Politics of Nova Scotia: 1710-1896: Nicholson to Fielding

Margaret Conrad is a history professor at Acadia University and editor
of They Planted Well: New England Planters in Maritime Canada.

This first of two volumes maps Nova Scotia history from the British conquest to the end of William Fielding’s premiership in 1896. The book has all the hallmarks of vintage Beck: the revealing detail gleaned from a lifetime of research in the archives of his native province; the broad comprehension of social cleavages that shape the province’s political institutions; the loving attention devoted to actors on the political stage, especially Joseph Howe and William Fielding; and the emphasis on the conservative nature of political culture in Nova Scotia. When writing on his own area of special interest, the age of Joseph Howe, Beck’s prose literally glows with insights which we have come to associate with the “Murray Beck school” of Nova Scotia political history. Indeed, his work on “Howe the conservative reformer” and “Howe the anti-confederate” virtually dominates our interpretation of this tumultuous period of Nova Scotia’s political history.

Nevertheless, the general reader for whom the book is intended may well get lost in a narrative which assumes a greater knowledge of political institutions than even some political scientists possess. The discussion of eighteenth-century developments is particularly hard to follow, as is the analysis of the supposed schism between Pre-Loyalist and Loyalist factions. Nor does Beck fulfill his promise to cover all actors on the political stage. Acadians and Natives are occasionally mentioned, but not in the larger sense of political policy, even though Howe himself was closely involved with both groups. The disenfranchisement of women in 1851 is not discussed at all. Contemporary lack of concern for such issues perhaps makes easy dismissal possible, but political history must surely attempt to improve our understanding of how the modern definition of political culture actually emerged. Nova Scotia’s conservatism is a special brand of exclusion and accommodation. While others have quibbled about the term conservative, we are still left without a complete explanation of exactly how Nova Scotia’s political culture, conservative or otherwise, was fashioned, and, more important, what it was made up of. Nova Scotians need to know why their formal politics was so barren of content. Perhaps volume two will enlighten us on this question.