page_title: War of 1812
section_title: Canadas
hierarchical_section_title: War of 1812 / Long-term consequences / Canadas
caption_attribution_description: English: Fort Henry, Kingston. Watercolour. Interior of Fort Henry, Kingston Ontario. Two soldiers, holding rifles, are standing in the foreground. To their right is a cannon and a stack of cannon balls. The artist, George St. Vincent Whitmore, was an engineer responsible for renovations to the fort for which he was rewarded with a plaque because he came in on time and under budget.https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/31142652410/ Français&#160;: Le fort Henry, Kingston (Ontario. L'image représente l'intérieur du fort Henry de Kingston en Ontario. Deux soldats avec des carabines sont debout en premier plan. À leur droite, il y a un canon et une pile de boulets de canon. L'artiste, George St. Vincent Whitmore, était l'ingénieur responsable des rénovations du fort pour lesquelles il a été récompensé d'une plaque pour avoir terminé le travail dans le temps alloué et le budget prescrit. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/31142652410/
context_page_description: The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its own allies. It began when the United States declared war in June 1812 and ended in a stalemate when a peace treaty agreed earlier was ratified by the United States in February 1815. While the war ended in a draw, both sides were happy with the outcome that saw the war ending and indigenous nations are generally seen among historians as the real losers. Historians in Britain often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars while historians in Canada and the United States see it as a war in its own right. From the outbreak of war with Napoleonic France in 1803, Britain had enforced a naval blockade to choke off neutral trade to France which the United States contested as illegal under international law. To man the blockade, Britain pressed merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, including Americans. American sentiment grew increasingly hostile toward Britain due to incidents such as the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, five years before the war. The British were outraged by the 1811 Little Belt affair in which eleven British sailors died.
context_section_description: After the war, pro-British leaders in Upper Canada demonstrated a strong hostility to American influences, including republicanism, which shaped its policies. Immigration from the United States was discouraged and favour was shown to the Anglican Church as opposed to the more Americanized Methodist Church.
  The Battle of York showed the vulnerability of Upper and Lower Canada. In the decades following the war, several projects were undertaken to improve the defence of the colonies against the United States. They included work on La Citadelle at Quebec City, Fort Henry at Kingston, and rebuilding Fort York at York. Additionally, work began on the Halifax Citadel to defend the port against foreign navies. From 1826 to 1832, the Rideau Canal was built to provide a secure waterway not at risk from American cannon fire. To defend the western end of the canal, the British Army also built Fort Henry at Kingston. Akin to the American view that it was "Second War of Independence" for the United States, the war was also somewhat of a war of independence for Canada.
caption: Fort Henry at Kingston in 1836. Built from 1832 to 1836, the fort was one of several works undertaken to improve the colonies' defences.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2002:09:03 13:02:43", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3005", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "800", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "486"}