Newman: Why commemorate the War of 1812?

Why not!

If the original American plan to invade and capture Britain’s North American colonies while the English were busy with Napoleon had worked, Y’all know there would be no country of Canada.

Because they failed miserably, the Americans have re-written history to portray the war as a British attempt to reverse the outcome of the American Revolutionary War.

But that is not the case. The Americans were the antagonists. Thomas Jefferson, by then a former U.S. President, predicted the Americans would “only have to march” to occupy the British Colonies and make them part of the U.S.

Didn’t happen that way.

But what did happen is worth commemorating. The survival of the colonies to become Canada —- and also the two hundred years of peace, co-operation and friendship  that has ensued between the adversaries of two centuries ago.