Is everyone forgetting we have already fought one war on our northern border? Shit happens. What if Canada went nuts and elected some narcissistic tv host that wears a diaper as a leader and they formed a cult by accident and it’s members started shooting people across the border. You would want a contingency plan in place to handle that, ya know?
That was more than 200 years ago - 2/3 of the states didn’t exist yet - and it ended in a mostly pointless stalemate.
Is this the war of 1812 where Canada burned down your first White House? That pointless stalemate?
British troops did that, specifically British troops who had never set foot in British North America, let alone Canada, which didn’t exist. And yes, any war that ends in status que ante bellum is pointless.
Sorta… Wars can be about more than territory, which is all that term refers to.
America achieved all its stated goals for the war, which didn’t include “Actually this is mostly just a war of conquest we hope you’re too busy to defend against.” It just conveniently doesn’t mention a couple had already happened, and it would have been gauche to admit we really just wanted the territory.
