Bulletin n. 2-3/2012 | ||
October 2012-February 2013 | ||
Price Peter |
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Fashioning a Constitutional Narrative: John S. Ewart and the Development of a ‘Canadian Constitution’ | ||
in Canadian Historical Review (The) , Volume 93, Number 3, September , 2012 , 359-381 | ||
John Skirving Ewart (1849–1933) was one of the most controversial public figures in early-twentieth-century Canada. With a background as an experienced lawyer, Ewart wrote extensively on Canadian law and national independence. This paper examines Ewart's private and public writings, focusing on the way in which he crafted a new and unique narrative of the Canadian constitution that positioned Canada as historically and politically distinct from the British Empire. At a time when a robust sense of imperialism energized much of English Canada, Ewart's ideas were controversial and contested. Assessing Ewart's constitutional narrative provides a way of understanding the early development of independent Canadian nationalism and the constitutional changes that emerged in the mid-twentieth century. | ||