The other day, while scanning the internet for some information, I happened upon a website which was advocating for the political union between the United States of American, and Canada.
This is a topic which, over the years, hasn't exactly been a headline issue, but is always rumbling away on the back-burners of some people's thoughts.
I can understand the attraction that some feel to the thought of a political union of some sort with the U.S. just as I can understand the often visceral negative reaction others have to the idea.
The idea of a united North America (which usually doesn't include Mexico, despite it being part of the North American continent) stretches as far back as the American Revolutionary War.
The idea of British North America separating as a whole from British rule was a topic that was spoken to by some of the founding fathers of the United States.
In fact, Benedict Arnold, who would later be executed by the nascent American government on charges of treason, actually took a task force of rebels to attack Quebec City.
Expecting to receive support from the local population, it was a rude shock to the expeditionary force that, not only did the Quebecois not desire to join the revolution of independence that was being fought in the 13 colonies, but that the Quebec militia turned out in-arms to support the British regulars who were stationed there.
The American Revolutionary War ended with an independent United States, and Canada still a possession of Great Britain, but the idea of a united North American (as said before, sans Mexico) continued to hang around.
By the year 1812, the idea of political unification was a front-line topic again, as the United States, from their historical narrative's point of view, egged on by the impressments of American sailors into the British navy, as well as blockading of ports in which American ships did business (Napoleon was fighting his way across Europe at the time,) declared war on Great Britain, and set about invading their North American holdings (i.e. Canada.)
From our historical narrative, the view is often that the United States, hungry to expand their borders and aware of the limited ability of the British to act against a military campaign in North America due to the aforementioned European war, decided to absorb the Canadian colonies forcefully into the Union.
Whichever way you want to look at the War of 1812, as a war of response or a war of conquest, what is not in doubt is that the American advances into Canadian territories were met with considerable resistance.
While the story of the brave Canadian militias going forth to fight for the freedom of their lands are somewhat overblown (the vast majority of the fighting was done by British Regulars and First Nations allies,) what isn't overblown is the fact that the American forces that entered Canadian territory received almost no support from the civilian population.
Almost two centuries later, that war, which ended as close to a draw as any war in history (the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, re-established the borders to exactly where they were before the war began) cut a swath into the Canadian psyche, and there remains a resentment in the Canadian identity that has yet to wash away.
When the Munroe Doctrine, a doctrine which dictated that the United States should be the sole political force exerting influence on this continent was introduced in 1823, the impression amongst Canadians at the time was that was again a statement that the United States wished to see Canada included in the Union.
While mutual distrust over the border had effectively subsided by the 1920s, it has nonetheless left an indelible mark on the Canadian mind.
While there are many reasons on both sides of the argument of political unity between Canada and the United States, in the end it is my firm belief that such a union will remain what it has been until now: a side-line issues, debated between those who envy the perceived prosperity of the American state, and those who feel that, as a self-governing nation, we in Canada are at the pinnacle of political power already, and any union would only serve to weaken us.
