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Annexation Bill Of 1866




The bill authorized the President Of The United States to, subject to the agreement of the governments of the British provinces, "publish by proclamation that, from the date thereof, the States of Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , Canada East , and Canada West , and the Territories of Selkirk (present-day Manitoba ), Saskatchewan , and Columbia, with limits and rights as by the act defined, are constituted and admitted as States and Territories of the United States of America."

The bill was introduced by Major-General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks , a representative from Massachusetts . It was intended to appeal to, among other groups, the Irish expatriates in the United States, whose political positions were frequently strongly anti-British.

The bill was not passed in the United States Senate . Its introduction and similar interest in annexation by the United States provided much incentive for the organisation of Canada as an entity distinct from Britain; indeed, the bill's passage preceded Canadian Confederation by less than a year.


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