War of 1812: Win, Loss, or Draw for America?

[Hatman 🍁]

We've been taught since childhood that we kicked your butts, but Wikipedia says it was a draw.

[Hatman 🍁]

We've been taught since childhood that we kicked your butts, but Wikipedia says it was a draw.

Canada did kick our butts. The invasion of Canada went terribly for the United States, and Canadians were a major part of that. But there were two other major opponents to the USA in the war: Britain, who won some, lost some, and agreed to peace without a change in territory; and Tecumseh's Confederacy, who basically lost to the USA.

@ Hatman: that's adorable, but there wasn't any 'we' Canadians at the time, only loyal servants of the British Crown.

Obviously, but the way it's talked about in historical revisionism makes it very much part of our heritage.  The War of 1812 is looked back fondly as one of the proudest moments in our history.

[Hatman 🍁]

In terms of territorial gain, it was obviously a draw. The U.S. didn't get Canada; Britain didn't get their Indian Republic in the West. Essentially, it preserved the status quo.

If we're talking about national morale, however, it was quite clearly a victory for the US. Like the Mexican War and the Spanish-American War, the real effect of the War of 1812 was to foster patriotic feeling at home. Regardless of whether they actually won, Americans thought they won, and that sense of victory fueled one of the great nationalist periods of American History. It's no coincidence that the War of 1812 was directly followed by the Era of Good Feeling.

(NOTE: I don't know a lot about how Brits/ Canadians felt about the war, so it's possible that you could call this a win/win conflict in terms of national morale.)

That's interesting, because under that definition the British/Canadians could be considered winners as well. We take great pride in the fact that we burned down the White House, for example. As I said, we are taught in school that the British/Canada won the war.

[Hatman 🍁]

In terms of territorial gain, it was obviously a draw. The U.S. didn't get Canada; Britain didn't get their Indian Republic in the West. Essentially, it preserved the status quo.

If we're talking about national morale, however, it was quite clearly a victory for the US. Like the Mexican War and the Spanish-American War, the real effect of the War of 1812 was to foster patriotic feeling at home. Regardless of whether they actually won, Americans thought they won, and that sense of victory fueled one of the great nationalist periods of American History. It's no coincidence that the War of 1812 was directly followed by the Era of Good Feeling.

(NOTE: I don't know a lot about how Brits/ Canadians felt about the war, so it's possible that you could call this a win/win conflict in terms of national morale.)

That's interesting, because under that definition the British/Canadians could be considered winners as well. We take great pride in the fact that we burned down the White House, for example. As I said, we are taught in school that the British/Canada won the war.

But the American army burned down York, the capital of Canada. Do they not teach this in Canadian "schools"?

This part is predictably glossed over, of course