Alexander Morris

Politician

• Born: March 17, 1826
• Birthplace: Perth, Upper Canada
• Died: October 28, 1889
• Place of death: Toronto, Ontario

Contribution: Alexander Morris was a Canadian attorney, politician, and judge who was a member of Canadian Parliament under Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada. Morris founded the District of Keewatin, in the Northwest Territories, and served as that district’s first lieutenant governor as well as the first lieutenant governor of the Northwest Territories. After retiring from politics, he remained a significant leader in the Presbyterian Church.

Early Life and Education

Alexander Morris was born on March 17, 1826, in Perth, Upper Canada, now the province of Ontario, Canada. He was the oldest son of William and Elizabeth Cochran Morris. The elder Morris, a Scottish immigrant, had already earned himself a place in Canadian history as a notable politician, wealthy business tycoon, and founder of Queen’s College.

Morris received his elementary education at Perth Grammar School. He went on to Madras College, St. Andrews, and the University of Glasgow in Scotland to complete his education. After graduation, Morris worked for the Montreal-based mercantile firm Thorne and Heward until 1847, when he began studying law at Queen’s College. He left his studies after a brief illness but returned to study at McGill College in Montreal. After completing his legal degree and working as an apprentice, Morris was admitted to the bar in both Canada East and Canada West. He practiced commercial law in Montreal until 1861, when he announced his candidacy for the provincial legislature of Canada.

Political Career

Morris won a successful bid as a Liberal-Conservative candidate for Lanark South in Canada West, a seat formerly held by his father. In 1867, following Canadian Confederation, the Lanark South electoral district of Canadian Parliament was created. Morris was a staunch supporter of Confederation and was reelected to serve his district in Parliament. In 1869, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald appointed Morris Canada’s minister of inland revenue, a position he held until 1872.

While in Parliament, Morris was a key figure in two landmark legislations. He presented and played an integral role in the passing of legislation that put an end to Canadian public executions and enacted legislation that would require Canadian municipalities to register each citizen’s vital statistics.

At the conclusion of Morris’s second term in Parliament, he declined to run for reelection due to illness. Morris left the federal political arena and requested that Macdonald instead appoint him chief justice of Manitoba. During this appointment, Morris encountered much turmoil. The province was still in upheaval after the Red River Rebellion, and Morris sought to unite the Métis leaders of Red River with the Canadian government. Also during this time, he attempted to create a policing agency to quell unrest among settlers and indigenous peoples; however, this effort failed. He eventually brokered peace in the province by settling Métis land claims and negotiating a series of treaties with the western Canadian aboriginal tribes. These accomplishments would earn him election as Manitoba’s second lieutenant governor, as well as the first lieutenant governor of the Northwest Territories.

In 1876, Morris resigned his position as lieutenant governor for the Northwest Territories, accepting an appointment as lieutenant governor of the Keewatin District, a region that extended from the northeast corner of Manitoba to the Arctic Circle. Still acting as lieutenant governor of Manitoba, Morris founded the University of Manitoba in 1877. Later that year, he resigned both positions and sought to return to the federal government.

After a failed bid for nomination for the seat of Manitoba in the Canadian House of Commons, Morris succeeded in gaining the nomination for the seat of Selkirk. Unfortunately for Morris, his actions as lieutenant governor won him criticism among the Métis as well as older settlers of the region, and Morris found himself labeled “avaricious.” He lost the election by a mere ten votes to Donald Alexander Smith. However, the Toronto-East seat in the Ontario Legislative Assembly soon became vacant after Matthew Crooks Cameron resigned, and Morris was elected to the position, where he served as opposition house leader. Morris served two more parliamentary terms until finally retiring from politics in 1886.

Writing Career

In addition to an extensive political career, Morris authored several publications. In 1855, he penned the essay “Canada and Her Natural Resources,” a treatise that promoted Confederation for the benefit of nationwide industrialization. A volume titled Nova Britannia, which began as a lecture by Morris to the Mercantile Library Association, was published in 1858; Morris sold three thousand pamphlets within a mere ten days. Additionally, Morris wrote the government publication The Treaties of Canada with the Indians of Manitoba and the North-West Territories Including the Negotiations on Which They Were Based, and Other Information Relating Thereto. This document, published in 1880, outlined treaty efforts and negotiations that occurred between the Métis and other aboriginal tribes of the Manitoba province and the Canadian government.

Family

Morris married Margaret Cline in November 1851. The couple had eleven children.

Bibliography

Friesen, Jean. “Morris, Alexander.” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. U of Toronto/U Laval, n.d. Web. 30 July 2013.

“The Honourable Alexander Morris, 1872–76.” Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Legislative Assembly of Alberta, n.d. Web. 30 July 2013.

Knafla, Louis A., and Jonathan Swainger, eds. Laws and Societies in the Canadian Prairie West, 1670–1940. Vancouver: UBC P, 2011. Print.

Mochoruk, Jim. Formidable Heritage: Manitoba’s North and the Cost of Development 1870 to 1930. Winnipeg: U of Manitoba P, 2004.

Moore, Christopher. 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal. New York: Random, 2011. Print.