Alexander Morris

Alexander Morris (March 17, 1826 – October 28, 1889) was a Canadian politician. He served in the cabinet of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald (1869–1872), and was the second Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (1872–1877). He also served as the founder and first Lieutenant Governor of the District of Keewatin.

Biography

Morris was born in Perth, Upper Canada (now Ontario), the son of William Morris, himself a prominent Canadian businessman and Conservative politician. From this privileged social position, Morris was educated in Canada and Scotland and worked for three years at the Montreal firm of Thorne and Heward. In 1847, he moved to Kingston, Ontario, and articled for a year under John A. Macdonald. In 1849, he became the first person to receive an arts degree from McGill University. He would subsequently receive other degrees from McGill, including a DCL in 1862. In 1851, he was admitted to the bar in both Canada East and Canada West; he subsequently built up a profitable legal practice.

Morris was also an author, and in 1855 published an essay entitled Canada and her resources, which called for the development of national industry. In 1858, he predicted a coming federation of the British North American colonies in a work entitled Nova Britannia, which sold 3,000 copies in its first ten days of publication. He also wrote on academic matters and developments in the Presbyterian church in Canada, of which he was a prominent member (becoming a ruling elder of its synod in the 1850s). Morris also wrote The Treaties of Canada With The Indians of Manitoba and The North-West Territories Including The Negotiations on Which They Were Based, and Other Information Relating Thereto in 1880, which is generally considered "the primary source document for government's interpretation of the treaty era in Canada."