quay.<ref name="Demeter 1997 535">{{cite book|first=Richard |last=Demeter|title=Irish America: The Historical Travel Guide|volume=I: United States, Northern Atlantic States, District of Columbia, Great Lakes Region and Canada |url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22+Either+by+purchase,+conquest,+or+stipulation,+Canada+must+be+yielded+by+Great+Britain+to+this+Republic.%E2%80%9D%22|year=1997 |publisher=Cranford Press |isbn=978-0-9648253-3-8 |page=535}}</ref>
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[[File:Thomas D'Arcy McGee.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Statue on [[Parliament Hill]], Ottawa]]
Widely known as '''D'Arcy McGee''', he was born on 13 April 1825 in [[Carlingford, County Louth|Carlingford, Ireland]], and raised as a [[Roman Catholic]]. From his mother, the daughter of a [[Dublin]] bookseller he learned the [[history of Ireland]], which later influenced his writing and political activity. When he was eight years old, his family moved to [[Wexford]], where his father, James McGee, was employed by the coast guard. In Wexford he attended a local [[hedge school]], where the teacher, Michael Donnelly, fed his hunger for knowledge and where he learned of the long history of British rule and Irish opposition, including the more recent [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|uprising of 1798]]. In 1842 at age 17, McGee left Ireland with his sister due to a poor relationship with their stepmother, Margaret Dea, who had married his father in 1840 after the death of his mother 22 August 1833. In 1842 he sailed from Wexford harbour aboard the brig ''Leo'', bound for the United States. On the ''Leo'' he wrote many of his early poems, mostly about Ireland. He soon found work as assistant editor of [[Patrick Donahoe]]'s ''[[The Pilot (Massachusetts newspaper)|Boston Pilot]]'', a Catholic newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. He specialized in articles expounding the movement for Irish self-determination led by [[Daniel O’Connell]]. He became the lead editor in 1844, While writing widely as well on Irish literature and politics. He advocated the union of Canada into the United States, saying, "Either by purchase, conquest, or stipulation, Canada must be yielded by Great Britain to this Republic."<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Demeter|title=Irish America|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22+Either+by+purchase,+conquest,+or+stipulation,+Canada+must+be+yielded+by+Great+Britain+to+this+Republic.%E2%80%9D%22|year=1997|publisher=Cranford Press|page=535}}</ref>


In Wexford he attended a local [[hedge school]], where the teacher, Michael Donnelly, fed his hunger for knowledge and where he learned of the long history of British rule and Irish opposition, including the more recent [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|uprising of 1798]]. In 1842 at age 17, McGee left Ireland with his sister due to a poor relationship with their stepmother, Margaret Dea, who had married his father in 1840 after the death of his mother 22 August 1833. In 1842 he sailed from Wexford harbour aboard the brig ''Leo'', bound for the United States. On the ''Leo'' he wrote many of his early poems, mostly about Ireland.<ref name="Demeter 1997 535"/>
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In 1845, he returned to Ireland where he became politically active and edited ''[[The Nation (Irish newspaper)|The Nation]]'', the voice of the Young Ireland movement. In 1847, he married Mary Theresa Caffrey; they had six children but only two daughters survived their father. His involvement in the [[Irish Confederation]] and [[Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848]] resulted in a warrant for his arrest. McGee escaped disguised as a priest and returned to the United States.<ref name=boy>{{cite book|last=Boylan|first= Henry |year=1998|title=A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd Edition|page= 246|location=Dublin|publisher= Gill and MacMillan|isbn = 0-7171-2945-4}}</ref>

He soon found work as assistant editor of [[Patrick Donahoe]]'s ''[[The Pilot (Massachusetts newspaper)|Boston Pilot]]'', a Catholic newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. He specialized in articles expounding the movement for Irish [[self-determination]] led by [[Daniel O’Connell]]. He became the lead editor in 1844, While writing widely as well on Irish literature and politics. He advocated the union of Canada into the United States, saying, "Either by purchase, conquest, or stipulation, Canada must be yielded by Great Britain to this Republic."<ref name="Demeter 1997 535"/>

⚫
In 1845, he returned to Ireland where he became politically active and edited ''[[The Nation (Irish newspaper)|The Nation]]'', the voice of the Young Ireland movement. In 1847, he married Mary Theresa Caffrey; they had six children but only two daughters survived their father. His involvement in the [[Irish Confederation]] and [[Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848]] resulted in a warrant for his arrest. McGee escaped disguised as a priest and returned to the United States.<ref name=boy>{{cite book|last=Boylan|first= Henry |year=1998|title=A Dictionary of Irish Biography|edition=3rd |page= 246|publisher= Gill and MacMillan|isbn = 0-7171-2945-4}}</ref>


==United States==
==United States==
In the United States, he achieved prominence in Irish American circles and founded and edited the New York ''Nation'' and the ''American Celt'' (Boston). He wrote a number of history books. He grew disillusioned with democracy, [[republicanism]] and the United States. Historian David Gerber traces a dramatic transformation from the [[Young Ireland]] revolutionary who sought a peasant insurrection to expel the British from Ireland. Gerber writes:
In the United States, he achieved prominence in Irish-American circles and founded and edited the New York-based ''Nation'' and the Boston-based ''American Celt''. He also wrote a number of history books. In common with several other Young Ireland ''émigrés'', McGee espoused [[proslavery thought]] and defended the continuation of [[slavery in the United States]]. In the 4 August 1849 edition of the ''Nation'', McGee attacked supporters of the abolitionist [[Daniel O'Connell]] in the United States, writing that "Their task is to liberate their slaves, not to travel across the Atlantic for foreign objects of sympathy."<ref name="Fanning">{{Cite journal|last=Fanning|first=Bryan|date=1 November 2017|title=Slaves to a Myth|url=http://www.drb.ie/essays/slaves-to-a-myth|journal=Irish Review of Books|type=article|volume=102|access-date=2018-11-11}}</ref>
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:After 1851, however, he veered increasingly toward the opposite pole, espousing an [[ultramontane]] conservatism.... Catholic dogma and triumphalism, anti-Protestantism, cultural nationalism, and social conservatism were the framework of McGee's thought during the 1850s.<ref>{{cite book|author=David A. Gerber|title=The making of an American pluralism: Buffalo, New York, 1825-60|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22cultural+nationalism,+and+social+conservatism+were+the+framework+%22|year=1989|publisher=University of Illinois Press|page=157}}</ref>


