Talk:John Solomon Cartwright/GA1

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Pickersgill-Cunliffe in topic GA Review

GA Review edit

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Reviewer: Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk · contribs) 19:07, 12 July 2021 (UTC)Reply

Hi, I'll take this one. Feel free to query any of my notes and correct me if necessary!

Prelim edit

Lead edit

  • Link "governors general"
  • Link "Upper Canada Rebellion"
  • "Cartwright came into professional contact with a rising young Kingston lawyer, John A. Macdonald." This sentence comes out very clumsily and seems very out of place here, coming straight after seemingly unrelated words on the Upper Canada Rebellion. Perhaps more directly say that he "worked with the future first Prime Minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald" or something similar instead when it's rewritten.
  • "earning the respect of other businessmen." This isn't very clear, simpler if replaced with something akin to "In addition to his legal practice, he was involved in successful banking and land transactions"
  • "Midland Bank" needs linking or describing
  • "Kingston" needs linking
  • "philanthropist" needs linking
  • Replace "bon vivant" with an English language version
  • "A good glass of wine" is too chatty
  • Making a whole paragraph out of 8 words doesn't look right, might as well add that to the previous paragraph
  • Link "tuberculosis"

Early life and family edit

  • First and third paragraphs require references
  • "John's father Richard Cartwright was engaged in..." > "John's father was engaged in..."
  • "Richard Cartwright was instrumental in..." > "he was instrumental in..."
  • "The couple had a family of seven children" > "The couple had seven children"
  • "...married Harriet Dobbs in Ireland while in Britain at Oxford University." > "...married Harriet Dobbs in Ireland while at Oxford University"

Legal and business career edit

  • First two paragraphs require references
  • "Attorney General for Upper Canada" needs a link in full if possible, or if not for just "Attorney General"
  • "the Family Compact, a oligarchic conservative group that had informal control over the provincial government." The Family Compact has already been referenced earlier on, the introductory description of it should be at that point, not here
  • Link "called to the bar"
  • Move the link for "Midland District" to the first reference of it within "Commercial Bank of the Midland District"
  • "In 1832, he became the first president of the Commercial Bank..." This feels like it comes out of the blue after the description of his law studies, couldit be explained further as to how a lawyer came to be the first president of a bank?
  • "Napanee", "Hamilton, Niagara, and Montreal" need linking
  • The paragraphs of this section are mostly very short and would be improved by being merged into a few larger paragraphs, making the reading of them less choppy. Furthermore, the last three paragraphs all begin with "Cartwright" which should be adapted to improve prose
  • "he appears to" I'm not sure why I don't like this phrasing but it really sticks out to me. Perhaps replace with "he probably spent..."
  • "he sold his library to a young lawyer starting his career John A. Macdonald, the future prime minister of Canada," > "he sold his library to the young lawyer John A. Macdonald, who would go on to become the prime minister of Canada,"

Rebellions of 1837–38 edit

  • "serving as lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd Lennox militia." The phrasing of this sounds like Cartwright performed this military role only for duration of the rebellion. Was this the case or was it a longer involvement?
  • "John A. Macdonald acted as defence counsel." Seems like trivia to me in the way it's abruptly announced
  • Link "court-martial"
  • Link Fort Henry to Fort Henry National Historic Site

