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canadiana|DELIGHTS
The White House as it looked to artist George Munger following the burning of Washington in August 1814.
blockades that cut off the Spanish-American
colonies, making the colonies dependent
on British trade for European goods.
Napoleon responded to the blockades by
establishing the Berlin Decree on November
21, 1806, intending to cripple British
trade by closing European ports, and the
Continental System, which decreed the seizure
of neutral and French ships that had
visited a British port prior to a continental
port. Great Britain countered with ordersin-council
that forbade its colonies, allies or
neutral powers from trading with France
and imposed restrictions on neutral vessels
wanting to trade at continental ports.
Tensions escalated when the British
began searching American ships for contraband
and for deserters from the Royal
Navy. Life in the king’s navy was nasty,
and many British mariners took jobs on
American vessels and were granted American
citizenship, which made no difference
to the Empire. Besides retrieving deserters,
the British began to press American-born
sailors into service. The situation grew
worse in 1807 with the Chesapeake Affair.
British sailors from a squadron watching
for French ships near Chesapeake Bay
deserted to enlist in the American navy.
Captain Salusbury Pryce Humphreys,
commanding HMS Leopard, sent a boarding
party to USS Chesapeake, commanded
by Commodore James Barron. When
Barron refused to accede to demands, the
50-gun Leopard opened fire on the 38-gun
Chesapeake, killing three and injuring 18,
including Barron. The British boarded and
captured four sailors, three of whom were
American-born, each claiming to have
been pressed into British service. In 1811,
the impressment issue became untenable
when the HMS Guerriere impressed an
American sailor from a coastal vessel.
In Washington in 1812, President James
Madison was informed by Major General
Henry Dearborn that Canada would be an
easy conquest and that Canadians would
even welcome an American invasion.
U.S. President James Madison
At the same time, Madison was being
harangued by the “war hawks,” a group
of republican congressmen, puffed up by
anti-British sentiment and visions of manifest
destiny, who demanded war as retaliation
for the blockades and for the British
having encouraged the First Nations to
resist American westward expansion.
Some predicted an easy victory — Thomas
Jefferson famously said that the conquest
of Canada would be “a mere matter of
marching,” and Henry Clay, governor of
Kentucky, boasted that the Kentucky militia
could take Canada on its own. Madison
was no war monger, but he caved to the
pressure and on June 1, 1812, submitted
to Congress a request for a declaration of
war. Congress voted in favour three days
later and the Senate did likewise on June
17. On June 18, 1812, President James
Madison signed a declaration of war
against Great Britain.
The Americans outnumbered the British
and Canadian troops. They saw their
easiest target as Upper Canada, which
was predominantly American and lightly
defended, unlike remote Lower Canada,
which was protected by Quebec’s fortress,
and the Maritime provinces, which were
protected by British naval power. However,
the Americans were unaware of how
well prepared the British were, largely
thanks to Major General Sir Isaac Brock,
the administrator of Upper Canada. He
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