McGee eventually grew disillusioned with democracy, [[republicanism]] and the United States. Historian David Gerber traces a dramatic transformation from the [[Young Ireland]] revolutionary who sought a peasant insurrection to expel the British from Ireland. Gerber writes:
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McGee emigrated to Montreal in 1857, believing Canada was far more hospitable to the Catholic Irish than was the United States. He downplayed the importance of the [[Orange Order]] in Canada. He remained a persistent critic of American institutions, and of the American way of life. He accused the Americans of hostile and expansionist motives toward Canada and of desiring to spread its republican ideas over all of North America. McGee worked energetically for continued Canadian devotion to the [[British Empire]] seeing in imperialism the protection Canada needed from all American ills.<ref>J. G. Snell, "Thomas D'Arcy McGee and the American Republic," ''Canadian Review of American Studies'' 1972 3(1): 33–44</ref>
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:After 1851, however, he veered increasingly toward the opposite pole, espousing an [[ultramontane]] conservatism.... Catholic dogma and triumphalism, anti-Protestantism, cultural nationalism, and social conservatism were the framework of McGee's thought during the 1850s.<ref>{{cite book|first=David A. |last=Gerber|title=The making of an American pluralism: Buffalo, New York, 1825&ndash;60|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22cultural+nationalism,+and+social+conservatism+were+the+framework+%22|year=1989 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-01595-3 |page=157}}</ref>

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He emigrated to Montreal in 1857, believing Canada was far more hospitable to the Catholic Irish than was the United States. He downplayed the importance of the [[Orange Order]] in Canada. He remained a persistent critic of American institutions, and of the American way of life. He accused the Americans of hostile and expansionist motives toward Canada and of desiring to spread its republican ideas over all of North America. McGee worked energetically for continued Canadian devotion to the [[British Empire]] seeing in imperialism the protection Canada needed from all American ills.<ref>{{cite journal |first=J. G. |last=Snell |title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee and the American Republic |journal=Canadian Review of American Studies |date=1972 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=33–44 |doi=10.3138/CRAS-003-01-03|s2cid=154710276 }}</ref>


==Canada==
==Canada==
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[[File:Thomas D'Arcy McGee.JPG|thumb|upright|A statue of McGee on [[Parliament Hill]], Ottawa]]
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In 1857, he set up the publication of the ''New Era'' in [[Montreal|Montreal, Quebec]]. In his editorials and pamphlets he attacked the influence of the [[Orange Order]] and defended the [[Irish Catholic]] right to representation in the assembly. In terms of economics he promoted modernisation, calling for extensive economic development by means of railway construction, the fostering of immigration, and the application of a high protective tariff to encourage manufacturing. Politically active, he advocated a new nationality in Canada, to escape the [[sectarianism]] of Ireland. In 1858, he was elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]] and worked for the creation of an independent Canada.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mrs. Isabel (Murphy) Skelton|title=The Life of Thomas DA̓rcy McGee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nsB5-rxOsIC|year=1925|publisher=Garden City Press|page=281}}</ref> By 1861, McGee had earned a law degree at [[McGill University]].

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In 1857, he set up the publication of the ''New Era'' in [[Montreal|Montreal, Quebec]]. In his editorials and pamphlets he attacked the influence of the [[Orange Order]] and defended the [[Irish Catholic]] right to representation in the assembly. In terms of economics he promoted modernisation, calling for extensive economic development by means of railway construction, the fostering of immigration, and the application of a high protective tariff to encourage manufacturing. Politically active, he advocated a new nationality in Canada, to escape the [[sectarianism]] of Ireland. In 1858, he was elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada]] and worked for the creation of an independent Canada.<ref>{{cite book|first=Isabel |last=Skelton (Murphy) |title=The Life of Thomas D'Arcy McGee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nsB5-rxOsIC |year=1925 |publisher=Garden City Press |oclc=1015365672 |page=281}}</ref> McGee earned a law degree at [[McGill University]]<ref>{{cite web | url = https://200.mcgill.ca/faculties/faculty-of-law/the-first-decades/ | accessdate = 26 March 2023 | title = The first decades | publisher = McGill University }}</ref> and was called to the bar in 1861.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Canadian Portrait Gallery | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K1tvcw6l3kQC&pg=PA146 | page = 146 | last = Dent | first = John Charles | year = 1881 | publisher = JB Magurn }}</ref>


McGee became the minister of agriculture, immigration, and statistics in the Conservative government which was formed in 1863. He retained that office in the "[[Great Coalition]]", and was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] delegate to the [[Charlottetown Conference|Charlottetown]] and [[Quebec Conference, 1864|Quebec]] conferences of 1864. At Quebec, McGee introduced the resolution which called for a guarantee of the educational rights of religious minorities in the two Canadas.<ref>{{cite book|author=David A. Wilson|title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee: The Extreme Moderate, 1857-1868|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h579-3rDo9kC&pg=PA304|year=2011|publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP|page=304|isbn=9780773539037}}</ref>
McGee became the minister of agriculture, immigration, and statistics in the Conservative government which was formed in 1863. He retained that office in the "[[Great Coalition]]", and was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] delegate to the [[Charlottetown Conference|Charlottetown]] and [[Quebec Conference, 1864|Quebec]] conferences of 1864. At Quebec, McGee introduced the resolution which called for a guarantee of the educational rights of religious minorities in the two Canadas.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h579-3rDo9kC&pg=PA304 304]}}</ref>


===Fenians===
===Fenians===
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Following the [[Confederation of Canada]], McGee was elected to the [[1st Canadian Parliament]] in 1867 as a [[Liberal-Conservative]] representing the riding of [[Montreal West (electoral district)|Montreal West]]. However, he had lost much of his Irish Catholic support.
Following the [[Confederation of Canada]], McGee was elected to the [[1st Canadian Parliament]] in 1867 as a [[Liberal-Conservative]] representing the riding of [[Montreal West (electoral district)|Montreal West]]. However, he had lost much of his Irish Catholic support.