Political career edit

  • First paragraph requires a reference
  • Final two paragraphs in Relations with moderate Tories need references
  • First two paragraphs of Second session of Parliament, 1842 need references
  • Could the titles of Upper Canada and Politics in the Province of Canada be formatted so that they are similar to one another? E.g. changing the second sub section to simply Province of Canada or vice versa
  • "Two years later, he tried again..." Are you able to expand on why he was successful at his second attempt?
  • Is the "Legislative Assembly" Cartwright is a part of the same thing as the "Parliament of Upper Canada" or something else? Needs clarifying
  • "Durham also had harsh words for the Family Compact and its dominance of public affairs in the province." How did these harsh words relate to Cartwright?
  • "but the British considered local support from the British colonists was important." > "but the British considered local support from the colonists to be important"
  • Link "select committee" to Select committee (United Kingdom)
  • I assume Cartwright was part of the select committee, but this could be clarified either way
  • "Gaspé region" and "New Brunswick" need linking
  • "would be continued" > "would continue"
  • Link "real estate"
  • "The closing of the Address affirmed that the people of Upper Canada wished to maintain a constitutional system based on "... the representative mode of government under a monarchy, and to a permanent connexion with the British Empire, and a dutiful allegiance to our Sovereign." " Is this section necessary? Unless Cartwright was particularly involved in the writing of the Address or its meaning this seems like a more general history of the event rather than of Cartwright
  • Again, the small two-line paragraphs should be merged with larger paragraphs to make reading less clunky
  • Link "Province of Canada"
  • "The Act was proclaimed in force in February, 1841" > "The Act was enforced in February 1841"?
  • No need to continually repeat the year when the month changes; it's clear that it is still the same year
  • "Chief Justice of the King's Bench of Upper Canada" link to chief justice or something equally appropriate
  • "The first Parliament of the Province of Canada was elected in 1841. Cartwright was again elected as the member for Lennox and Addington." > "The first Parliament of the Province of Canada was elected in 1841 and Cartwright was re-elected as the member for Lennox and Addington." Try to avoid too many very short sentences
  • "Governor General Thomson (now appointed to the peerage as Lord Sydenham)" You've mentioned his rise to the peerage twice now, should probably remove the first instance
  • "opposed the measures proposed by Governor General Thomson" Could you expand on what these measures were?
  • "A year later, the political situation had changed somewhat." Is an unnecessary sentence, if you want to highlight the change in circumstances with Sydenham's death this could be done in the sentence explaining Bagot's intentions in forming a new ministry.
  • "Sydenham had died" > "Sydenham died"
  • Link "solicitor-general"
  • Could "Canada West" be linked?
  • The terms "Canada East" and "Canada West" do not appear before this point and either need explaining or linking
  • "of French-Canadian ministers in the ministry" Remove "in the ministry", unnecessary
  • "Cartwright attended some initial meetings, but ultimately did not agree to join the government." Can you expand on what Cartwright not choosing to join the government meant? If his decision had no particular impact on wider politics then the preceding paragraph doesn't seem relevant to him and can be shortened
  • "and if he had his way the children would be whipped and sent to bed" Trivia
  • "However, the motion was never finally voted on." Unnecessary sentence, the next sentence works just as well on its own in explaining this
  • "Although in failing health" Can you expand on what was wrong?
  • "However, he was unsuccessful," > "He was unsuccessful,"
  • Pointing out again the frequent repetition of the year, when the month alone will often do the job
  • The entire Political views section seems to be repeating in different language things the article has already told us - what new information there is there should be placed in the relevant piece of main text rather than given its own outcropping at the end

Philanthropist, patron of architecture, and bon vivant edit

  • Again, please remove/change/translate bon vivant
  • "Cartwright and the Cartwright family" > "Cartwright and his family"
  • Napanee is linked here but as noted earlier on, this is not the first appearance of the location in the article and the link should be moved
  • Could you provide examples of some of the architecture/buildings he influenced?
  • "Cartwright was somewhat of a throwback to the Regency era, rather than the new Victorian period. He enjoyed horse-racing and betting, gambling with cards for high stakes, and a good glass of wine." This in fact seems like highly trivial information and I don't see why it needs to be included in the article at all

Death edit

  • Combine this two very short paragraphs into one
  • Switch "In 1845, he died at his home of tuberculosis" to "He died at his home of tuberculosis in 1845" so that there isn't so much of "In [date]..." going on

References edit

  • Along with the previously noted missing references, the organisation as a whole can be improved. Currently the reference section cites all sources in long form which is a little confusing to navigate and read. I suggest creating a Bibliography section where the long reference of each work cited can be listed alphabetically, and then changing the individual references to their shorter versions. John Rolph (politician) is a good example of what I'm attempting to describe.

That's all I have for now. Please ping me if you have any questions about my critique, I'll be happy to answer them. Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 19:07, 12 July 2021 (UTC)Reply

@Mr Serjeant Buzfuz:, pinging you just in case you've forgotten about this. Regards, Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 13:55, 18 July 2021 (UTC)Reply

Response and Comments edit

Prelim edit

I have no idea what this means, nor how to fix it. My experiences with the Wikipedia Image Police have not been happy ones. I have deleted the two images.
  • I recommend linking the names of the people in the images even if they're already linked in the main text
Not needed for the two deleted images. Have done so for the other images in the article.
Done.
  • Duplicate links:
  • Upper Canada in Early life and family and Legal and business career
Fixed.
Fixed.
Fixed.
  • Allan MacNab in Legal and business career and twice in Political career
Fixed.
Fixed.

