Constitutional Liberty Versus Democracy

When John A. Macdonald discussed the concept of liberty, he often referred to it as "constitutional liberty." Although he never defined precisely what this meant, he explicitly stated what it did not mean: republican or democratic freedom as experienced in the United States. Macdonald made this very clear during the negotiations held in Quebec City in October 1864, regarding the creation of a new British North American federation. For Macdonald, it seemed self-evident that Canada "shall have a strong and lasting government under which we can work out constitutional liberty as opposed to democracy."

--Michel Ducharme, "Macdonald and the Concept of Liberty," in Macdonald at 200: New Reflections and Legacies, ed. Patrice Dutil and Roger Hall (Toronto: Dundurn, 2014), 150.