War Of 1812: 200 Years

From USA Today:

"War of 1812 bicentennial: USA shrugs as Canada goes all out"

Many Americans aren't that into the War of 1812 — not like Canadians, anyway — so the latter often play the former in re-enactments along the international border here. To grossly generalize: Canadians, whose forebears helped repulse several U.S. invasions in 1812, regard the war that began 200 years ago Monday as a crucible of national identity. For them, its bicentennial is a big deal. Although they are supposed to study the war in high school, many can't recall exactly who fought it (the United States and Britain), why (trade issues, freedom of the sea, westward expansion) or who won (unclear). Congress has declined to create a national bicentennial commission. In New York State, the last two governors have rejected, for financial reasons, proposals to create a state commission. The bicentennial also is being promoted by the U.S. Navy, which traces many traditions to the war and hopes to use it to remind Americans, in a time of military budget cuts, of its own importance. Canadians have their uses for the bicentennial, to which the federal government has committed $28 million. Plans include a new war memorial in Ottawa; more than 100 events, including re-enactments; commemorative stamps and coins; renovation of historic sites; and a phone app for battlefield tours. It's part of an effort by the Conservative Party prime minister, Stephen Harper, to foster a more unified national identity by celebrating Canada's historic roots, including military victories and its British heritage. A poll last year found that while 17% of Canadians say the War of 1812 was the most important war in forming their nation's identity, only 3% of Americans feel that way. More than one of three Americans say there were no significant outcomes from the war — or none they can name. In history, unfortunately, novelty does not guarantee fame. Forced to compete with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, the War of 1812 fights obscurity for several reasons:

•Confusing causes. Was the war fought to stop Britain's seizing of U.S. sailors from U.S. ships to serve in the Royal Navy? Or to end trade restrictions? Or to seize Canada? Or to open the American West to settlement without interference from British-allied Indians? Or all of the above?

 

•Britain's heart wasn't in it. For the British, preoccupied with war in Europe against Napoleon, 1812 was a sideshow. "They sent their B team," says Maj. John Grodzinski, who teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada. Jim Hill of the Niagara (Ont.) Parks Commission recalls an old saying: "Canadians are sure they won the War of 1812, Americans are pretty sure, and the British never heard of it." British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted as much on his last visit to the White House, joking, "We so much more prefer talking about defeating the French."

•An inconclusive conclusion. The war, which ended for lack of (British) interest and (American) money, "is ignored today because it was a tie," Grossman says. "A narrative that doesn't end definitively is hard to make interesting."

It's easy to forget that the War of 1812 gave America its national anthem, whose lyrics Francis Scott Key wrote after watching the British shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor. (The melody came from an old English drinking song.) For all its foibles, historians say the war is one to remember for several other reasons:

•The United States was here to stay. Ever since the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 that ended the Revolutionary War, much of Europe still regarded the United States as an upstart and its democracy an experiment. Like a kid who stands up to a playground bully and gets a bloody nose but makes a point, the United States upheld its national sovereignty by defending itself against British harassment at sea. Moreover, "the war gave Americans a sense of what it meant to be an American," says Denver Brunsman, who will publish a book next year on the impressment issue. "Part of that was to volunteer as free citizens for military or naval service."

•It shaped the American future, economically, diplomatically and militarily. The war killed the idea of America as an agrarian nation with a weak military, static borders and a quasi-isolationist foreign policy. President Jefferson had tried to withdraw the nation from European trade to avoid war, and he was notoriously suspicious of manufacturing and its attendant "wage slavery." The war established that the United States would not expand into Canada and would grow west and south. The defeat of Britain's Creek Indian allies cleared the way for the spread of slave-based cotton planting into Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi and set the stage for the Civil War.

•Canada stayed British. By repulsing the American invasion, the Canadian colony began its march toward self-rule in 1867 and created a pantheon of national heroes.

^ As a dual Canadian-American citizen I don't really think much of the War of 1812. I knew all the key points: the British taking American sailors, the Star Spangled Banner being written, Toronto (then known as York) being burnt, Washington DC being burnt and the Battle of New Orleans happening after peace was declared. What I don't understand is why Canada and Canadians are so proud of the war (since no side really won.) At the time Canada was only a British Colony (Canada didn't get full government powers until the early 1980s when Ottawa no longer needed London's permission to pass laws.) The British started the war (even though the US officially declared it first) and did all of the fighting - there was no "Canadian military" at the time, but a British military with Canadians in it. The only reason I can think of that Canadians are so proud of the War of 1812 is that it stopped any US claims to "Canadian territory." My mom and I are going to Canada for several weeks next month and I have seen lots of programs celebrating the War and the 200 years since it started. I haven't heard anything here in the US. ^

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-14/war-of-1812-bicentennial/55603666/1