19th Century

At the beginning of the 19th century, the colony profited from Britain's wars with France and the United States, providing ships and supplies. Nova Scotia's population increased rapidly, from 65,000 in 1806 to nearly 331,000 in 1861. After 1825 a new period of expansion began. Growing demand for Nova Scotian sailing ships and, later, steamships brought prosperity to the colony. Lumbering and coal mining also developed, while fishing and agriculture remained profitable industries. One Nova Scotian, Samuel Cunard, established the first regular transatlantic steamship line, between Liverpool and Halifax, in the 1830's. The Cunard Line soon became one of the world's most important shipping companies.

Also during the 1830's and 1840's, Nova Scotia struggled to achieve self-government. Joseph Howe, a Halifax journalist, aroused public opinion in 1835 when he accused colonial leaders of corruption and then successfully defended himself against libel charges. The next year he was elected to the colonial assembly. There he argued that the executive branch of the colonial government should become responsible to the Nova Scotian people, subject to votes of confidence or dismissal by the assembly, which was elected. Under Howe's leadership, a set of 12 resolutions to adopt changes to this effect were sent to the British government, and in 1848 Nova Scotia became the first British colony to gain responsible self-government.

In 1867 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario joined to form the Dominion of Canada. Many Nova Scotians were opposed to confederation, feeling little in common with the two large provinces to the west. Opposition diminished with the granting by the Dominion of a larger subsidy to the province than had been originally negotiated, and with the completion of the Intercolonial Railway in 1876. However, some discontent remained.