| Canadians know all about "manifest destiny", having fought it off in 1812. Americans were truly astonished that the people they were invading didn't welcome them with open arms.
Sound familiar?
The defeat of the US in 1812 has been repressed in the American folk memory. They do 'remember' the Battle of New Orleans, however, since it's just about the only one in which their forces prevailed.
"I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything."
-- Viscount Melbourne |