Responsible Government

There is no doubt Macdonald believed in the "Monarchical principle." But his commitment was to a constitutional monarchy. In theory, the executive and legislative powers were divided in the British constitution. In practice, they had been interrelated since the eighteenth century. In order to avoid conflicts between the Crown and Parliament, the Cabinet was created. According to the Cabinet system (known as Responsible Government in Canada), the monarch governed on the advice of ministers who had the confidence of the House of Commons.... The British Crown was made manifest through two distinct institutions in the second half of the nineteenth century; one formal (the monarch), and one effective (the Cabinet).

--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), 160.