The War of 1812 is very important to the national psyche and pride of Canada. There are buildings and institutions all over Ontario named after important figures in that war. Canadians to this day view that war as the US vs Canada with Canada putting up a valiant and victorious fight repelling an American attempt at invading and annexing Canada - it's half true at best.
It's a war that isn't held in much regard by the British nor the Americans - a minor footnote in their histories though in the US it should be more than a footnote, the Battle of New Orleans was an epic battle with Andrew Stonewall Jackson defeating the British from which Jackson became a national hero and remains one to this day and the American national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, was inspired by the Battle of Baltimore.
Historians agree that the War of 1812 didn't have much to do with an American attempt to take over Canada. The major reason for the war was that the US was most interested in their expansion west into the Northwest Territory, which today we call 'the Midwest' - the present day states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio - the native Indians weren't going to let that happen without a fight and the British were helping them, providing them arms. The British wanted those states to remain Indian states as a buffer between the US and its Canadian colonies. The US wanted to finally rid North America of the British - it became a second War of Independence for the Americans.
The Americans did hope that as a result of that war that Canada would join the US - that Canadian settlers would see the US as liberators from British colonial rule. From Wikipedia:
"But the Americans thought that the possibility of local support suggested an easy conquest, as former President Thomas Jefferson believed: "The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent."
The Americans got what they wanted, but not Canada - had they really wanted it they could have taken it at any point down the road as it grew mightier. We've had peace and friendship and prosperity between the two countries ever since and I use that relationship to defend the United States all the time. The US has never interfered in Canadian internal politics and in any bilateral negotiations Canada has never been bullied or gotten the better of.
|
