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British
[edit]The War of 1812 does not feature prominently in contemporary British memory. The attitude held by Britons during 1812 – that the war existed on the periphery of their ongoing battles against Napoleon – has translated to modern memory of the conflict. Whereas the war facilitated the growth and consolidation of a national identity for Americans, British identity was more heavily forged during war against Napoleonic France[1]. During his 2012 visit to the White House, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron joked that:
"We so much more prefer talking about defeating the French."[2].
In the 19th century, William Kingsford posited that:
"The events of the War of 1812 have not been forgotten in England, for they have never been known there."[3]
Following the War of 1812, Britain focused more upon Europe, believing that it would play a more significant role in shaping its future than North America [4] This contributed to the absence of the war within British memory.
Although the War of 1812 plays a significant role in American and Canadian public history, there is only one British monument commemorating the conflict. The Ross Monument in County Down, Northern Ireland memorialises British Major-General Robert Ross who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and perished at the Battle of Baltimore in September 1812.
Canadian-Canadien Relations in the Era of 1812
[edit]Prewar Sentiments
[edit]In the decades before the onset of the War of 1812, attitudes between the French Canadiens, primarily in Lower Canada, and the British Canadians, primarily in Upper Canada, ranged from a heavy indifference, to a mutually mild distaste, to suspicions of colluding with external powers.
Canadien opinions from all classes essentially agreed that, while not ideal, British dominion was favorable to any French and American alternatives. The elite seigneurs of Lower Canada had a particular disdain for the French Revolution because they had seen it attack both aristocracy and their Catholic Church.[5] The common habitant, though opposed to British rule[5], did not see the value in risking their lives and livelihoods by fighting.[6] However, having both traded with and been frequently cheated by Americans, many in Québec were wrought with distaste for their neighbors to the south.[5]
Meanwhile, the British-Canadian opinion of their French-speaking counterparts was one of distrust stemming from a widespread belief that the Québécois would revolt against the British or fight alongside potential French invaders.[7] And yet, despite the general British distrust, the Canadian Constitution treated the Québécois with more dignity than had the trammels of Bourbon French rule.[6] Furthermore, the British Governor Prevost felt that Lower Canada could only be held with the support of its Francophone population.[8] Therefore, the Canadian Government began to use the press in a calculated way to disparage the French Canadiens, particularly their lack of honor, suspect military capabilities, and supposed sloth.[9] Such attacks moved the population of Lower Canada; the impending war thus became an opportunity for the Québécois to refute such allegations from the British Canadian government.[10]
Postwar Sentiments
[edit]Though Governor Prevost attempted to claim credit for the victory of Charles de Salaberry and his voltigeurs at the October 1813 Battle of Châteauguay[11], the successful repulsion of American troops was conducive to a surge in both the pride and nationalist sentiments of French Canada.[9] The much-propagated tale of de Salaberry’s victory not only bolstered nationalist sentiment in Québec, it also satiated the fears of British authorities that Lower Canada was a traitorous province, unwilling to defend Canada as their Anglophone counterparts would. The French Canadiens, however, felt that their allegiance was to themselves and their own best interests, not to the idea of a Canada unified against foreign threats.[9]
Not only did the war not solidify allegiance to the British Empire, the Canadian Legislative Assembly became gridlocked, strife-laden grounds for infighting between Catholic Lower Canadian and Protestant Upper Canadian partisans.[7][12]
- ^ http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1387
- ^ http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-14/war-of-1812-bicentennial/55603666/1
- ^ J. C. A. Stagg, The War of 1812: Conflict for a Continent, (USA, 2012), 12
- ^ Wilbur Devereux Jones, ‘A British View of the War of 1812 and the Peace Negotiations’, The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 45, (1958), 487 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1889322?seq=7#page_scan_tab_contents).
- ^ a b c Taylor, Alan (2011). The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 77, 91. ISBN 1400042658.
- ^ a b Greenwood, F. Murray (Frank Murray), (1993). Legacies of fear : law and politics in Quebec in the era of the French revolution. Toronto: Osgoode Society. pp. 196, 201–202. ISBN 0802069746. OCLC 29910091.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Sellar, Robert, (1974). The tragedy of Quebec; the expulsion of its Protestant farmers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 92, 139. ISBN 9780802020680. OCLC 922521.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Carstens., Patrick Richard; Sanford, Timothy L. (2011). SEARCHING FOR THE FORGOTTEN WAR : 1812. Sanford, Timothy L. (Archivist). Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation. p. 295. ISBN 1456867539. OCLC 786161408.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c Auger, Martin F. (2001) "French Canadian Participation in the War of 1812: A Social Study of the Voltiguers Canadians," Canadian Military History: Vol. 10: Iss. 3, Article 3. Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol10/iss3/3
- ^ Ouellet, Fernand (1971). Histoire economique et sociale du quebec 1760-1850 (in French). Montreal: Fides. p. 232.
- ^ Kingsford, William (1887). The History of Canada. Toronto: Rowsell & Hutchison. p. 369.
- ^ Mann, Susan, (2002). The Dream of Nation (2nd ed ed.). Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 60. ISBN 077352410X. OCLC 768254799.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)