Nope, you, oh frozen-brained one, have misunderstood. You get nothing for helping Britain, like what everyone gets for helping them. We should have compensation for Britain's crude crimes. Imagine, burn Washington, and then leave so it'll get built up again. And now look what we got.
Daniel, you've been up too late. Think about it. You'd have torn down everything for the next architectural fad anyway, if we hadn't burnt it. This way, you actually saved the White House out of pique. Think what a montrosity you could have got in its place!
Me:
Guess I should have realised that 1812 would come up at some time. All
right, I shall explain carefully. We (Canada) came and helped the U.K. for
those three wars. You, on the other hand, didn't help during the American
Rebellion or the War of 1812. Emphatically did not.
Just what I meant. What did you miss?
Considering I was claiming help for past help given, you claiming help for past wars against Britain was seriously peculiar.
>As far as claiming Canada as compensation for the War of 1812, you lot
started the hostilities.
Wrong again, emphatically and all that. Not that anyone thinks Canada started anything.
How one can claim compensation in the form of the lands that you've just invaded is logic only one of your warped imagination could come up with. OK, I rephrase my initial statement. You declared war on Britain, and invaded the Canadas. The British Empire didn't declare war or invade, though they had richly provoked the U.S. To be fair (yeah, I know this list isn't the one for fairdom), we were all Brits at the time, so by extension, we were a legitimate target.
From what I can gather, the U.S. got caught in the mill between the U.K. and France. The U.K. had to have control of the seas, or they were doomed, so they didn't give a damn about American neutrality. Americans insisting on their right to trade with all and sundry were also, I gather, bashing up against a bunch of British politicos who were damned if they were about to let anyone else run a successful marine commercial empire. And there we were, next door.
>For some inane reason,
Kidnapping and murder. Oh, those aren't crimes in Canada?
Guilty as charged. Impressment of sailors was definitely kidnapping, whenever the men taken were not already deserters. As for what was going on in the West, the only people who should really have had a stake in that land were the natives, and they got screwed by both sides.
>Thomas Jefferson figured that grabbing Canada would be "a mere matter of
marching" since the Brits were seriously occupied smacking Napoleon.
Wow, a more warped interpretation than anything Bush could come up with. Maybe the Canadians are dangerous.
If you're commenting on that sentence in particular, that's what was thought at the time. Check the primary sources. Here's a more complete version of that quote: "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." (Thomas Jefferson, 1812)
What we had up here were the United Empire Loyalists (who still hugely resented being evicted from their original homes and birthplaces), plus a whole bunch of British immigrants. Plus the French, who weren't about to trust the Americans to respect their right to Catholicism. None of them were very likely to fall into place with American plans of annexation for purposes of putting pressure on the U.K. Why various Americans thought it would be a war of liberation for Canadians is therefore beyond me.
Strangely, most of New England was far keener on trade with anybody around, than being good little patriots. Even with impressment. Then there was the founding father of the Astor fortunes, who happily ferried a secret message to his fellow fur traders to stay quiet about the oncomiing Brits at Fort Michilimackinac. Some patriots they were!
No doubt some Orlanthi are happily making a fortune trading with Lunars, too. Alison
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