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An introduction:
The Commonwealth of Newfoundland unlike its Canadian and American neighbors endured a somewhat less fraught history. Semi-Dominion status was granted in 1907 and for a short period the economy which until this time was virtually non existent grew at unprecedented rates.
In the previous century waves of immigrants from famine riddled Ireland additional British immigrants arrived to farm the vast and expansive plains and forest. This also included many German and Dutch immigrants which were skilled as craftsmen, tailors and blacksmiths. The local Indian tribes which until now had been marooned in the northern most territory of Labrador became part of wider society. Canadian suggestions of confederation was meet with mixed feelings, though most of the population had sympathies with the arguments of the latter, they felt inclined to tend to their own affairs. The Conservatives were bitterly divided on the issue with many MP's crossing the floor in a spectacular show of defiance. Hugh Hoyles the Prime Minister of the day, unable to convince his colleagues of his leadership capabilities called early elections to settle the issue. This however, was an ill fated decision, losing decisively to the "Anti-Confederation" coalition championed by Charles Fox Bennett leading a unstable coalition of like-minded Liberals and Conservatives alike, whose partnership was defined by the same common agreement, that Newfoundland should remain an independent self-governing colony.
A coalition collapses:
The 1870's were turbulent years for the young colony, an economic depression caused widespread unemployment and was only aggravated by the fishing sectors lack of success. Realizing his time leading the fragile coalition was limited, Bennett attempted desperately to hold his decaying coalition which ultimately failed leading to the Conservative's forming an unstable government with a slim majority.