On 5 November 1867 McGee delivered an oration titled "The Mental Outfit of the New Dominion." The address surveyed the literary status of Canada on the eve of the first Dominion Parliament. McGee's views were a combination of Tory principle, revelation, and empirical method. He suggested a national literature inspired by the creativity and ingenuity of the Canadian people.<ref>Germaine Warkentin, "D'Arcy McGee and the Critical Act: A Nineteenth-Century Oration," ''Journal of Canadian Studies'' 1982 17(2): 119–127</ref>
On 5 November 1867 McGee delivered an oration titled "The Mental Outfit of the New Dominion." The address surveyed the literary status of Canada on the eve of the first Dominion Parliament. McGee's views were a combination of Tory principle, revelation, and empirical method. He suggested a national literature inspired by the creativity and ingenuity of the Canadian people.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Germaine |last=Warkentin |title=D'Arcy McGee and the Critical Act: A Nineteenth-Century Oration |journal=Journal of Canadian Studies |date=1982 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=119–127 |doi=10.3138/jcs.17.2.119|s2cid=152113212 }}</ref>


==Assassination==
==Assassination==
On 7 April 1868, McGee participated in a parliamentary debate that went on past midnight. After finishing, he walked back to the boarding house where he was staying. McGee was opening the door to Mrs. Trotter's Boarding House in Ottawa when he was shot in the head by someone waiting for him on the inside. Several people came running to the scene; however, there was no sign of the assassin.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Slattery|first1=T.P.|title=The Assassination of D'Arcy McGee|url=https://archive.org/details/assassinationofd00slat|url-access=registration|date=1968|publisher=Doubleday Canada|location=Toronto|pages=[https://archive.org/details/assassinationofd00slat/page/465 465]}}</ref> It was later determined that McGee was assassinated with a shot from a handgun by [[Patrick J. Whelan]].<ref name=boy/> McGee was given a state funeral in Ottawa known to be the one of the largest funerals in Canadian history and interred in a crypt at the [[Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges]] in Montreal. His funeral procession in Montreal drew an estimated crowd of 80,000 (out of a total city population of 105,000).<ref>Wilson, ''Thomas D'Arcy McGee: The Extreme Moderate, 1857-1868'' (2011), pp 384-85</ref>
On 7 April 1868, McGee participated in a parliamentary debate that went on past midnight. After finishing, he walked back to the boarding house where he was staying. McGee was opening the door to Mrs. Trotter's Boarding House in Ottawa when he was shot in the head by someone waiting for him on the inside. Several people came running to the scene; however, there was no sign of the assassin.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Slattery|first1=T. P.|title=The Assassination of D'Arcy McGee|url=https://archive.org/details/assassinationofd00slat|url-access=registration|date=1968|publisher=Doubleday Canada|page=[https://archive.org/details/assassinationofd00slat/page/465 465] |oclc=422290671}}</ref> It was later determined that McGee was assassinated with a shot from a handgun by [[Patrick J. Whelan]].<ref name=boy/>


McGee was given a state funeral in Ottawa known to be one of the largest funerals in Canadian history. He was interred in a crypt at the [[Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges]] in Montreal. His funeral procession in Montreal drew an estimated crowd of 80,000, out of a total city population of 105,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Wilson|2011|pp=384–385}}</ref>
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[[Patrick J. Whelan]], a [[Fenian]] sympathiser and a Catholic, was accused, tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime on 11 February 1869 in Ottawa. The jury was decisively swayed by the forensic evidence that Whelan's gun had been fired shortly before the killing, together with the circumstantial evidence that he had threatened and stalked McGee. Historian David Wilson points out that forensic tests conducted in 1972 show that the fatal bullet was compatible with both the gun and the bullets that Whelan owned. Wilson concludes:
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:The balance of probabilities suggests that Whelan either shot McGee, or was part of a hit-squad, but there is still room for reasonable doubt as to whether he was the man who actually pulled the trigger.<ref>See [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-assassination-of-thomas-darcy-mcgee-feature/ David A. Wilson, "The assassination of Thomas Darcy McGee" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (2015)]</ref>


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[[Patrick J. Whelan]], a [[Fenian]] sympathiser and a Catholic, was accused, tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime on 11 February 1869 in Ottawa.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Assassination of D'Arcy McGee |url=http://biographi.ca/en/topics/topic-match-list.php?id=2182 |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography}}</ref> The jury was decisively swayed by the forensic evidence that Whelan's gun had been fired shortly before the killing, together with the circumstantial evidence that he had threatened and stalked McGee. Historian David Wilson points out that forensic tests conducted in 1972 show that the fatal bullet was compatible with both the gun and the bullets that Whelan owned. Wilson concludes:
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Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists questioned his guilt, suggesting that he was a scapegoat for a Protestant plot.<ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Assassination: a legal and historical analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=azJEh6lk8bgC&pg=PA335|publisher=The Stonecrusher Press|pages=3356, 352|isbn = 9780981266725}}</ref>
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:The balance of probabilities suggests that Whelan either shot McGee, or was part of a hit-squad, but there is still room for reasonable doubt as to whether he was the man who actually pulled the trigger.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-assassination-of-thomas-darcy-mcgee-feature/ |first=David A. |last=Wilson |title=The assassination of Thomas Darcy McGee |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=2015}}</ref>


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Conspiracy theorists questioned his guilt, suggesting that he was a scapegoat for a Protestant plot.<ref>{{cite book |last=MacNab |first=Charles |title=Understanding the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Assassination: a legal and historical analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=azJEh6lk8bgC&pg=PA335|publisher=The Stonecrusher Press |date=2013 |pages=335, 352 |isbn=978-0-9812667-1-8}}</ref>
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[[File:D'Arcy McGee's mausoleum, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal, QC, 1927.jpg|left|upright|thumb|McGee's mausoleum in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal, 1927]]


The [[government of Canada]]'s [[Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building]] stands near the site of the assassination.
The [[government of Canada]]'s [[Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building]] stands near the site of the assassination.


