James Alexander Macdonald (January 22, 1862 – May 14, 1923[1]) was a Canadian newspaper editor, minister, educator and author.

He was born in East Williams Township, Upper Canada, the son of John Alexander Macdonald and Jane Grant, and was educated there, in Hamilton, in Toronto and at the University of Toronto.

In 1896, Macdonald was named principal of Presbyterian Ladies' College in Toronto.

Later concluding that German aggression needed to be stopped, Macdonald emphasized that the intent of war should be to restore peace.

[1] Macdonald published two collections of essays, Democracy and the Nations in 1915 and The North American Idea in 1917, proposing closer ties between Canada and the United States.