Lead edit

  • Link "governors general"
Done.
  • Link "Upper Canada Rebellion"
Done.
  • "Cartwright came into professional contact with a rising young Kingston lawyer, John A. Macdonald." This sentence comes out very clumsily and seems very out of place here, coming straight after seemingly unrelated words on the Upper Canada Rebellion. Perhaps more directly say that he "worked with the future first Prime Minister of Canada, John A. Macdonald" or something similar instead when it's rewritten.
Done.
  • "earning the respect of other businessmen." This isn't very clear, simpler if replaced with something akin to "In addition to his legal practice, he was involved in successful banking and land transactions"
  • "Midland Bank" needs linking or describing
Moved both of these out of lead; too complicated for lead.
  • "Kingston" needs linking
Done.
  • "philanthropist" needs linking
Really?
  • Replace "bon vivant" with an English language version
Not done. Perfectly cromulent English phrase; see Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed. 2004), p. 168.
  • "A good glass of wine" is too chatty
Done. Re-worded the sentence.
  • Making a whole paragraph out of 8 words doesn't look right, might as well add that to the previous paragraph
Not done. I think that's a question of style. The short sentence of death is a common feature of at the end of biographies. It's intentionally a very short sentence, right after the discussion of how Cartwright enjoyed life -- yet died at age 40. It's meant to be a bit of "memento mori."
  • Link "tuberculosis"
Done.

Early life and family edit

  • First and third paragraphs require references
Done.
  • "John's father Richard Cartwright was engaged in..." > "John's father was engaged in..."
Done.
  • "Richard Cartwright was instrumental in..." > "he was instrumental in..."
Done.
  • "The couple had a family of seven children" > "The couple had seven children"
Done.
  • "...married Harriet Dobbs in Ireland while in Britain at Oxford University." > "...married Harriet Dobbs in Ireland while at Oxford University"
Done; slightly different re-wording.

Legal and business career edit

  • First two paragraphs require references
Done.
  • "Attorney General for Upper Canada" needs a link in full if possible, or if not for just "Attorney General"
Done.
  • "the Family Compact, a oligarchic conservative group that had informal control over the provincial government." The Family Compact has already been referenced earlier on, the introductory description of it should be at that point, not here
Done; moved up to the mention of John Strachan in "Early life and family".
  • Link "called to the bar"
Done.
  • Move the link for "Midland District" to the first reference of it within "Commercial Bank of the Midland District"
Done; taken from lead and expanded.
  • "In 1832, he became the first president of the Commercial Bank..." This feels like it comes out of the blue after the description of his law studies, could it be explained further as to how a lawyer came to be the first president of a bank?
Done.
  • "Napanee", "Hamilton, Niagara, and Montreal" need linking
Done.
  • The paragraphs of this section are mostly very short and would be improved by being merged into a few larger paragraphs, making the reading of them less choppy. Furthermore, the last three paragraphs all begin with "Cartwright" which should be adapted to improve prose
Done
  • "he appears to" I'm not sure why I don't like this phrasing but it really sticks out to me. Perhaps replace with "he probably spent..."
Done — tinkered with the wording.
  • "he sold his library to a young lawyer starting his career John A. Macdonald, the future prime minister of Canada," > "he sold his library to the young lawyer John A. Macdonald, who would go on to become the prime minister of Canada,"
Done — tinkered with the wording.

Rebellions of 1837–38 edit

  • "serving as lieutenant-colonel of the 2nd Lennox militia." The phrasing of this sounds like Cartwright performed this military role only for duration of the rebellion. Was this the case or was it a longer involvement?
Expanded on militia role; my sources don't say whether he was just acting in the 2nd Lennox, but he had been in the local militia since his early 20s. Also moved the court martial section up, to match with his militia role, then followed by his civil role as Crown prosecutor.
  • "John A. Macdonald acted as defence counsel." Seems like trivia to me in the way it's abruptly announced
Expanded on the role Macdonald played. I think it's more than trivia, both to illustrate the small nature of Kingston at this time, and because it also involves a future prime minister.
  • Link "court-martial"
Done.
Done.

Political career edit

  • First paragraph requires a reference
Done.
  • Final two paragraphs in Relations with moderate Tories need references
? There already is a link in the final paragraph. I've repeated it in the penultimate paragraph, but I would have thought the link in the final paragraph applied to both?
  • First two paragraphs of Second session of Parliament, 1842 need references
?? Last paragraph has a citation already; duplicated it for the first paragraph.
  • Could the titles of Upper Canada and Politics in the Province of Canada be formatted so that they are similar to one another? E.g. changing the second sub section to simply Province of Canada or vice versa
Done.
  • "Two years later, he tried again..." Are you able to expand on why he was successful at his second attempt?
Not done — too speculative. Lennox & Addington had two members in the Lege Assembly of Upper Canada, and the two members elected in 1834 had both been Reformers: Marshall Spring Bidwell, who eventually had to flee to the US after the 1837 Rebellion, and Peter Perry, who eventually became a Clear Grit in the 1840s. At a guess, I would say that the pendulum swung in the riding from Reformers to Tories, in the lead-up to the 1837 rebellion, but I've not found a source to confirm that. Will just have to leave it as a statement of fact: Cartwright got elected in 1836. Have added that he defeated the Reform candidates; readers can draw their own conclusions.
  • Is the "Legislative Assembly" Cartwright is a part of the same thing as the "Parliament of Upper Canada" or something else? Needs clarifying
Fixed - Lower house of Parliament.
  • "Durham also had harsh words for the Family Compact and its dominance of public affairs in the province." How did these harsh words relate to Cartwright?
Added comment based on Canadian Encyclopedia article, and citation to the Durham Report.
  • "but the British considered local support from the British colonists was important." > "but the British considered local support from the colonists to be important"
Tinkered with wording. British didn't care that much about having support from French-Canadian colonists, only the British colonists, so need to keep the word "British" there.
Not done. I'm reluctant to link to an article about committee structure in the British Parliament in this context. In my experience, people often have trouble keeping the distinction between local Canadian parliamentary support for the Union Act separate from the British parliamentary practice that led to the Act. Linking to the British parliament committee structure at this point would be confusing, I think.
  • I assume Cartwright was part of the select committee, but this could be clarified either way
Done. Had to dig around in the Journal, but have updated the section on the review process in 1839.
  • "Gaspé region" and "New Brunswick" need linking
Done""
  • "would be continued" > "would continue"
Not done. Slight difference in verb indicates a difference in the political process. If they "continue", that implies that they are still in the same body. But that's not the case; they would be in a new body, and something has to be done to continue them; "be continued" indicates that they are the subject of the action by someone that has continued them, whether that was the British Parliament in the Act, or the GovGen exercising his authority to appoint. The phrase "be continued" indicates that it wasn't an automatic process. I appreciate this is a subtle difference.
  • Link "real estate"
Really? Why?
  • "The closing of the Address affirmed that the people of Upper Canada wished to maintain a constitutional system based on "... the representative mode of government under a monarchy, and to a permanent connexion with the British Empire, and a dutiful allegiance to our Sovereign." " Is this section necessary? Unless Cartwright was particularly involved in the writing of the Address or its meaning this seems like a more general history of the event rather than of Cartwright
I think it's important to keep this part of the Address, because it illustrates the political sentiments of the time, in relation to the proposed conditions on union.
First, Cartwright was very much involved in the process of drafting conditions on union, both in 1839 and again in 1840. The Address contains the second set of conditions which he had proposed in January 1840, which the House had approved. Although the sources don't discuss who drafted the Address, the inclusion of Cartwright's conditions, and his extensive involvement over the previous year, is a strong indicator that he had a hand in it. Parliamentary processes at this time involved collective decision-making, so the text of the Address is likely the result of a collaborative process, which Cartwright would have participated in. That is my supposition, but is part of the reason I think it's important to include it.
Second, the final part of the Address has to be read in light of the conditions which he successfully sought and were included in the Address. I don't think the conditions can be separated from the final paragraph of the Address; it all has to be read together, as the outcome of the political process, and the overall understanding of the situation of Upper Canada in the Empire. The issue of the balance between the local government and the imperial government was at the heart of the debates from 1836 to 1840, and the emphasis on maintaining the British connexion and the monarchy was a crucial part of the approach adopted by the Assembly. It's hard to know exactly what role Cartwright had in the drafting of the latter part of the Address, but given how heavily involved he had been in the entire process for the past year, and that his personal philosophy was very much to maintain the British connexion, I think it's important to include the closing of the Address, not just the specific conditions. The conditions and the need to maintain the British connexion are a unified whole.