The case is dramatised in the Canadian play ''Blood on the Moon'' by Ottawa actor/playwright Pierre Brault. Patrick J. Whelan was hanged in front of an audience of 5,000 people. The assassination of McGee is also a major component of ''Away,'' a novel about Irish immigration to Canada by Canadian novelist [[Jane Urquhart]].[[Image:McGee Funeral.jpg|thumb|upright|McGee funeral procession in 1868]]
The case is dramatised in the Canadian play ''Blood on the Moon'' by Ottawa actor/playwright Pierre Brault. Patrick J. Whelan was hanged in front of an audience of 5,000 people. The assassination of McGee is also a major component of ''Away,'' a novel about Irish immigration to Canada by Canadian novelist [[Jane Urquhart]]. [[Image:McGee Funeral.jpg|thumb|upright|McGee funeral procession in 1868]]


==Impact of the assassination==
==Impact of the assassination==
P.M. Toner argues that the assassination was an important historical marker in Irish-Canadian history. He argues that the Fenian element among the Canadian Catholic Irish was powerful in the 1860s. The reasons for Fenian influence included McGee's failure to rally moderate Irish support before his death, and the fact that no convincing moderate leader replaced McGee after his death. In addition the Catholic bishops proved unable to control the Fenians in either the US or Canada; a final factor explaining the influence of the Fenians was the courting of the Irish Catholic vote by Canadian non-Catholic politicians. Behind all these reasons was Canadian fear of the 'Green Ghost': American Fenianism. After 1870, however, the failure of American Fenian raids into Canada, followed by the collapse of American Fenianism, finally led to the decline of Canadian Fenian power.<ref>P. M. Toner, "The 'Green Ghost': Canada's Fenians and the Raids," ''Éire-Ireland'' When he was hanged, it was in front of 5,000 people and this was also the last time this was done in public in Canada. 1981 16(4): 27–47</ref>
P. M. Toner argues that the assassination was an important historical marker in Irish-Canadian history. He argues that the Fenian element among the Canadian Catholic Irish was powerful in the 1860s. The reasons for Fenian influence included McGee's failure to rally moderate Irish support before his death, and the fact that no convincing moderate leader replaced McGee after his death.<ref name="Toner 1981 27–47">{{cite journal |first=P. M. |last=Toner |title=The 'Green Ghost': Canada's Fenians and the Raids |journal=Éire-Ireland |quote=When he was hanged, it was in front of 5,000 people and this was also the last time this was done in public in Canada |date=1981 |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=27–47}}</ref>
In addition the Catholic bishops proved unable to control the Fenians in either the US or Canada. A final factor explaining the influence of the Fenians was the courting of the Irish Catholic vote by Canadian non-Catholic politicians. Behind all these reasons was Canadian fear of the 'Green Ghost': American Fenianism. After 1870, the failure of American Fenian raids into Canada, followed by the collapse of American Fenianism, led to the decline of Canadian Fenian power.<ref name="Toner 1981 27–47"/>


==Honours==
==Honours==
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[[File:D'Arcy McGee's mausoleum, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal, QC, 1927.jpg|upright|thumb|McGee's mausoleum in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal, 1927]]
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A monument to McGee stands at Tremone Bay, in north [[County Donegal]], Ireland near the bay from which he escaped to America in 1848.<ref>Beattie, Darcy McGee Commemoration, 1848, p.5</ref> There is a monument to him in his native [[Carlingford, County Louth]], unveiled during a visit in 1991 by former [[Prime Minister of Canada]] [[Brian Mulroney]] and Irish [[Taoiseach]] [[Charles Haughey]]. His parents' grave in the grounds of Wexford's historic [[Selskar Abbey]] is marked by a plaque presented by the government of Canada.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

⚫
A monument to McGee stands at Tremone Bay, in north [[County Donegal]], Ireland near the bay from which he escaped to North America in 1848.<ref>{{cite book |last=D'Arcy McGee |first=Thomas |editor-last=Beattie |editor-first=Seán |title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee: a commemoration 1998: Recalling the escape of D'Arcy McGee to America, September 1848 |publisher=Lighthouse Publications |date=1998 |page=5 |isbn=978-0-9520481-4-5}}</ref> There is a monument to him in his native [[Carlingford, County Louth]], unveiled during a visit in 1991 by then [[Prime Minister of Canada]] [[Brian Mulroney]] and Irish [[Taoiseach]] [[Charles Haughey]]. His parents' grave in the grounds of Wexford's historic [[Selskar Abbey]] is marked by a plaque presented by the government of Canada.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McGoogan |first1=Ken |title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee |url=https://celticlifeintl.com/thomas-darcy-mcgee/ |website=Celtic Life International |access-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>


On 20–22 August 2012, the inaugural Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School was held in Carlingford, Co. Louth, Ireland to commemorate and celebrate his legacy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dkit.ie/news/thomas-d’arcy-mcgee-summer-school-2019.html|title=8th Annual Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School|website=DkIT - Dundalk Institute of Technology}}</ref>
On 20–22 August 2012, the inaugural Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School was held in Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland to commemorate and celebrate his legacy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dkit.ie/news/thomas-d’arcy-mcgee-summer-school-2019.html|title=8th Annual Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School|publisher=Dundalk Institute of Technology |date=2019-07-29}}</ref>


On [[Sparks Street]], in [[downtown Ottawa]], the [[Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building]] is a prominent government-owned office building. The popular D'Arcy McGee's Pub stands on the corner of Sparks and Elgin Streets.<ref>[https://ottawatourism.ca/en/see-and-do/d-arcy-mcgee-s-irish-pub D'Arcy McGee's Irish Pub (Tourism Ottawa).]</ref>
On [[Sparks Street]], in [[downtown Ottawa]], the [[Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building]] is a prominent government-owned office building. D'Arcy McGee's Pub stands on the corner of Sparks and Elgin streets.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://ottawatourism.ca/en/see-and-do/d-arcy-mcgee-s-irish-pub |title=D'Arcy McGee's Irish Pub |date=24 May 2023 |publisher=Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority}}</ref>


McGee also has several schools named in his honour including:
McGee also has several schools named in his honour including:
* D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (elementary, [[Toronto Catholic District School Board]], Toronto, Ontario);<ref>[https://www.tcdsb.org/schools/darcymcgee/AboutUs/SchoolHistoryAndTradition/Pages/default.aspx Toronto Catholic Distric School Board.]</ref>
* D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (elementary, [[Toronto Catholic District School Board]], Toronto, Ontario);<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tcdsb.org/schools/darcymcgee/AboutUs/SchoolHistoryAndTradition/Pages/default.aspx |title=School History and Tradition |publisher=Toronto Catholic District School Board |access-date=28 June 2020 |archive-date=28 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628115827/https://www.tcdsb.org/schools/darcymcgee/AboutUs/SchoolHistoryAndTradition/Pages/default.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (elementary, [[Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board]], Ottawa, Ontario);<ref>[https://mcg.ocsb.ca/ Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School.]</ref>
*Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (elementary, [[Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board]], Ottawa, Ontario);<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mcg.ocsb.ca/ |title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School |publisher=Ottawa Catholic School Board}}</ref>
* D'Arcy McGee High School, [[Western Quebec School Board]] ([[Aylmer, Quebec]]);<ref>[https://www.qesba.qc.ca/en/school-boards/find-a-school/item/d-arcy-mcgee-high-school D'Arcy McGee High School, Gatineau.]</ref>
* D'Arcy McGee High School, [[Western Quebec School Board]] ([[Aylmer, Quebec]]);<ref>{{cite web |url=https://symmesdarcy.westernquebec.ca/ |title=Symmes Junior & D'Arcy McGee High Schools |publisher=Western Québec School Board}}</ref>
* Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic High School in Montreal (closed in 1992).<ref>[https://archivesvirtuelles-cnd.org/en/school-album/thomas-darcy-mcgee-high-school Thomas D'Arcy McGee High School Institution founded in 1931, Montréal, Québec.]</ref>
* Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic High School in Montreal (closed in 1992).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archivesvirtuelles-cnd.org/en/school-album/thomas-darcy-mcgee-high-school |title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee High School |work=Faith in Action |publisher=Congrégation de Notre-Dame Archives and Marguerite-Bourgeoys Historic Site}}</ref>


The [[Quebec]] provincial electoral district (riding) of [[D'Arcy-McGee]] is named in his honour, as well as two villages in central [[Saskatchewan]]: [[D'Arcy, Saskatchewan|D'Arcy]] and [[McGee, Saskatchewan|McGee]], located approximately 20 kilometres apart.
The [[Quebec]] provincial electoral district (riding) of [[D'Arcy-McGee]] is named in his honour, as well as two villages in central [[Saskatchewan]]: [[D'Arcy, Saskatchewan|D'Arcy]] and [[McGee, Saskatchewan|McGee]], located approximately 20 kilometres apart.


In 1986, a Chair of Irish Studies was set up in his honour at [[Saint Mary's University (Halifax)|Saint Mary's University]], Halifax.
In 1986, a Chair of Irish Studies was set up in his honour at [[Saint Mary's University (Halifax)|Saint Mary's University]], Halifax.
In 2005, the gun that was used to assassinate McGee was purchased at auction for $105,000 by the [[Canadian Museum of History|Canadian Museum of Civilization]].<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/museum-buys-mcgee-assassination-gun-1.560026 "Museum buys McGee assassination gun", CBC News, May 25, 2005.]</ref>
In 2005, the gun that was used to assassinate McGee was purchased at auction for $105,000 by the [[Canadian Museum of History|Canadian Museum of Civilization]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/museum-buys-mcgee-assassination-gun-1.560026 |title=Museum buys McGee assassination gun |publisher=CBC News |date=2005-05-23}}</ref>


== Electoral history ==
In 2017 a play, ''It's Morning Now'', was created by Hamilton playwright Dermot Nolan, inspired by Thomas D'Arcy McGee's life and death. Its debut and world premiere was directed by Brad Rudy and performed by The Players' Guild of Hamilton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://playersguild.org/show/its-morning-now/|title=It's Morning Now|publisher=The Players' Guild of Hamilton}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/products/its-morning-now-by-dermot-nolan|title=It's Morning Now |first=Dermot |last=Nolan |website=Canadian Play Outlet}}</ref>
{{1867 Canadian federal election/Montreal West}}
{{1867 Ontario general election/Prescott}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book| last=Wilson |first=David A. |title=Thomas D'Arcy McGee: Volume 2: The Extreme Moderate, 1857–1868 |date=2011|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-0-7735-3903-7}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
Line 110: Line 124:
* Burns, Robin B. "D'Arcy McGee and the Fenians: A Study of the Interaction between Irish Nationalism and the American Environment." ''University Review'' (1967) 4#3: 260–273. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25504793 online]
* Burns, Robin B. "D'Arcy McGee and the Fenians: A Study of the Interaction between Irish Nationalism and the American Environment." ''University Review'' (1967) 4#3: 260–273. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25504793 online]
* Kirwin, Bill. "The Radical Youth of a Conservative: D'Arcy McGee in Young Ireland." ''The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies'' (1984): 51–62. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25512588 online]
* Kirwin, Bill. "The Radical Youth of a Conservative: D'Arcy McGee in Young Ireland." ''The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies'' (1984): 51–62. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25512588 online]
* MacNab, Charles. ''Understanding the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Assassination: a legal and historical analysis'' (The Stonecrusher Press, 2013).
* Phelan, Josephine. ''The ardent exile: The life and times of Thos. Darcy McGee'' (Macmillan Company of Can., 1951).
* Phelan, Josephine. ''The ardent exile: The life and times of Thos. Darcy McGee'' (Macmillan Company of Can., 1951).
* Skelton, Mrs Isabel Murphy. ''The Life of Thomas DA̓rcy McGee'' (Garden City Press, 1925).
* Slattery, T.P. ''The Assassination of D'Arcy McGee'' (1968) [https://archive.org/details/assassinationofd00slat online free to borrow]
* Wilson, David A. ''Thomas D'Arcy McGee: Passion, Reason, and Politics, 1825–1857,'' (2007), major scholarly biography, vol 1. [https://archive.org/details/thomasdarcymcgee00wils online free to borrow]
* Wilson, David A. ''Thomas D'Arcy McGee: Passion, Reason, and Politics, 1825–1857,'' (2007), major scholarly biography, vol 1. [https://archive.org/details/thomasdarcymcgee00wils online free to borrow]
** Wilson, David A. ''Thomas D'Arcy McGee: The Extreme Moderate, 1857–1868,'' (2011)


==External links==
==External links==
* {{QuebecMNAbio|mcgee-thomas-d-arcy-4437}}
* {{Quebec MNA biography|mcgee-thomas-d-arcy-4437}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=2122 | name=Thomas D'Arcy McGee}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=2122 | name=Thomas D'Arcy McGee}}
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* {{Librivox author |id=4589}}
* {{Librivox author |id=4589}}
* {{Cite DCB|4583}}
* {{Cite DCB|4583}}
* [http://biographi.ca/en/topics/topic-match-list.php?id=2182 Assassination of D’Arcy McGee] in the [http://biographi.ca/en/ ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'']
*[http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/thomas-darcy-mcgee The Canadian Encyclopedia - Thomas D’Arcy McGee]
*[https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/thomas-darcy-mcgee The Canadian Encyclopedia – Thomas D’Arcy McGee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120401/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/thomas-darcy-mcgee/ |date=4 March 2016 }}{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=12966}}
*{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=12966}}
*[[Michael Doheny]]. ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14468/14468-h/14468-h.htm The Felon's Track]''. Dublin, M H Gill & Son, 1920.
*[[Michael Doheny]]. ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14468/14468-h/14468-h.htm The Felon's Track]''. Dublin, M H Gill & Son, 1920.
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*[http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/shadows-on-sparks-street/ Radio documentary about the McGee murder, Canada's first political assassination]
*{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Thomas D'Arcy McGee |short=x}}
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*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=I-7382&Lang=1&imageID=142748 Photograph: Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 1863] – McCord Museum
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=McGee, Thomas D'Arcy|short=x}}
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*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=I-23790.2&Lang=1&imageID=141385 Photograph: Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 1866] – McCord Museum
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=D'Arcy McGee, Thomas|year=1900 |short=x |notaref=x}}
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*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=MP-0000.189&Lang=1&imageID=150394 Photograph: Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 1863–67] – McCord Museum
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*[http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/shadows-on-sparks-street/ Radio documentary about the McGee murder, Canada’s first political assassination]
*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=I-7382&Lang=1&imageID=142748 Photograph:Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 1863] - McCord Museum
*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=VIEW-24167&Lang=1&imageID=158818 Photograph: Thomas D'Arcy McGee's Mausoleum, 1927] – McCord Museum
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*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=I-23790.2&Lang=1&imageID=141385 Photograph:Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 1866] - McCord Museum
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*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=MP-0000.189&Lang=1&imageID=150394 Photograph:Thomas D'Arcy McGee, 1863-67] - McCord Museum
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*[http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/large.php?accessnumber=VIEW-24167&Lang=1&imageID=158818 Photograph:Thomas D'Arcy McGee's Mausoleum, 1927] - McCord Museum


{{Young Ireland}}
{{Young Ireland}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 19:57, 5 December 2024

For the Quebec riding, see D'Arcy-McGee.

Thomas D'Arcy McGee
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Montreal West
In office
24 September 1867 – 7 April 1868
Preceded byRiding established
Succeeded byMichael Patrick Ryan
Personal details
Born(1825-04-13)13 April 1825
Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland
Died7 April 1868(1868-04-07) (aged 42)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Manner of deathAssassination (gunshot wound)
Political partyLiberal-Conservative
RelativesFrank Charles McGee (great-nephew)
Signature

Thomas D'Arcy McGee (13 April 1825 – 7 April 1868) was an Irish-Canadian politician, Catholic spokesman, journalist, poet, and a Father of Canadian Confederation. The young McGee was an Irish Catholic who opposed British rule in Ireland, and was part of the Young Ireland attempts to overthrow British rule and create an independent Irish Republic. He escaped arrest and fled to the United States in 1848, after which some of his political positions reversed. He remained ardently Catholic, but his Irish nationalism moderated. He became disgusted with American republicanism, Anti-Catholicism, and classical liberalism. McGee became intensely monarchistic in his political beliefs and in his religious support for the embattled Pope Pius IX.

He moved to the Province of Canada in 1857 and worked hard to convince fellow Irish Canadians to cooperate with Canadian Protestants in forming a self-governing Canada within the British Empire. His passion for Confederation garnered him the title: 'Canada's first nationalist'.[1] McGee also vocally denounced the activities of the Fenian Brotherhood, a paramilitary secret society of exiled Irish Republicans who resembled his younger self politically, in Ireland, Canada, and the United States. McGee succeeded in helping achieve Confederation in 1867, but was assassinated by the Fenian Brotherhood, which considered McGee guilty of Shoneenism, in 1868. Montreal Fenian Brotherhood member Patrick J. Whelan was convicted of McGee's murder and executed.

Early life

[edit]

Widely known as D'Arcy McGee, he was born on 13 April 1825 in Carlingford, Ireland, and raised as a Roman Catholic. From his mother, the daughter of a Dublin bookseller he learned the history of Ireland, which later influenced his writing and political activity. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Wexford,[2] where his father, James McGee, was employed by the Irish coast guard (then under His Majesty's Coastguard and likely at the Wexford Town Station near Customs House Quay.[3]

In Wexford he attended a local hedge school, where the teacher, Michael Donnelly, fed his hunger for knowledge and where he learned of the long history of British rule and Irish opposition, including the more recent uprising of 1798. In 1842 at age 17, McGee left Ireland with his sister due to a poor relationship with their stepmother, Margaret Dea, who had married his father in 1840 after the death of his mother 22 August 1833. In 1842 he sailed from Wexford harbour aboard the brig Leo, bound for the United States. On the Leo he wrote many of his early poems, mostly about Ireland.[3]

He soon found work as assistant editor of Patrick Donahoe's Boston Pilot, a Catholic newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. He specialized in articles expounding the movement for Irish self-determination led by Daniel O’Connell. He became the lead editor in 1844, While writing widely as well on Irish literature and politics. He advocated the union of Canada into the United States, saying, "Either by purchase, conquest, or stipulation, Canada must be yielded by Great Britain to this Republic."[3]

