[katana]

It's nice to think of the War of 1812 as an American victory. But except for the Battles of Lake Erie and New Orleans (the latter occurring two weeks after peace was signed at Ghent) it was mostly our asses that got kicked. Under that treaty they did cease impressing American sailors into the British Navy, more because the global war with Napoleon had been finished at Waterloo, the navy didn't require the extra manpower any longer, and impressment was not worth the expense of another war.

In fact, Mr. Madison's War (which considering his ties to Jefferson might classify it as one of our several Democrat inspired and ill considered wars) almost undid us. The Brits finally concluded that peace and a gradual reconciliation was better than more wars that they could at that time not really lose, but neither outright win, with their rambunctious and increasingly powerful cousins.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

It's nice to think of the War of 1812 as an American victory. But except for the Battles of Lake Erie and New Orleans (the latter occurring two weeks after peace was signed at Ghent) it was mostly our asses that got kicked.

True, tho you could add the Battle of Baltimore to the American “win column.” The British had to abandon their objective, that’s a defeat. Of course they did take Washington DC for awhile . . .

The Brits finally concluded that peace and a gradual reconciliation was better than more wars that they could at that time not really lose, but neither outright win, with their rambunctious and increasingly powerful cousins.

In that context, a British general commented in 1820 that it was already too late to profit by fighting the United States. America (whose population was geometrically increasing with its large families of men who had been children during the previous war) had become so strong in just a few years, that Britain could not hope to hold Canada in any future conflict with the US. In that sense, the War of 1812 was a tragedy - if delayed a year or two, it might very well have been won by the US - or prudently avoided by both sides.

Congress blundered by declaring war without even figuring out how to pay for it. It should have mounted a major - expensive - War Department upgrade program first.