When it comes to democracy, New Brunswick’s first ride was more than a little bumpy.
It was 240 years ago this week that politicians first hit the campaign trail in the newly established British colony.
Greg Marquis, a history professor at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, said two words sum up the 1785 campaign: “contested” and “rowdy.”
“I think a lot of these colonial-era elections were rowdy,” said Marquis. But as for New Brunswick’s first one, he added, “It’s a little over the top even by the standards of the 18th century.”
The making of New Brunswick
Before 1884, the land that makes up modern New Brunswick was a part of Nova Scotia. That quickly changed at the conclusion of the American Revolution.
An influx of United Empire Loyalists, who had sided with the British in the conflict, caused the British North American colony’s population to swell, to the point that it was thought best to split Nova Scotia into two pieces.
With more Loyalists arriving in Britain’s remaining North American colonies, splitting off a new one was necessary. (Library and Archives Canada)
Thomas Carleton, the new colony’s first lieutenant-governor, got to work organizing things, but at a leisurely pace.
“One of his instructions … was to call upon an assembly and the necessary election when he thought it would be suitable,” said Lyle Skinner, a constitutional lawyer. “Although New Brunswick was created in 1784,
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