Статья посвящена научным исследованиям формирования канадской политической культуры и зарождения канадской государственности в середине XIX в. Особое внимание в изучении этих вопросов уделено личностному фактору - политической практике первого канадского премьер-министра Дж.А. Макдональда. На основе неопубликованных в России работ Дж. А. Макдональда и его современников критически проанализировал внесенный им вклад в формирование канадской политической культуры, в создание федерации из британских провинций, объединившей франко- и англоканадцев в единую северамериканскую общность, в значительное территориальное расширение Канады и в обеспечение небывалого континентального развития.

The author of the article considers the problem of the formation of the Canadian political culture and the emergence of the Canadian state in the middle of the nineteenth century. The author also believes that there was a problem of political management after the accepting the Union Act of 1840 by the mother country on the establishment of the united province of Canada. It is known that earlier Upper Canada used the British Common Law, and Lower Canada used only the Roman Law. Besides, mainly English-speaking Protestant population lived in Upper Canada, while Lower Canada was mostly inhabited by the Catholic French. The different cultures, customs and traditions created different approaches to the political culture. The colonists found the strength to unite the different political practices in these conditions. The leaders of this Union were French-Canadian J.E. Cartier and Anglo-Canadian J.A. Macdonald; both fulfilled duties of the attorney in their provinces at that time. They understood the difficulties of the Union better than others. John A. Macdonald saw the need to unite on the federal basis, to preserve the unique local governments, but the Union Act did not assume this. Therefore, the United Province of Canada had unstable and short-lived governments that were led by two ministers, representing Western and Eastern Canada, in the 1850s. The decision-making, involving the principle of the majority of each faction, made work inefficient and sometimes simply impossible. There was emerging an idea of the Union of all the provinces of British North America. John. A. Macdonald warmly supported this idea. This idea gave the opportunity to unite all the British colonies under one political leadership and make Quebec a separate province. Since 1864, John A. Macdonald, J.-E. Cartier and their colleagues were painstakingly preparing the conditions for such a union for three years. There were held Charlottown, Quebec and London Conferences, which developed the bases for the future statehood. The British North America Act of 1867 established the Canadian state in the form of a dominion. The author of the article concentrates his attention on the analysis of the influence of the personal factor on the formation of the Canadian political culture and Canadian political practice in the middle of the nineteenth century by the first Canadian prime-minister John. A. Macdonald. The author also critically analyzes Macdonald's contribution to the creation of the Federation of the British provinces, bringing together the French- and Anglo-Canadians into a single North American community, his efforts to the significant territorial expansion of the Dominion and to the ensuring of an unprecedented fast continental development.