The War of 1812 comes across these days as basically a footnote in US History. At the time, Britain was engaged in a life or death struggle with Napoleon and so acted like the high-handed Empire they were. The impressment issue was huge. On the other hand, many in Congress had designs on Canada which was a bad plan. Napoleon’s first exile was in April, 1814 that that released a significant portion of the British army for service elsewhere. That in turn led to the Battle of New Orleans, of Andrew Jackson fame. The battle actually took place after a peace treaty had been sign between Britain and the US. Napoleon’s second exile took place after the Battle of Waterloo in June, 1815, thus finally ending the Napoleonic Wars. All, that to say, the period and relations with Britain were complex and some historians say the War of !812 was the war that should never have been. Such is history. Great blog.