Teutonic Knight

Making Canada Our 51st State Could Make It Easier to Buy American

This debate about the union of Canada and the United States had been long drawn ever since the American Revolution, and well-articulated over the centuries. Below i listed some of my lowly humble and layman views.

1) Ironically, the War of 1812 was started, in part, as one of America's attempts to annex Canada. While the War's outcome was inconclusive, inasmuch as historians label it as a draw, it revealed one stark fact that might be relevant even to this date -- Americans then and now over-estimated the willingness of the Canadians to join the United States. At the time of 1812, Southern Ontario was predominantly settled by pre-and post- Revolutionary War "Americans" who would like to pursue a living and lifestyle other than that of the new republic, an undercurrent unheeded by the American invading forces who learned their lessons the hard, and surprising way.

2) Over on the Quebec side, as was called the Lower Canada at the time, the situation was somewhat different. Again, the Americans, hoping that the French Quebecers would quickly jump on the bandwagon to out their British masters, found that both the powerful Catholic Church and the French populists were having second thoughts of the fear of being overwhelmingly amalgamated into an Anglo-Saxon protestant pot.

I could go on and on about the Maritime side of the country. The author's point is correct. We Americans would probably stay neutral to positive on the idea of annexation - a common Norther American culture, common language, even common accent on the Upstate NY Niagara side, common infrastructure and transportation systems, (except Canada's metric system!).

However, based on the historic perspectives that I briefly outlined above, I do not believe that they (the Canadians) are ready (to join us), as yet.

Time will tell and things might change, who knows!