You have to consider the fact that Monroe, having been tasked with negotiating with Napoleon to obtain New Orleans so as to open up American trade via the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, ended up with the Louisiana Purchase agreement. The proceeds of which Napoleon used to fund a fleet (which the British succeeded in sinking). There was no reason the British would have liked that.After burning Washington but finding that taking Baltimore would be “too hard,” the British fleet sailed to New Orleans to steal (not the word they would have used) the cotton and other supplies they expected to find there. What they found instead, of course, was Andrew Jackson, who soundly thrashed the veteran British army in a battle after the treaty ending the war had been negotiated (but not yet known of on this side of the Atlantic).
Maybe the British didn’t know that Jefferson threatened through a diplomat in France to ally with the British (among other things), if the purchase wasn’t completed. The French were also largely considered by Protestants in the U.S. to be a foreign culture.
But still, I’d long forgotten what you just told me. The British would have been suspicious about the possibility of a U.S. alliance with the French. That’s a good point. Thank you. Good learning! I should also have remembered that it’s not a good idea to argue seriously about the War of 1812-1815. Too complicated! ;-)
The sacking of Washington!
A very disgraceful day for American arms.
A small, very small British force of only about 5,000 was able to march on and seize and burn Washington !
The far more numerous US forces completely failed.