Today is the anniversary of the birthday, in 1822, of Father of Confederation William McDougall. For any of those who still believe that Canadian history is boring, let me tell you about William McDougall and his connection to President Abraham Lincoln’s famed Gettysburg Address. McDougall's nickname was “Wandering Willie” as he switched from being a Grit to being a Tory (earning him a seat in Sir John A.’s cabinet).  But more importantly, he attended all three Confederation conferences.  Before that, McDougall was an elected member of the United Province of Canada’s legislature, serving in the cabinet as well. He and his fellow future Father of Confederation, Alexander Tilloch Galt, traveled to Washington in November 1863 and met with President Lincoln at the White House as part of attempts to re-negotiate the free trade treaty with the USA.  At this meeting Lincoln invited the Canadians to travel with him to Gettysburg for an event the next day.  McDougall accepted and was Lincoln’s guest on the train and also stayed at the Gettysburg guest house the night before the address. And so it was that a Canadian Father of Confederation sat on the stage behind Lincoln as the latter delivered perhaps the most famous political address in U.S. history.  Most had forgotten this Canadian connection to the Gettysburg Address until then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker proudly mentioned it during his introduction to President Dwight Eisenhower when the latter spoke to our Parliament in 1958. So, happy birthday to Wandering Willie McDougall! Here’s a link to actor Jeff Daniels reading Lincoln’s timeless address at Gettysburg. caption id="attachment_562312" align="aligncenter" width="220" Father of Confederation William McDougall/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.