DeadPoolX wrote:You'll find that most Canadians will claim it was between the US and Canada and that "Canadians burned down the White House." In fact, Canadian history seems to teach that point of view.
I'd never heard that until moving to Canada. I'd always heard it was a war between the US and Great Britain and that the "British burned down the White House." Truth be told, the White House wasn't entirely burned down; it was, however, severely damaged and unusable after the burning.
I think the Canadian viewpoint is based more on immediate surroundings and culture rather than legal identity. I guess the closest American analogy would be putting state identity over national identity. I'm a good example as I'll almost always call myself Texan before American, despite the fact Texas belongs to the United States.
Certainly the the British North Americans had the identity of being British subject at the time, much as Americans had before the Revolutionary War, however, of the British commanders in the War of 1812, only a couple were from what was to become Canada. Sir Gordon Drummond was the first Canadian-born officer to hold a command the military and the civil government of Canada. Lieutenant Colonel Charles de Salaberry was a French-Canadian. Others with Canadian ties were assigned to posts in British North America shortly before or during the war.
Perhaps the impression that the Canadians have that they burned Washington comes from the fact that Major General Robert Ross, an Anglo Irishman who was assigned command of all British troops off the east coast of the United States after serving under the Duke of Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars. He led the British forces in the burning of Washington and later, the Battle of Baltimore where he was killed. His body was pickled in a barrel of rum to preserve him when the ship carrying his body was diverted to New Orleans. His body was later shipped to Halifax for burial, which was his connection to Canada.
I'm sure that a number of British subjects living in British North America were conscripted into the army, some willingly, especially after the US invaded parts of Canada in reaction to the British inciting Indians into attacking Americans in the western lands ceded to the US after the Revolutionary War and in the land acquired from the Louisiana Purchase. Americans declared war in 1812 for this and several other reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France and forced conscription of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy.
Oh, and the idea of holding a state identity before that of being an American was the usual view before the Civil War. After most saw themselves as Americans first. Your view does seem a lot more common in Texas than elsewhere.
Definitely not for kids! 