In 1845, he returned to Ireland where he became politically active and edited The Nation, the voice of the Young Ireland movement. In 1847, he married Mary Theresa Caffrey; they had six children but only two daughters survived their father. His involvement in the Irish Confederation and Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 resulted in a warrant for his arrest. McGee escaped disguised as a priest and returned to the United States.[4]

United States

[edit]

In the United States, he achieved prominence in Irish-American circles and founded and edited the New York-based Nation and the Boston-based American Celt. He also wrote a number of history books. In common with several other Young Ireland émigrés, McGee espoused proslavery thought and defended the continuation of slavery in the United States. In the 4 August 1849 edition of the Nation, McGee attacked supporters of the abolitionist Daniel O'Connell in the United States, writing that "Their task is to liberate their slaves, not to travel across the Atlantic for foreign objects of sympathy."[5]

McGee eventually grew disillusioned with democracy, republicanism and the United States. Historian David Gerber traces a dramatic transformation from the Young Ireland revolutionary who sought a peasant insurrection to expel the British from Ireland. Gerber writes:

After 1851, however, he veered increasingly toward the opposite pole, espousing an ultramontane conservatism.... Catholic dogma and triumphalism, anti-Protestantism, cultural nationalism, and social conservatism were the framework of McGee's thought during the 1850s.[6]

He emigrated to Montreal in 1857, believing Canada was far more hospitable to the Catholic Irish than was the United States. He downplayed the importance of the Orange Order in Canada. He remained a persistent critic of American institutions, and of the American way of life. He accused the Americans of hostile and expansionist motives toward Canada and of desiring to spread its republican ideas over all of North America. McGee worked energetically for continued Canadian devotion to the British Empire seeing in imperialism the protection Canada needed from all American ills.[7]

Canada

[edit]
A statue of McGee on Parliament Hill, Ottawa

In 1857, he set up the publication of the New Era in Montreal, Quebec. In his editorials and pamphlets he attacked the influence of the Orange Order and defended the Irish Catholic right to representation in the assembly. In terms of economics he promoted modernisation, calling for extensive economic development by means of railway construction, the fostering of immigration, and the application of a high protective tariff to encourage manufacturing. Politically active, he advocated a new nationality in Canada, to escape the sectarianism of Ireland. In 1858, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and worked for the creation of an independent Canada.[8] McGee earned a law degree at McGill University[9] and was called to the bar in 1861.[10]

McGee became the minister of agriculture, immigration, and statistics in the Conservative government which was formed in 1863. He retained that office in the "Great Coalition", and was a Canadian delegate to the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences of 1864. At Quebec, McGee introduced the resolution which called for a guarantee of the educational rights of religious minorities in the two Canadas.[11]

Fenians

[edit]

Moderating his radical Irish nationalist views, McGee denounced the Fenian Brotherhood in America that advocated a forcible takeover of Canada from Britain by the United States. Following the Confederation of Canada, McGee was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament in 1867 as a Liberal-Conservative representing the riding of Montreal West. However, he had lost much of his Irish Catholic support.

On 5 November 1867 McGee delivered an oration titled "The Mental Outfit of the New Dominion." The address surveyed the literary status of Canada on the eve of the first Dominion Parliament. McGee's views were a combination of Tory principle, revelation, and empirical method. He suggested a national literature inspired by the creativity and ingenuity of the Canadian people.[12]

Assassination

[edit]

On 7 April 1868, McGee participated in a parliamentary debate that went on past midnight. After finishing, he walked back to the boarding house where he was staying. McGee was opening the door to Mrs. Trotter's Boarding House in Ottawa when he was shot in the head by someone waiting for him on the inside. Several people came running to the scene; however, there was no sign of the assassin.[13] It was later determined that McGee was assassinated with a shot from a handgun by Patrick J. Whelan.[4]

McGee was given a state funeral in Ottawa known to be one of the largest funerals in Canadian history. He was interred in a crypt at the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal. His funeral procession in Montreal drew an estimated crowd of 80,000, out of a total city population of 105,000.[14]

Patrick J. Whelan, a Fenian sympathiser and a Catholic, was accused, tried, convicted, and hanged for the crime on 11 February 1869 in Ottawa.[15] The jury was decisively swayed by the forensic evidence that Whelan's gun had been fired shortly before the killing, together with the circumstantial evidence that he had threatened and stalked McGee. Historian David Wilson points out that forensic tests conducted in 1972 show that the fatal bullet was compatible with both the gun and the bullets that Whelan owned. Wilson concludes:

The balance of probabilities suggests that Whelan either shot McGee, or was part of a hit-squad, but there is still room for reasonable doubt as to whether he was the man who actually pulled the trigger.[16]

Conspiracy theorists questioned his guilt, suggesting that he was a scapegoat for a Protestant plot.[17]

The government of Canada's Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building stands near the site of the assassination.

The case is dramatised in the Canadian play Blood on the Moon by Ottawa actor/playwright Pierre Brault. Patrick J. Whelan was hanged in front of an audience of 5,000 people. The assassination of McGee is also a major component of Away, a novel about Irish immigration to Canada by Canadian novelist Jane Urquhart.

McGee funeral procession in 1868

Impact of the assassination

[edit]

P. M. Toner argues that the assassination was an important historical marker in Irish-Canadian history. He argues that the Fenian element among the Canadian Catholic Irish was powerful in the 1860s. The reasons for Fenian influence included McGee's failure to rally moderate Irish support before his death, and the fact that no convincing moderate leader replaced McGee after his death.[18]

In addition the Catholic bishops proved unable to control the Fenians in either the US or Canada. A final factor explaining the influence of the Fenians was the courting of the Irish Catholic vote by Canadian non-Catholic politicians. Behind all these reasons was Canadian fear of the 'Green Ghost': American Fenianism. After 1870, the failure of American Fenian raids into Canada, followed by the collapse of American Fenianism, led to the decline of Canadian Fenian power.[18]

Honours

[edit]
McGee's mausoleum in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Montreal, 1927

A monument to McGee stands at Tremone Bay, in north County Donegal, Ireland near the bay from which he escaped to North America in 1848.[19] There is a monument to him in his native Carlingford, County Louth, unveiled during a visit in 1991 by then Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney and Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey. His parents' grave in the grounds of Wexford's historic Selskar Abbey is marked by a plaque presented by the government of Canada.[20]

On 20–22 August 2012, the inaugural Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School was held in Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland to commemorate and celebrate his legacy.[21]

On Sparks Street, in downtown Ottawa, the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Building is a prominent government-owned office building. D'Arcy McGee's Pub stands on the corner of Sparks and Elgin streets.[22]

McGee also has several schools named in his honour including:

The Quebec provincial electoral district (riding) of D'Arcy-McGee is named in his honour, as well as two villages in central Saskatchewan: D'Arcy and McGee, located approximately 20 kilometres apart.

