from.
I have never denied that British high seas policy was one of the causes of the War of 1812, most US historians do not think it the sole cause or even enough of a reason for war. Without Calhoun, Clay and the War Hawks there would have been no war, and their agenda was explicitly conquest of Canada, and the elimination of both British influence in North America and "The Indian Scourge". The sources below are all highschool material from various websites. Only one is Canadian. The US Army history also indicates that conquest of Canada was a prime motivator which you refuse to acknowledge and says that the conflict was "at best a draw". Historians are not supposed to take the best case scenario but to try to be at least mildly even-handed, or neutral. If a draw was the best characterization you could put on the conflict then a neutral characterization would have to be a loss. That has been my point all along. You have chosen your posted evidence in a very restricted manner to prove your case even where the bulk of the evidence would have also supported my contention (I speak here of the US Army material and your "rebuttal"). I have posted all this material in the same fashion in order to highlight the contrary opinion. I doubt you will change your mind but its my last effort.
http://www.gatewayno.com/history/War1812.html
The Congress that was elected in 1810 and met in November 1811 included a group known as the War Hawks who demanded war against Great Britain. These men were all Democratic-Republicans and mostly from the West and South. Among their leaders were John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Felix Grundy of Tennessee. They argued that American honor could be saved and British policies changed by an invasion of Canada.
U.S. forces were not ready for war, and American hopes of conquering Canada collapsed in the campaigns of 1812 and 1813.
In 1814 the United States faced complete defeat, because the British, having defeated Napoleon, began to transfer large numbers of ships and experienced troops to America. The British planned to attack the United States in three main areas: in New York along Lake Champlain and the Hudson River in order to sever New England from the union; at New Orleans to block the Mississippi; and in Chesapeake Bay as a diversionary maneuver. The British then hoped to obtain major territorial concessions in a peace treaty. The situation was particularly serious for the United States because the country was insolvent by the fall of 1814, and in New England opponents of the war were discussing separation from the Union. The HARTFORD CONVENTION that met in Connecticut in December 1814 and January 1815 stopped short of such an extreme step but suggested a number of constitutional amendments to restrict federal power.
http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/flag/1812/page1.htm
The fourth president, James Madison, requested a declaration of war to protect American sailors on the high sea. At the time the United States was very small and by fighting this war, James Madison hoped to expand America by taking control of Canada.
http://www.42explore2.com/1812war.htm
The War of 1812 could be called the "war of poor communication." Two days before the declaration of war, Great Britain agreed to repeal the naval laws which were chiefly responsible for the conflict.
It was also strange that this war over freedom of the seas began with an unsuccessful land invasion of Canada.
http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/history/chapter7section5.rhtml
The War Hawks
As it became clear that peaceable coercion would not ease the hostilities, Madison faced increasing pressure from War Hawks within Congress. These southerners and westerners, led by South Carolina?s John C. Calhoun and Kentucky?s Henry Clay, resented the post-embargo recession that had plagued southern and western regions from 1808 to 1810, and advocated war rather than disgraceful terms of peace. They also hoped that, through war, the U.S. would win some western and southwestern territories, annex Canada in order to eliminate the British and Native American threat along the frontier, and open up new lands to settlement.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/jd/16314.htm
Madison made the issue of impressment from ships under the American flag a matter of national sovereignty--even after the British agreed to end the practice--and asked Congress for a declaration of War on Great Britain on June 1, 1812. Many who supported the call to arms saw British and Spanish territory in North America as potential prizes to be won by battle or negotiations after a successful war.
http://www.bartleby.com/65/wa/War1812.html
Matters came to a head after the battle of Tippecanoe (1811); the radical Western group believed that the British had supported the Native American confederacy, and they dreamed of expelling the British from Canada. Their militancy was supported by Southerners who wished to obtain West Florida from the Spanish .
Course of the War War was declared June 18, 1812. It was not until hostilities had begun that Madison discovered how woefully inadequate American preparations for war were. The rash hopes of the ?war hawks,? who expected to take Canada at a blow, were soon dashed.
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=631
(a piece of contemporary source material from 1812)
The conquest of Canada will be of the highest importance to us in distressing our enemy ? in cutting off his supplies of provisions and naval stores for his West India colonies and home demand. There is no place from whence he can supply the mighty void that would be occasioned by the loss of this country, as well in his exports as imports. It would operate upon him with a double force: it would deprive him of a vast quantity of indispensable materials (as well as of food) and close an extensive market for his manufactures. On its retention depends the prosperity of the West India islands. At war with the United States, and divested of supplies of lumber and provisions from Canada, their commerce would be totally ruined; and it is of far more importance to the British government than all their possessions in the East. Besides it would nullify his boast, "that he has not lost an inch of territory."
http://www.hamilton-scourge.city.hamilton.on.ca/history.htm
Congress passed the Embargo Act in 1807, which kept American ships at home, depriving both France and Britain of the American trade of which they had both grown dependent. The Act plunged the country into a depression, and many traders turned to smuggling: goods were illegally traded to Canadians, who, being British, were capable of international trade. These further frustrations and the continued restraints imposed by the British on the Americans contributed to a declaration of War by the United States on June 18, 1812. The Americans sought reprieve from the British restraints by ousting the English from North America altogether.
If I knew how to create bold type I would emphasize those parts which contradict you.
Rob Boyter.