Re: Opinion - Respect = Re: [OT] Frog Bashing

On Thu, 30 May 2002 11:21:22 -0700 (PDT), John Atkinson
<johnmatkinson@yahoo.com> wrote:

>OK, so the original intent was to conquer Canada.

And to stop the British inciting the First Nations. It wasn't the
British,
though, but American policies on the natives that was inciting them.

>No problem.  Frankly, I'm glad we didn't--what would
>we do with seven more states full of
>pseudo-Minnessotans.

Considering there is US$1 billion in trade with Canada each day, and
that the
US currently has a fairly hefty trade surplus with Canada, the US GDP
would
have been helped greatly if the US had captured Canada.

>On the other hand, the Brits intended to hang onto
>their positions in the Ohio valley, which they didn't.
> And except for burning Washington DC (and I've been
>there, I would pay to have the British burn it down
>again) every one of their attacking into the US got
>whacked and whacked good.

They also didn't hold onto Maine, either. You forget about the near
bloodless
capture of Fort Detroit, where the British absolutely embarassed the
American
garrison by essentially bluffing the Americans into surrendering. This
with 70
men in something like a dozen canoes that did Fort York (Toronto) to
Detroit
in about 2 weeks.

On the other hand, the US was the aggressor, and every one of the US
attacks
into Canada got whacked and whacked good. Well, Lundy's Lane was
essentially a
draw. However Stoney Creek was a major British and Canadian victory,
where
they were outnumbered more than 4:1.

>Maybe it wasn't an unmitigated victory, but we got
>what we wanted in the peace treaty.

The peace treaty was pro-American, indeed. However you never got one of
your
war aims. The impressment issue and the stopping of ships on the high
seas was
ended by the British before the war began (interestingly, the Union
during the
Civil War ended up doing exactly what they were incensed at the British
for
doing). The invasion of Canada was a failure. 

The war was essentially a draw. The real losers, however, were the First
Nations.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!" 
 - from the Random H.P. Lovecraft Story Generator: