Canada and USA: used to be one
Did you ever think about the fact that Canada and the USA used to be one? Up until the end of the War for Independence (or as the other side calls it, the Colonial Rebellion) there was a mass of land here where some was ruled by Britain, some by France and Spain, and oh, yes, there were the original inhabitants who kept getting edged over to the side so that there would be more room for the “advanced” people to settle in. There was no major division between Canada and US – it all belonged to European countries. Crossing the Detroit River or the Niagara was no different than crossing the Delaware into New Jersey. We were one.
As a consequence of the war, boundary lines were drawn up, and Canada stayed with Britain while the 13 colonies became the United States of America, gradually adding on more and more states as time went by.
Life was pretty nasty here around then. Neighbors and family members took opposing sides of the Revolutionary War. http://www.nps.gov/cowp/historyculture/fractured-families.htm While nobody liked the decisions of King George, some thought that separating from England was morally wrong while others thought it was time to start a new country. Maybe we’ll hit on some issues later. But for now my point is this: when the border was decided upon, and the United States was being established, a great number of people who preferred to stay with England, thank you very much, high-tailed it over that border to stay. And – there were already a whole lot of people up there who were loyal to England already.
So at the very beginning of the United States, Canadians didn’t really like US because we’d just been shooting at them and breaking away from their beloved country. So, the anti-American roots go pretty deep.
Now – I’m not saying that all Canadians are anti-American today – I’m just tracing where the negativity started and how and why it grew. More later…
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We’ve been watching a TV series from Canada on DVD called “intelligence”. It’s interesting to see the relationships between Canadian law enforcement and the DEA and CIA. While a fictious show, it’s easy to believe the conflict between the different agencies. A comment about leading with their brawn instead of their brains came up, and we couldn’t help but wonder if that’s how Canadians see people in our country.
It has been my experience that many Canadians think that Americans are arrogant and full of themselves and think they are the only great country and all. They think Americans are far too quick to react with violence and too quick to go to war. They are very proud of the fact that they got their freedom without bloodshed and see it as a characteristic that started the USA and continues on. They don’t like our Imperialistic actions. They also think it’s stupid that Americans know so little about Canada (and generally don’t care either) whereas they all know a lot more about the USA, which they refer to as “the States.” Some don’t like that we call ourselves America because they are also in North America, but hey, it’s part of our name, and therefore an abbreviation so I don’t apologize. 🙂 There’s a show called “The Border” I saw advertised on some station that is about guarding the Canadian-American border – I’m intrigued and may watch it.
Hey, that\’s poewrufl. Thanks for the news.