The colonies of British North America were facing difficult times by the mid-1800's. The northern states, who were winning the Civil War, were not on good terms with Britain. The maritimes had lost favourable terms in British markets for Canadian products, which damaged the economy. “Canada West and Canada East were near bankruptcy, as a result of their depressed economies.”1 Their union government barely worked at all and from 1849-1864 there was twelve different governments that had been in power. The leaders saw Confederation as the only solution to this crisis. When Confederation was proposed, various colonies wanted to know how the deal would benefit them. John A. Macdonald favoured a strong national government with limited powers for provincial governments, but very few colonial politicians agreed. The Maritime Provinces regarded themselves as mature independent colonies, but they had problems. Macdonald and his supporters had to show how Confederation would help resolve some of their problems and concerns. Even then, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland could not be convinced. “George Brown had agreed to work with John A. Macdonald and George-Etienne Cartier in what was called the ‘Great Coalition.’” It was used first to save the government of Canada and to try to unite the different colonies. The next step was a series of meetings called “conferences” where representatives from each colony hammered out details of a new union. “In March and April of 1864, all three legislatures passed resolutions to have a conference to discuss it.”3 Nothing happen until after June 1864, because of a constitutional crisis in Province of Canada. The meetings began in 1864 at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. This is where the Maritime colonies planned to discuss the Maritime union. Canadians were invited to attend the conference to propose a union of British North America, but the request staggered the Maritime governments. “Through the action of Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant-Go