The Gerrymander of 1882

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Abstract
John A., the Sachem, speaks:……….“It must be grantedThat our friends are badly scattered,And the chances are against usIn Ontario at presentAs the country is divided.Therefore let us re-distributeWhat constituencies are doubtfulSo as to enhance our prospects;Hive the Grits where they alreadyAre too strong to be defeated;Strengthen up our weaker quartersWith detachments from these strongholds;Surely this is true to natureIn a mighty Tory chieftain!”Environment and heredity affect the development of the nation as much as they affect the development of the individual; and Canadian history is written, for the most part, around the conflicting forces of British inheritance and American propinquity. An excellent example of the latter is found in the low condition of Canadian political morality which was most conspicuous during the first fifty years of responsible government. While this was unmistakably national in many of its manifestations, its rise and continuance were due in no small measure to the proximity of the United States; and the temptation for the Canadian politician to emulate in a modest way the methods of a Tweed, a Croker, or a Philadelphia Gas Ring, proved in a deplorable number of instances to be irresistible. The prevalence of bribery at elections (particularly before the introduction of the ballot in 1874), the strengthening of the party position by the award of contracts and the appointment of supporters to office, the series of questionable “deals” and practices of which the Pacific Scandal was the most notorious—these were evidences of native sins which had received American inspiration and encouragement and which corrupted extensively Canadian political life.

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