Treaty of Ghent Theme of Contrasting Regions: Britain and America

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I want to take ya
to Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama…

Well, actually Aruba was a Dutch colony, but all those other islands were part of the British empire in 1812. Which brings up the question: couldn't the Americans have tried to get their hands on one of those hot spring break destinations instead of Canada, where it's barely above freezing in March?

At the end of the Revolutionary War, a lot of Americans thought that the United States should try to add parts of Canada to the spoils of war. It was just to the north, after all. Plus, the U.S. already owned a tiny piece of British territory up there that was included in the Louisiana Purchase. But the British ultimately hung on to their massive northern colony, and the Treaty of Ghent guaranteed it would stay that way.

The result? A lot of lingering questions about borders. There were two hotspots where the countries weren't sure who controlled what: the Bay of Fundy and the area around the Great Lakes. It's hard to determine national boundaries when there are bodies of water in the way, and the Treaty of Ghent created mechanisms for conclusively deciding what land was British/Canadian and what land was American.

The Canadians eventually got back at the U.S. by infiltrating the cast of Saturday Night Live and gradually taking over the American comedy landscape in what came to be a permanent occupying force.

But we still own Detroit.

1. Why were the British so intent on trying to limit the expansion of the United States westward?
2. How did the Treaty of Ghent resolve questions about the borders between the two nations?
3. Why didn't the United States push to gain parts of Canada in the peace negotiations at Ghent?
4. What method did the treaty provide to decide upon which islands were British and which islands were American?

The United States was more interested in preserving its sea-trading rights and Northwestern
Territory than conquering Canada. Maybe if L.L. Bean Baxter State Parkas were around back then it would have been a different story.

The Treaty of Ghent effectively allowed the United States to expand west indefinitely, even though it technically required peace with Native Americans. Technically is the operative word here for Native American tribes.