INTRODUCTION. 
remained unaffected by the Union, and this to some extent 
simplified the work to be done. 
Dif. Tt has been more than once stated that the Canadian 
ferences Constitution is a mere copy of the American. Such a 
Dm g Statement is very far from the truth. That the framers 
of the Quebec resolutions adopted portions of the Ameri- 
san system is undoubted, but every care was taken to avoid 
those weak points in that system which the experience 
of years had brought to light. “We can now,” said Sir 
John Macdonald when moving in the Legislative Assembly 
Jf Canada the resolution in favour of the Union, “take ad- 
vantage of the experience of the last seventy-eight years 
uring which the (U. S.) Constitution has existed, and I am 
strongly of belief that we have in a great measure avoided 
in this system which we propose for the adoption of the 
people of Canada the defects which time and events have 
shewn to exist in the American Constitution.” The election 
of a President for a term of four years, the independence of 
the President during this period both of his ministers and of 
Congress, and the delegation to the central Government of 
jefinite specified powers leaving the balance of legislative 
power in the States, are three of the most important charac- 
reristics of the United States Constitution. But not one of 
these principles was adopted in Canada. The Executive 
authority was vested in the Crown, represented in Canada 
by a Governor-General (appointed by the Crown), who is re- 
quired to act by the advice of a ministry responsible to the 
Canadian Parliament. Specified powers only are given to 
the Provinces, the balance of legislative power being lodged 
in the Dominion or in the British Parliament, for the belief 
prevailed in Canada that the exceptional powers of the 
American States and the doctrine of state rights had been 
leading factors in bringing about the great Civil War. 
Further differences between the two Constitutions will be 
referred to later on,