The War of 1812 really was an American attempt to grab land: from the English (Canada),the Spanish (Florida) and Native Americans. The British had impressed American sailors, maybe thousands of them, during the Napoleonic Wars but had stopped by the outbreak of The War of 1812. The mercantile cause mentioned earlier was the British attempt to stop U.S. trade with France during their war with France. This was exactly what we (the North) did to Britain during our blockade of the South during our Civil War. There was also resentment of the British supplying Native Americans in western Ohio and Indiana
during the uprising of confederated tribes under Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, shortly before the War of 1812. There was also
a sense by some American leaders that we needed to teach the bullying British another lesson since they had forgotten the one from a generation earlier.
    However, none of these factors combined would have been enough to send us into war without the potential for real material gain in newly acquired land. So the War of 1812 was the first of two American wars fought primarily for the sake of taking other peoples land, the Mexican War being a shameful second. Not to mention the numerous "Indian" wars which were part of 400 years of systematic land theft on the part of Europeans and their descendants throughout this hemisphere.
    Okay. No more drift. Does anyone know when the next (fifth) installment of Ken Burns' "The War" is scheduled to be aired.