Originally posted by Toad
Wasn't the objective to get the British to stop enslaving Americans as seamen in the Navy?
Yes, but you aren't going to do that by attacking Upper and Lower Canada.
That's what started it all, IIRC.
Yep, the British (and I believe also France to a degree) didn't respect US neutrality. And there is the incident regarding the Chespeake. Totally justifiable war in my opinion.
Originally posted by Captain Virgil Hilts
Who told you the goal of the war was to annex British North American territory?
I didn't say it was
the goal. I said it was
a goal.
"The seat of anti-British fever was in the Northwest and the lower Ohio Valley, where the land-hungry frontiersmen had no doubt that their troubles with the Indians were the result of British intrigue. Stories were circulated after every Indian raid of British Army muskets and equipment being found on the field. By 1812 the westerners were convinced that their problems could best be solved by forcing the British out of Canada.
While the western "war hawks" urged war in the hope of conquering Canada, the people of Georgia, Tennessee, and the Mississippi Territory entertained similar designs against Florida, a Spanish possession. The fact that Spain and England were allies against Napoleon presented the southern war hawks with an excuse for invading Florida. By this time, also, the balance of political power had shifted south and westward; ambitious party leaders had no choice but to align themselves with the war hawks, and 1812 was a Presidential election year."
...
"The fundamental strategy was simple enough. The primary undertaking would be the conquest of Canada. The United States also planned an immediate naval offensive, whereby a swarm of privateers and the small Navy would be set loose on the high seas to destroy British commerce. The old invasion route into Canada by way of Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River led directly to the most populous and most important part of the enemy's territory. The capture of Montreal would cut the line of communications upon which the British defense of Upper Canada depended, and the fall of that province would then be inevitable. But this invasion route was near the center of disaffection in the United States, from which little local support could be expected. The west,"
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/amh/amh-06.htm If the U.S. had had such a goal, then they'd have started the war by attacking England first.
No, they would have attacked Upper and Lower Canada, like they did. There was no way in hell that the US could have invade and conqure England. But looking at the numbers involve the US certainly could have conqured British North America.