Third, in an historical article, we have to provide information to the reader to understand the way the people thought, because otherwise, Cartwright's actions may not be easily understandable by 21st century readers brought up in modern democracies. The political context is very important to understand the actions of individual political actors, like Cartwright. He was in the minority in some ways, but the importance of the British connection framed much of his thinking, and the address illustrates he wasn't alone in that. "The past is a foreign country — they do things differently there."
  • Again, the small two-line paragraphs should be merged with larger paragraphs to make reading less clunky
Done.
  • Link "Province of Canada"
Done.
  • "The Act was proclaimed in force in February, 1841" > "The Act was enforced in February 1841"?
Not done. "in force" is the standard term in Anglo-Canadian law to indicate if a law is in operation. Typically, laws come into force (1) on Royal assent; (2) on proclamation; or (3) on a set date or event. In this case, the Union Act provided that it could be brought into force by a proclamation issued by the GovGen. For a similar usage, see Statutes in Force in Britain.
  • No need to continually repeat the year when the month changes; it's clear that it is still the same year
Done.
  • "Chief Justice of the King's Bench of Upper Canada" link to chief justice or something equally appropriate
Not Done. The Chief Justice article is really talking about the modern Chief Justice position, usually in a supreme/apex court. That wasn't what the CJKB was in Upper Canada, so would be confusing/inaccurate to link to that article as it stands. As well, can't find an article for the KB Upper Canada except a brief mention in the Queen's Bench article, which is mainly about the English and Irish Queen's Bench courts. I think it would be confusing to link to that. Instead, I've added a cite to the Robinson article.
  • "The first Parliament of the Province of Canada was elected in 1841. Cartwright was again elected as the member for Lennox and Addington." > "The first Parliament of the Province of Canada was elected in 1841 and Cartwright was re-elected as the member for Lennox and Addington." Try to avoid too many very short sentences
Reworded. Don't want to use the term "re-elected", because that implies elected again to the same body, which was not the case. He was elected to a new body, again representing Lennox & Addington.
  • "Governor General Thomson (now appointed to the peerage as Lord Sydenham)" You've mentioned his rise to the peerage twice now, should probably remove the first instance
Done.
  • "opposed the measures proposed by Governor General Thomson" Could you expand on what these measures were?
Not done. Sources don't go into any detail, but simply say that the Tories tended to be opposed to Sydenham. Re-worded the sentence.
  • "A year later, the political situation had changed somewhat." Is an unnecessary sentence, if you want to highlight the change in circumstances with Sydenham's death this could be done in the sentence explaining Bagot's intentions in forming a new ministry.
  • "Sydenham had died" > "Sydenham died"
Not done. Both of these sentences are using the pluperfect - by this point the narration is in 1842, looking back on actions in 1841. The first sentence alerts the reader that there has been a change, the second explains the change, in part.
  • Link "solicitor-general"
Done.
  • Could "Canada West" be linked?
  • The terms "Canada East" and "Canada West" do not appear before this point and either need explaining or linking
Done.
  • "of French-Canadian ministers in the ministry" Remove "in the ministry", unnecessary
Re-worded.
  • "Cartwright attended some initial meetings, but ultimately did not agree to join the government." Can you expand on what Cartwright not choosing to join the government meant? If his decision had no particular impact on wider politics then the preceding paragraph doesn't seem relevant to him and can be shortened
Done. Expanded on the impact of Cartwright (and others) refusing to enter government.
  • "and if he had his way the children would be whipped and sent to bed" Trivia
Not changed; not trivia. Dunlop's comments, said in debate in the Assembly, are an indication of the contemprorary views on correction of juvenile offenders, by at least some members of the Assembly, and through them, society in general. Helps to give an idea of where Cartwright's proposal stood on the political spectrum of the day.
  • "However, the motion was never finally voted on." Unnecessary sentence, the next sentence works just as well on its own in explaining this
Re-worded; ties back to the discussion on the Metcalfe ministerial crisis.
  • "Although in failing health" Can you expand on what was wrong?
I assume it was the tuberculosis, from which he would die early in the new year. Sources don't say so explicitly, but I've inserted it.
  • "However, he was unsuccessful," > "He was unsuccessful,"
Done.
  • Pointing out again the frequent repetition of the year, when the month alone will often do the job
Re-worded.
  • The entire Political views section seems to be repeating in different language things the article has already told us - what new information there is there should be placed in the relevant piece of main text rather than given its own outcropping at the end
Done.

Patron of architecture edit

  • Again, please remove/change/translate bon vivant
Not needed, as a result of re-write and re-location of this passage.
  • "Cartwright and the Cartwright family" > "Cartwright and his family"
Not done. Sources indicate that it wasn't just Cartwright, but also his father and his brother. To me, "his family" sounds more restrictive, to just his nuclear family, ie him and his descendants, while "and the Cartwright family" is a broader meaning.
  • Napanee is linked here but as noted earlier on, this is not the first appearance of the location in the article and the link should be moved
Done.
  • Could you provide examples of some of the architecture/buildings he influenced?
Have only been able to find one public domain image, but have found several online sources with photos, which I've linked to in citations; includes his Kingston townhouse and his country villa.
  • "Cartwright was somewhat of a throwback to the Regency era, rather than the new Victorian period. He enjoyed horse-racing and betting, gambling with cards for high stakes, and a good glass of wine." This in fact seems like highly trivial information and I don't see why it needs to be included in the article at all
Moved to the "Family and early life" section as more appropriate there. I think that a bio is more than just a description of a person's business and political career; you want to give a description of "a man in full", to borrow from Wolfe. As for whether it warrants inclusion in a bio, this info is taken directly from the Cartwright article in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. If professional historians and editors think this information is worth including in the major Canadian collection of biographies, I think that is a guideline for inclusion in a wiki bio as well. It's also interesting, as a matter of social history, that Cartwright was more of a Regency man, 20 years late, than the new Victorian morality. I think that gives a bit of a glimpse of the Tory social outlook at the time. I've also re-named the sub-heading so that it's primarily about his role with architecture.

Death edit

  • Combine this two very short paragraphs into one
  • Switch "In 1845, he died at his home of tuberculosis" to "He died at his home of tuberculosis in 1845" so that there isn't so much of "In [date]..." going on
Done.

References edit

  • Along with the previously noted missing references, the organisation as a whole can be improved. Currently the reference section cites all sources in long form which is a little confusing to navigate and read. I suggest creating a Bibliography section where the long reference of each work cited can be listed alphabetically, and then changing the individual references to their shorter versions. John Rolph (politician) is a good example of what I'm attempting to describe.
Missing references: done.
Change to reference style: Not done. I think this is primarily a question of style, and I personally don't like the system of breaking up the citations and a linked bibliography. I don't think abbreviated footnotes are very informative, and having a double-click system may be discouraging for readers who aren't computer-savvy. I like clicking on a citation and getting the information right away, rather than having to click again to go to the bibliography.

Ready for review edit

@Pickersgill-Cunliffe: All done! Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I think it's much better now. Mr Serjeant Buzfuz (talk) 13:05, 10 August 2021 (UTC)Reply

@Mr Serjeant Buzfuz: Thank you for explaining your reasoning on points you disagree with, I'm happy with everything you've said and realise I may have been a little picky during my first read through! Your changes all look good to me and I agree that the article seems to be in a much better state with the work you've recently put in. A few minor points remain:
  • I think you've misspelled MacNab as McNab in the third paragraph of Second session of Parliament, 1842 but not being anywhere near an expert in Canadian political history I thought I'd leave any correction to you
Quite right. Fixed. In my defence, the index in my main source on political alignments for the period cites all "Mac" and "Mc" names as one category (there were a lot of Scots in Upper Canada and Lower Canada!). Easy to get confused.
  • Cartwright's full dates of birth and death are in the lede and infobox but not in the main text and are therefore not cited
Done. Both the paragraphs that now have the full dates already have cites to the DCB, so I assume they don't need to have specific refs right after each date?
No idea how what this means or how to fix, so have deleted.
Canada is a bilingual country, with English and French documents in our constitutional tradition. I think that in writing about Canadian politics and constitutionalism, there is no objection to including French images. Otherwise, may be skewing the reader's perception of Canada as solely an English-speaking country. In the articles on constitutional matters in France, Germany, Republic of Ireland and Japan, images of documents in the languages of those countries are included. Moot now, with the removal of the image, but I think this is an important point.
  • Once again this is an issue of style but all your subheadings that have dates in them have them at the end apart from 1844: Mission to London and I think it would be better if this also conformed to your pattern
Done.
- Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 17:00, 10 August 2021 (UTC)Reply
Having reviewed your edits I believe this article now complies with all of the good article criteria. Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 14:36, 14 August 2021 (UTC)Reply