McGee's position among the few outstanding fathers of Confederation is secure. His work was not that of a constitutional architect giving expression to political needs in the legal terms of a constitution. Nor was he a party leader, subtly pulling together the strings guiding political groups, and through the resulting combination carrying measures beneficial to the community. In both these fields Sir John Macdonald easily carries away most of the honours. McGee's task was that of inspiration. His position was that of a prophet and a guide. Creative statesmen fall into two categories--those who inspire a people to establish new structures, and those who build in under their influence the bricks and mortar of the new creation. McGee, in the most plastic period of Canadian history, belonged to the former class. Throughout the brief span of his life in Canada, he had been the untiring advocate of union amongst the colonies. He had championed it in the press and on public platforms from Lake Huron to the Atlantic. In the legislature, he had pushed it forward through the weary bickerings over much smaller issues. He had made the colonists realize that to them there was no subject of equal magnitude. This was the prime question of their destiny. Coming to the Canadas as a stranger, his mind was not cramped by local patriotism nor handicapped by the shortness of vision characteristic of many colonial leaders. He saw the common interests of all the colonies to a degree that was difficult with men who had matured within the confines of one, and who were content to worship only at its shrine. He had an additional advantage. He had been reared in an old community with long traditions and in possession of that virile community-consciousness which we call nationality. His mind had developed in contact with a group of young brilliant men who sought to revivify the life of their nation, and who went to its traditions for inspiration. McGee never lost the effect of such experiences and aspirations. The vision of giving new vitality to a nation and setting it on the path of fresh development continued to stir his imagination. When he came to Canada, he did not find an old community, as in Ireland, in need of inspiration for fresh accomplishments; he found all the elements necessary for the building of a new northern nation, and the prospect of assisting its creation was the spur of his Canadian career.