In 1986, a Chair of Irish Studies was set up in his honour at Saint Mary's University, Halifax. In 2005, the gun that was used to assassinate McGee was purchased at auction for $105,000 by the Canadian Museum of Civilization.[27]

Electoral history

[edit]
1867 Canadian federal election: Montreal West
Party Candidate Votes
Liberal–Conservative Thomas D'Arcy McGee 2,676
Liberal Bernard Devlin 2,477
Source: Canadian Elections Database[28]
1867 Ontario general election: Prescott
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal James P. Boyd 838 50.67
Conservative Thomas D'Arcy McGee 816 49.33
Total valid votes 1,654 82.78
Eligible voters 1,998
Liberal pickup new district.
Source: Elections Ontario[29]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Gwyn, Richard (2008). John A.: The Man Who Made Us: The Life and Times of John A. Macdonald. Vol. One: 1815–1867. Vintage Canada. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-679-31476-9.
  2. ^ https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/bitstream/11375/12273/1/fulltext.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ a b c Demeter, Richard (1997). Irish America: The Historical Travel Guide. Vol. I: United States, Northern Atlantic States, District of Columbia, Great Lakes Region and Canada. Cranford Press. p. 535. ISBN 978-0-9648253-3-8.
  4. ^ a b Boylan, Henry (1998). A Dictionary of Irish Biography (3rd ed.). Gill and MacMillan. p. 246. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.
  5. ^ Fanning, Bryan (1 November 2017). "Slaves to a Myth". Irish Review of Books (article). 102. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  6. ^ Gerber, David A. (1989). The making of an American pluralism: Buffalo, New York, 1825–60. University of Illinois Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-252-01595-3.
  7. ^ Snell, J. G. (1972). "Thomas D'Arcy McGee and the American Republic". Canadian Review of American Studies. 3 (1): 33–44. doi:10.3138/CRAS-003-01-03. S2CID 154710276.
  8. ^ Skelton (Murphy), Isabel (1925). The Life of Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Garden City Press. p. 281. OCLC 1015365672.
  9. ^ "The first decades". McGill University. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  10. ^ Dent, John Charles (1881). The Canadian Portrait Gallery. JB Magurn. p. 146.
  11. ^ Wilson 2011, p. 304
  12. ^ Warkentin, Germaine (1982). "D'Arcy McGee and the Critical Act: A Nineteenth-Century Oration". Journal of Canadian Studies. 17 (2): 119–127. doi:10.3138/jcs.17.2.119. S2CID 152113212.
  13. ^ Slattery, T. P. (1968). The Assassination of D'Arcy McGee. Doubleday Canada. p. 465. OCLC 422290671.
  14. ^ Wilson 2011, pp. 384–385
  15. ^ "Assassination of D'Arcy McGee". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  16. ^ Wilson, David A. (2015). "The assassination of Thomas Darcy McGee". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  17. ^ MacNab, Charles (2013). Understanding the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Assassination: a legal and historical analysis. The Stonecrusher Press. pp. 335, 352. ISBN 978-0-9812667-1-8.
  18. ^ a b Toner, P. M. (1981). "The 'Green Ghost': Canada's Fenians and the Raids". Éire-Ireland. 16 (4): 27–47. When he was hanged, it was in front of 5,000 people and this was also the last time this was done in public in Canada
  19. ^ D'Arcy McGee, Thomas (1998). Beattie, Seán (ed.). Thomas D'Arcy McGee: a commemoration 1998: Recalling the escape of D'Arcy McGee to America, September 1848. Lighthouse Publications. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-9520481-4-5.
  20. ^ McGoogan, Ken. "Thomas D'Arcy McGee". Celtic Life International. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  21. ^ "8th Annual Thomas D'Arcy McGee Summer School". Dundalk Institute of Technology. 29 July 2019.
  22. ^ "D'Arcy McGee's Irish Pub". Ottawa Tourism and Convention Authority. 24 May 2023.
  23. ^ "School History and Tradition". Toronto Catholic District School Board. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  24. ^ "Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School". Ottawa Catholic School Board.
  25. ^ "Symmes Junior & D'Arcy McGee High Schools". Western Québec School Board.
  26. ^ "Thomas D'Arcy McGee High School". Faith in Action. Congrégation de Notre-Dame Archives and Marguerite-Bourgeoys Historic Site.
  27. ^ "Museum buys McGee assassination gun". CBC News. 23 May 2005.
  28. ^ Sayers, Anthony M. "1867 Federal Election". Canadian Elections Database. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024.
  29. ^ "Data Explorer". Elections Ontario. 1867. Retrieved 15 March 2024.

Sources

[edit]
  • Wilson, David A. (2011). Thomas D'Arcy McGee: Volume 2: The Extreme Moderate, 1857–1868. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3903-7.

Further reading

[edit]
  • Burns, Robin B. "McGee, Thomas D'Arcy" in Dictionary of Canadian Biography online
  • Burns, Robin B. "D'Arcy McGee and the Fenians: A Study of the Interaction between Irish Nationalism and the American Environment." University Review (1967) 4#3: 260–273. online
  • Kirwin, Bill. "The Radical Youth of a Conservative: D'Arcy McGee in Young Ireland." The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies (1984): 51–62. online
  • Phelan, Josephine. The ardent exile: The life and times of Thos. Darcy McGee (Macmillan Company of Can., 1951).
  • Wilson, David A. Thomas D'Arcy McGee: Passion, Reason, and Politics, 1825–1857, (2007), major scholarly biography, vol 1. online free to borrow
[edit]
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