3 ms·
The US did get a National Anthem out of it I guess... And a burned down White House
by Spellman 7y ago
The US did get a National Anthem out of it I guess...
And a burned down White House
- astrodust 7y agoIt wasn't white when it burned down, only after to cover up the damage.
- tenpies 7y agoAnd speaking of capitals: York, the capital of what would become Canada at the time was also burned down. In fact, it's the reason the capital of Canada is Ottawa today. When the Province of Canada was established, it was deemed that York (which is now Toronto) was way too vulnerable since a US army could get there from Buffalo in less than a day and ships from Rochester even faster. By contrast, Ottawa (then called Bytown) was surrounded by swamps, further inland, well away from any US city, but still had access to rivers so it wasn't excessively isolated. That and the fact that it was halfway between Toronto/Kingston (the English cities) and Montreal/Quebec City (the French cities) also made it a good political compromise. So without that war, Toronto would probably be the Canadian capital and Ottawa would be a glorified rest spot between Toronto and Montreal.