Newfoundland had accumulated a significant amount of debt by building a railway across the island, which was completed in the 1890s, and by raising its own regiment during the First World War.

[1] The Newfoundland parliament accepted the recommendations; it then presented a petition to the King to ask for the suspension of the constitution and the appointment of commissioners to administer the government until the country became self-supporting again.

Newfoundland was the oldest English colony in North America, being claimed by John Cabot for King Henry VII, and again by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583.

[7] In 1855, Philip Francis Little, a native of Prince Edward Island, won a parliamentary majority over Sir Hugh Hoyles and the Conservatives.

Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister of Canada, came very close to negotiating Newfoundland's entry into Confederation in 1892.

On 1 July 1916, the German Army wiped out most of that regiment at Beaumont Hamel on the first day on the Somme, inflicting 90 percent casualties.

Prior to 1867, the Quebec North Shore portion of the "Labrador coast" had shuttled back and forth between the colonies of Lower Canada and Newfoundland.

The Privy Council ruling established a boundary along the drainage divide separating waters that flowed through the territory to the Labrador coast, although following two straight lines from the Romaine River along the 52nd parallel, then south near 57 degrees west longitude to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

[14][15][16] As a small country which relied primarily upon the export of fish, paper, and minerals, Newfoundland was hit hard by the Great Depression.

On 5 April 1932, a crowd of 10,000 people marched on the Colonial Building (seat of the House of Assembly) and forced Prime Minister Squires to flee.

[17] Letters patent passed under the act provided that Newfoundland was ruled by the governor, who reported to the Colonial Secretary in London, and the commission, appointed by the British government.

Given Newfoundland's strategic location in the Battle of the Atlantic, the Allies (especially the United States of America) built many military bases there.

National income doubled as an economic boom took place in the Avalon Peninsula and to a lesser degree in Gander, Botwood, and Stephenville.

The United States became the main supplier, and American money and influence diffused rapidly from the military, naval, and air bases.

Government revenues, aided by inflation and new income, quadrupled, even though Newfoundland had tax rates much lower than those in Canada, Britain, or the United States.

[21][page needed] In October 1943, the weather station Kurt was erected in Newfoundland, marking Nazi Germany's only armed operation on land in North America.

[24][full citation needed] In 1945, London announced that a Newfoundland National Convention would be elected to advise on what constitutional choices should be voted on by referendum.

Joey Smallwood was a well-known radio personality, writer, organizer, and nationalist who had long criticized British rule.

After much debate, the first referendum took place on 3 June 1948, to decide between continuing with the Commission of Government, reverting to dominion status, or joining Canadian Confederation.

Smallwood was the leading proponent of confederation with Canada, insisting, "Today we are more disposed to feel that our very manhood, our very creation by God, entitles us to standards of life no lower than our brothers on the mainland.