Donald Creighton

Creighton's first works were studies in the Rebellion of 1837–38 in Lower Canada, which Creighton believed to be the product of a clash between the economic traditionalism of French Canada and the relentless drive of the Anglo business elite of Montreal.

In turn, this led Creighton to the study of that elite, and hence into the study of the St. Lawrence in Canadian history.

In The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence, Creighton argued that the economic potential of the St. Lawrence system inspired successive generations of adventurers, explorers and businessmen to try to link the vast natural resources of the interior of North America with Europe.

Despite heroic efforts, the dream of the St. Lawrence failed to come to life as too many impenetrable portions of the river meant it could not live up to its potential, and the development of a railroad system in the US proved to be more economical.

Creighton was well known for arguing that the "natural" basis of trade in Canada ran east–west rather than north–south.

In Creighton's view, the failure of commercial elites to properly develop the St. Lawrence is what led to Confederation.

Creighton argued that since impassable waterfalls and rapids prevented an economic empire from being built, Canadian elites embraced a political empire, namely Confederation as a consolation prize.

The theme of Confederation as a poor substitute for an economic empire was underlined in The Road To Confederation and Creighton's biography of Macdonald.

Thus for Creighton, Canadian history after 1891 was for the most part the story of missed opportunities, thwarted ambition, and hopes scattered as the dream that was Canada was slowly allowed to unravel.

Though Creighton normally tried to maintain a formal and cold pose, he was well known for his outspoken and passionate nature.

His eruptions of rage led his publisher John Gray to call him "the terrible-tempered Mr. Bang".

Creighton often engaged in feuds with historians whose interpretations he disliked, but he was known to be kind-hearted and munificent towards his students, albeit severe with those who engaged in work that he thought was wrong-headed.

He made no effort at objectivity and was openly subjective and partisan in regards to his likes and dislikes.

Creighton was fond of contrasting Canada's participation in the First World War and the Second World War.

Donald Grant Creighton (15 July 1902 – 19 December 1979) was a Canadian historian whose major works include The Commercial Empire of the St-Lawrence, 1760–1850 (first published in 1937), a detailed study on the growth of the English merchant class in relation to the St Lawrence River in Canada.

Creighton was born on July 15, 1902, in Toronto, to William Black Creighton, a Methodist minister and editor of The Christian Guardian, and Laura Harvie Creighton.

In Creighton's view, Robert Borden was a tough and able leader who, despite initial mistakes and missteps, was able to fully mobilize Canada and ensure that Canada contributed disproportionately to the Allied victory in 1918.

He attended Victoria College, in the University of Toronto, where he received his BA in 1925.

He then attended Balliol College at Oxford University, where he received his MA before returning to Canada to teach history, at the University of Toronto for his entire career.

Creighton belonged to a generation of English Canadians who were proud of the British Empire, and his anglophilia was often expressed in his books.

In 1926, Creighton married Luella Bruce.

Their daughter, Cynthia Flood, is also a noted Canadian fiction writer.

Creighton's two most important works are The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence (1937) and his two-volume biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, entitled Young Politician and Old Chieftain.

His biography of John A. Macdonald, published into two parts between 1952 and 1955, was considered by many Canadian historians as re-establishing biographies as a proper form of historical research in Canada.

Both volumes won the Governor General's Award for best non-fiction book in 1952 and 1955, were major best-sellers, and were credited with creating a major reassessment of Macdonald's role in Canadian history.

In Creighton's view, Macdonald sought Confederation as a way of bringing to life the political St. Lawrence empire.

Creighton saw history as a literary art and rejected calls for history to be seen as social science.

Creighton was famous for spending as much time crafting his prose as he did in research, and Creighton often claimed that the best historical work should read like a well written novel.

Creighton disliked what he called "fat funereal volumes" of unreadable biographies, and argued that well-written books should be the historian's objective.

Creighton's major influences were R. G. Collingwood, James Anthony Froude, G. M. Trevelyan, Edward Gibbon, and A. J. P. Taylor.

Creighton's vision of Canadian history was ultimately a deeply pessimistic and tragic one as he felt Canada had the potential to be the world's greatest country if only Canadians would follow the vision of the Fathers of Confederation, especially Macdonald's. In his view, most Canadian leaders had chosen to neglect that vision and had instead allowed Canada's potential to be squandered.

The only leaders who merited the description of statesmen, in his view, were Macdonald and Sir Robert Borden.

According to Creighton, Macdonald's time in office was Canada's Golden Age and without the exception of Borden every leader who came after Macdonald had allowed Canada to deteriorate.

By the 1960s Creighton began to move towards a more general history of Canada.

Creighton's later years were preoccupied with criticizing the then ruling Liberal Party of Canada under William Lyon Mackenzie King and his successor Louis St. Laurent.

Creighton denounced the Liberal Party for undermining Canada's link with Great Britain and moving towards closer relations with the United States, a policy which he strongly disliked.

In 1967, Creighton was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Creighton was heavily influenced by Harold Innis and took an economic approach to Canadian history.

His significant contribution to the field was the development of the Laurentian thesis, which defined the basis of Canadian history through geography and the nation's dependence on its major centres.

Creighton died in his sleep on December 18, 1979, from cancer, in Brooklin, Ontario, aged 77.