If the US does invade Canada, it won’t be the first time

Trumps’ threats to take over Canada and Mexico (and elsewhere) have stirred up a shit-storm of push-back. Perhaps it’s a good time to remember some relevant history.

That’s what the War of 1812 was all about. Canada was a British colony back then, and Britain was bogged down in a big war in Europe, which seemed to US leaders like a perfect opportunity to wrestle the Canadian Colony out of British fingers. Only Canadians weren’t having any part of it, and neither was Britain. I first learned about this on a trip to Montreal, where I stumbled on a monument celebrating how folks there had successfully repelled the American invaders. Huh?

I don’t know what’s taught about the War of 1812 in history books these days, but we were taught that the war was caused by the mean ole British Navy press-ganging American citizens onto it’s sailing ships. That may have been an issue, I don’t know, but it turns out US leaders were spouting off, Trump-like, about “taking” Canada, they sent diplomats to demand that Britain cede Canada to the US, and it was the US that declared the war. Certainly from the Canadian perspective, it was an attempted land-grab, pure and simple. US leadership was also bragging that it was going to be a cake walk, all they had to do was march north and the Canadians would receive them as liberators. Well, that definitely didn’t work out as planned. Initially the US got its ears boxed, then there was some back and forth, and finally, with the war in Europe over, the Brits sent enough forces over that for the rest of the war the US was mostly on the defense. Hell, they even marched into Washington and set fire to the Capitol and the White House.

The only battle many Americans remember is the final one, which we celebrate in that old song about “took a little trip, along with Col. Jackson down the mighty Mississip,” to engage the British near New Orleans, where they “grabbed an alligator and fired another round.” The US side won that battle, but it didn’t matter. The war had been over for two weeks before the battle began. News traveled slow in those days, and neither side knew yet that the war was over.

The point today is that Trump’s big talk about annexing Canada has a historical precedent, it was tried before. It’s worth noting that Canadians didn’t take kindly to it last time, the land grab failed, and it didn’t end well for the US, although I was taught we somehow won that war.

Origins of the National Anthem

Among other things that came out of the War of 1812 was our sorry National Anthem. Only after football quarterback Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee during the National Anthem did I ever learn the history behind the words to that song and the guy who wrote it, Francis Scott Key. Here’s what I learned: as part of their war effort in defending Canada against the US, Britain offered enslaved people in the US their freedom if they could make their way to a British fort or ship. Thousands did exactly that, and their descendants can be found in Nova Scotia. The younger among them could also join the British military to fight against their former enslavers, and many did. The British Corps of Colonial Marines proved themselves to be fierce in battle against the US forces. In fact, the British unit that invaded Washington DC and burnt down the White House included these formerly enslaved solders.

Francis Scott Key was a lawyer in those days, who published stuff about the inferiority of enslaved African Americans, which is how come we can say for sure he was a racist. As part of the US war effort, he commanded a small unit of volunteers who got their asses handed to them on a plate by British forces that were mainly Black, which I imagine–for a racist–was extra humiliating. It was right after that defeat that he went out to the British ship, trying to secure the freedom of one of his officers, who had been captured in the battle. When he was held onboard overnight, Key wrote the poem that eventually became our National Anthem. Most times, only the first verse is sung, but it goes on, a few verses further, to disparage the slaves who had joined the British forces (and who had kicked his unit’s ass). Frankly, when he wrote the lines about “land of the free,” in those days it could only have been taken to mean “land of white folks.” I am embarrassed that we still have this piece of hate as our National Anthem, but since we’re talking about the attempted land grab of Canada, we might as well include this side note.

And as an additional side note, the treaty that ended the war provided for the pre-war borders to be restored (no land grabbed), prisoners to be exchanged, and the thousands of newly freed slaves were supposed to be returned back into bondage, and handed over to the US. To its credit, Britain balked at this part, and after arbitration had to pay $1,204,960 in damages to Washington to reimburse slave owners for their loss of property.

If the US sends the military into Mexico, it won’t be the first time. (Actually there have been many, I’ll only talk about one.)
Less than 40 years after they failed to snatch Canada, the US had a bit more luck in 1848 when they tried their land grab tactics against Mexico. It’s worth remembering some of the details involved in that history too.

What, exactly, are we supposed to remember about the Alamo?

First of all, Texas seceding from Mexico was all about Gringo enslavers trying to continue the practice of slavery. Mexico, which Texas was a part of, had outlawed slavery, but the Gringos, who had been establishing plantations there, refused to obey the law, choosing to secede instead. (When the Confederacy seceded from the US at the start of the Civil War, it was essentially a repeat of what happened when Texas seceded from Mexico, even the political excuse of “states rights.”) The Battle of the Alamo was all about the American side trying to hold on to slavery while the Mexican side was trying to enforce the law. It wasn’t long afterwards that the US saw an opportunity to pull off a land grab by annexing Texas, and sending troops into the other parts of Mexico to grab even more. The end result of that invasion is the US got over half of Mexico, which now forms the states of Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. So when Trump talks about sending the military into Mexico, it ain’t nothin new. Among other things, women in the areas that were formerly Mexico lost the right to vote when the US seized those areas, and wouldn’t get it back for another 70 or so years. And in Texas, at least, slavery continued until after the Civil War.

The Saint Patrick Battalion

An inspiring side note to this history is the story of the Saint Patrick Battalion, Irish immigrants to the US who were sent to fight against Mexico. As with many wars, the US tried to dehumanize the Mexicans because of their religion, in this case with anti-Catholic rhetoric (most Americans were Protestants at the time). Catholic Irishmen sent to the front were shocked by the cruel, anti-Catholic treatment of the Mexican population at the hands of the American soldiers. About 300 Irishmen deserted the US Army, formed the St. Patrick Battalion and fought on the Mexican side.
You can find a Wikipedia article on this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick’s_Battalion

Portland-based singer, David Rovics wrote a great song describing all this, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Trump’s saber rattling and school-yard bully threats to our neighbors offer an opportunity for us to bring up these pieces of history. I had to stumble on to the details I just provided, but now that I know, I feel some obligation to pass the info along. Maybe you, too, can “teach history” by working some of these stories into your conversation. That’s how movements grow.