All the countries we see today have independence, freedom, or none of these great things. We should be grateful to live in a country like Canada, but Canada has not always had the freedom and independence it has today. If it were not for Sir John A Macdonald, Canada would not have the freedom it has today. John Alexander Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 10, 1815, and grew up in Kingston, Upper Canada, for most of his life. He became a successful prime minister with the help of his family and friends. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Before doing great things, he had to start somewhere, that beginning was his family and his childhood. Sir John A Macdonald's family had: his father Hugh Macdonald, his mother Helen Shaw, his sisters Margaret and Louisa Macdonald and his brother, James Macdonald. In 1820, when Sir John .A Macdonald was 5 years old, he and his family emigrated to Canada from Scotland for a better life. Sir John A Macdonald grew up poor, even in Canada, his father tried to run a general mill shop and many other shops, but failed, this is one of the reasons he was poor. When he settled in Canada, he settled in Kingston where he grew up. Sir John A Macdonald lived mainly in Kingston, Upper Canada, but also grew up in Lennox and Addington and Prince Edward Counties. In 1830, when Sir John A Macdonald was 15, he had begun training to be a barrister with George Mackenzie in Kingston. Later in Sir John A Macdonald's life, he was licensed to become a barrister and accomplished many other things. Imagine Canada without independence, not everyone gets the rights they deserve and people rebel against the law, causing a revolution of sorts to break out. If you can imagine it, then you know how horrible it would be, but thanks to Sir John A Macdonald this won't happen. He made Canada independent by uniting many areas of Canada and winning the election to lead Canada, now let's see what else he did. First of all he became a politician, a businessman and a lawyer. Speaking of a lawyer, Sir John A Macdonald defended the accused rebels of the 1837 Rebellion/Upper Canadian Rebellion. Later in Sir John A Macdonald's life, he had united Lower and Upper Canada into the Province of Canada. After uniting Lower and Upper Canada, he became Attorney General by working hard. In 1956 he was elected co-premier of the province of Canada, but he could not have done so without many mistakes and difficulties. Sir John A Macdonald faced many obstacles, including one that completely destroyed his life. The struggle that completely destroyed his life was, the death of his first wife, which led to alcohol problems, which led to health problems which caused his death. Another struggle she was never able to deal with was the death of her first child, her first child died by 19 months of age. One struggle he never got over was trying to unite all the provinces to make Canada a better country. One of the biggest difficulties in his career was that he could not get the support of Aboriginal and Francophone people as he discriminated against them, did not respect their beliefs and opinions, even if he tried to convince Aboriginal people's rights on their bills, he did it without hard work and effort. Unfortunately, Sir John A Macdonald was never able to overcome these problems, but he did his best, which showed a lot about his character. "I am not interested in office for the sake of money, but for the sake of power and for the sake of putting into practice my vision of what is best for.