Dominion: Encyclopedia II - Dominion - Historical development

Dominion - Historical development

The short-lived Dominion of New England (1686–89) was not a Dominion in the later, generally-accepted sense of the word. It had an unpopular and autocratic president, appointed by London, Sir Edmund Andros. The Dominion of New England did not have the independence from Britain that the later Dominions were given.

All the colonies of British North America became self-governing between 1848 and 1855, except the colony of Vancouver Island. Nova Scotia was the first colony to achieve responsible government in January-February 1848 through the efforts of Joseph Howe, followed by the Province of Canada later that year. They were followed by Prince Edward Island in 1851, New Zealand in 1852, New Brunswick and the Cape Colony in 1854, and Newfoundland in 1855 under Philip Francis Little. However, none of these colonies was referred to as a dominion.

The modern usage of the term Dominion first occurs in connection with the creation of the Dominion of Canada, a term preferred by the Colonial Office instead of the term "kingdom" favoured by some Fathers of Confederation. Canada was called a "Dominion" upon the confederation of the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1867. Some Canadians wanted to call their nation the Kingdom of Canada. However, Americans, especially the yellow press in New York, railed against the idea of a monarchy in North America. Since the United States had recently demonstrated its military prowess in the American Civil War and still harboured resentment at what it perceived to be British favouritism towards the Southern cause, the British took these complaints very seriously. To calm the Americans, the British government successfully resorted to a diplomatic ruse. It explained to Americans that their fears had no foundation because Canada was to become a dominion rather than a kingdom. It then told the Canadians that Dominion meant the same as kingdom (see: Dominion: Canada, Canada's name).

Canada was the first and archetypical Dominion of the Empire; all additional colonies that achieved this status were also eventually called dominions.

Although the term dominion has rarely been used in Australia, it achieved Dominion status with the federation of its six self-governing colonies as the Commonwealth of Australia, in 1901. New Zealand, which chose not to take part in Australian Federation, first became a Dominion on September 26, 1907; the newly-created Union of South Africa in 1910; and the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) in 1922, after the bitter Anglo-Irish War. All retained the British monarch as head of state, represented locally by a governor-general appointed in consultation with the Dominion government. The Irish Free State, led by W.T. Cosgrave was the first Dominion to appoint a non-British, non-aristocratic Governor-General, when Timothy Michael Healy took the position in 1922. Dominion status was never popular in Ireland, where people saw it as a face-saving measure for a British government unable to countenance a republic in what had previously been the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This compromise was a direct cause of the Irish Civil War. Successive Irish governments undermined the constitutional links with Britain, until they were severed completely in 1949. In 1930, the Australian PM, James Scullin, reinforced the right of the overseas Dominions to appoint native-born Governors-General, when he appointed Sir Isaac Isaacs, against the wishes of the opposition and officials in London.

Newfoundland became a self-governing dominion on September 26, 1907 (same day as New Zealand) by royal proclamation. Until 1931, it was referred to as a colony of the United Kingdom, as for example, in the 1927 reference to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to delineate the Quebec-Labrador boundary. Full autonomy was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in December 1931. However, the government of Newfoundland "requested the United Kingdom not to have sections 2 to 6 [ — ] confirming Dominion status [ — ] apply automatically to it[,] until the Newfoundland Legislature first approved the Statute, approval which the Legislature subsequently never gave." In any event, Newfoundland's letters patent of 1934 suspended self-government and instituted a "Commission of Government", which continued until Newfoundland became a province of Canada in 1949. It is the view of some constitutional lawyers that — although Newfoundland chose not to exercise all of the functions of a dominion like Canada — its status as a dominion was "suspended" in 1934, rather than "revoked" or "abolished".

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland and South Africa (prior to becoming a republic and leaving the Commonwealth in 1961), with their large populations of European descent, were sometimes collectively referred to as the "White Dominions". Today Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are sometimes referred to collectively as the White Commonwealth.

Later members of the Commonwealth gained independence, not under the Statute of Westminster but by their own respective independence acts. When British decolonization in Africa began it was hoped the dominion model would again be followed. Ghana, the first new nation was created as a Dominion in 1957, but declared itself a republic three years later. The other British possessions in Africa also agitated for republic status, and upon independence they seldom remained Dominions. Nigeria became a Dominion in 1960 and a republic in 1963, Tanganyika a Dominion in 1961 and a republic in 1962, Uganda a Dominion in 1962 and republic in 1963, Kenya a Dominion in 1963 and a republic in 1964, Malawi a Dominion in 1964 and republic in 1966. Only Gambia (five years), Sierra Leone (ten years), and Mauritius (24 years) stayed Dominions longer than three years.

The United Kingdom and its component parts never aspired to the title of Dominion, remaining anomalies within the network of free and independent equal members of the Empire and Commonwealth. However the idea has on occasions been floated by some in Northern Ireland as an alternative to a United Ireland if they felt uncomfortable within the United Kingdom.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Historical development", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki