At the same time a bloody civil war threatened to split the United States in two, meetings were being held in Canada’s provinces that set the stage for unity. The 1864 conferences in Charlottetown and Quebec City effectively prepared the way for Canada’s confederation just a few years later. In 1964, the Royal Canadian Mint paid tribute to the Canadian Confederation Conferences of 1864 with a special, one-year-only design on that year’s silver dollar. The fifth commemorative dollar issued by Canada, the design features the French fleur-de-lis, the Irish shamrock, the Scottish thistle and the English rose all conjoined in a circle surrounded by the names “Charlottetown” and “Quebec.” Besides being a one-year-only commemorative, this coin represents the last use of Queen Elizabeth II’s “Young Head” portrait in the Canadian Silver Dollar series.