At the time of the attempted conquest during the War of 1812, the strategic advantage would be the removal of a potentially hostile British presence, which could be a base either for invasion of the US, or at least resistance to US expansion westward and to the wiping out of the native population.

Perhaps the biggest advantages today would be WRT strategic resources. Canada has the largest reserves of fresh water, and large petroleum and mineral resources. The most important military advantages would have been at the start of the Cold War. Bases and launch sites could have been built closer to the USSR. However, the international geopolitical situation might not have been as favourable for the US if Canada had nor been part of the British Empire during the first half of the 20th century. The 10% increase in population is probably not enough to compensate for the more than doubling of the amount of territory or coastline that would need to be defended.

Don't discount the ideological factor as well. Particularly for Republicans (that's Jeffersonian Republicans, not Lincoln's Republicans, of course) and those who supported the French Revolutionary project, the idea of banishing the last traces of monarchy from the American continent(s) had a good deal of appeal. For Irish-Americans in particular, they saw the War of 1812 (and indeed, flocked enthusiastically to the polls to vote for hawkish Republicans) as part of a greater struggle against Britain which, if successful, might lead the unraveling of British imperialism in other areas as well (ie Ireland).

I was trying to answer the question of the strategic advantages to the US of a conquest of Canada. I agree that the two factors you mention were motivators for two specific groups. I guess I don't think of the former as a strategic consideration so much as an ideological consideration. The latter may have been a strategic consideraton, but not for the US, but rather for Irish nationalists.

BTW, Irish nationalists, many of whom were Union Army veterans, staged multiple raids on Canada from US territory in the years following the US Civil War.

the u.s. did try to conquer canada. three times. u failed. we even burnt your white house down at one point, and don't **** around or we will do it again.

(u) k bro

That's OK, since in the only battle that really counts these days, The Cup has been on the US side of the border for 21 years and counting.

"Oh Canada, Our home on native land."

The anniversary is today.

Been waiting to bump this. A proud moment in Canadian history

America dared not respond to such bravery.

Stay vigilant, loyal 'Muricans.

Your damn geese already blot out our golf courses.

So apparently somebody at the British Embassy in Washington thought it would be funny to make a cake model of the White House, surround it with sparklers and tweet a picture of it saying "Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time!"



The event displays the close cultural ties between the US, the UK and Canada. The British Embassy used American social media to distribute their celebratory message. Some Americans took a page out of Queen Victoria's book and decided they were not amused, so the Embassy channelled their inner Canadian and apologized.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation marked the event by playing the Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House".

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2...united-states/

This isn't what we learn in school in the US. Actually we don't learn anything at all about Canada.

Well we did grab Alaska.......

BTW just kidding, obv. Canada never owned Alaska. Although as a canadian I'd be a little embarassed that the U.S owns a large chunk of territory right in our own backyard.

A recent US standardized test indicates 1/3 of US 8th graders believe Canada is a dictatorship. (link)

Given the state of the Canadian federal government, a similar proportion of informed Canadians likely agrees.

Canada is full of precious natural resources, but it is not situated in a very strategic geopolitical location. It's not very populous either.
Canada is a part of the British Commonwealth, similar to Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The US should maintain a brotherhood with them instead of becoming an enemy.
Canada has its own political system, a federal parliamentary monarchy. And its culture is dual: British and French. It would be a problem for the US to absorb them

The bolded is also a bit of a problem for a lot of Canadians.

And this is of course true. But another interesting question is who picked up the cannons, once the rain started, and dropped them on the heads of the Canadian soldiers killing more of them than were killed in the capture and burning of Washington D.C.

Best wishes,
Mason

Aside from the war of 1812, there was also the Fenian invasion of Canada, during the civil war era. The goal was to conquer Canada and trade it for Irish freedom.

Canada is full of statues to their military heroes and historical markers for great battles. They all have to do with fighting off the US. So the Canadians may have been a factor in why the US stopped trying to invade.

if americans cant win against the afgan how do they expect to beat canada?

The answer is pretty simple. During the time in which the US might have been interested in conquering Canada, Canada didn’t really exist as an independent country. Canada was the territory of Britain, probably the world’s most powerful nation at the time. The US didn’t declare war in 1812 to attention conquer Canada, but did use the war as an opportunity to try. Considering the British were involved in European wars with Napoleon’s France, and the US still couldn’t do it, it would be stupid to think it could be done at any other time. The US basically gave it up as a serious proposition after the War of 1812, and all US/Canada boundary disputes were peacefully settled over the next 30-40 years. Not to mention the US started experiencing internal strife related to slavery shortly after the war. There would have been no national consensus for adding large amounts of territory that would undoubtedly become free states.

Canada eventually became much more valuable as an ally and trading partner, first as part of the British empire, then later as an independent nation, than it ever could have been had it been annexed.

Did Europeans in the area wish to join America? How about native peoples? What resources did Canada have that America lacked?

Antebellum America was land rich and labor poor.

Didn't you know that?

Exactly why the US went to war with Mexico is still debated today. However, once the war was over, the US could have annexed all of Mexico, yet it did not. So, while a great deal of territory was gained, this is an argument that the US was not set on expanding its borders as much as possible even though the borders were expanded by a lot.

Mason