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TheAnnexation Bill of 1866 was a bill introduced on July 2, 1866, but never passed in theUnited States House of Representatives. It called for theannexation ofBritish North America and the admission of its provinces as states and territories in the Union. The bill was sent to committee but never came back, was never voted upon, and did not become law. The bill never came to theUnited States Senate.
The bill authorized thePresident of the United States to, subject to the agreement of the governments of the British provinces, "publish by proclamation that, from the date thereof, the States ofNova Scotia,New Brunswick,Canada East, andCanada West, and the Territories of Selkirk,Saskatchewan, and Columbia, with limits and rights as by the act defined, are constituted and admitted as States and Territories of the United States of America." It provided for the admission of all the colonies and the purchase of theHudson's Bay Company's lands for $10,000,000 (equivalent to $214,750,000 in 2024). The American government would assume public lands and state-owned bonds and the right to levy taxes and, in return, would take over provincial debts to the total of $85,700,000 (equivalent to $1,840,408,000 in 2024) and give an annual subsidy of $1,646,000 (equivalent to $35,348,000 in 2024) to the new states. In addition, the United States would connect Canada with the Maritimes by rail and spend $50,000,000 (equivalent to $1,073,750,000 in 2024) to complete and improve the colonial canal system.
The bill was introduced by CongressmanNathaniel Prentice Banks, a representative fromMassachusetts. It was intended to appeal toIrish Americans who supported theFenian Movement and were aggressively hostile to Britain. Indeed, much of American public opinion at the time was hostile because ofBritain's perceived support for theConfederacy during theAmerican Civil War, such asBritish blockade runners carrying arms supplies, the construction ofCSSAlabama in a British shipyard, and tolerance ofConfederate Secret Service activities in the UK andits Canadian andBahamian colonies. There was no serious effort in Washington to annex Canada.
If successful, the Annexation Bill would have created four states and three territories from what is today Canada, listed below. Additionally, most of theArctic Archipelago and parts of the Canadian mainland would have becomeunorganized territory.
Annexation Bill of 1866.