On what grounds? The Americans invaded and then were pushed back. Meanwhile, the war against Napoleon ended, which was the driving force behind the end of impressment & recapturing deserters: fewer demands on the Royal Navy meant less demand for sailors.
The basic status quo was maintained. No one really gained anything, but no one really lost anything. The British were pushed back, too. So, neither side was able to invade the other or achieve any clear advantage. A tie.
"Freedom of the seas..." as in the US wanted through the British blockade of France, who it was at war with?
That was part of it. The US considered itself neutral in that war and did not want to get entangled in European affairs. All we wanted was open commerce with Europe, which was necessary for our own economy in those early days.
The "forays into Canada" were the main purpose of the war, IMO.
Not the main purpose. It may have been seen as an opportunity, a fringe benefit as a result of the war, but it was not the cause of the war, in and of itself.
Fundamentally, the war was about invading Canada. There's probably some argument to be had about whether the invasion was more about manifest destiny or more about removing a British foothold right next to the US for security - and both motives were probably at play among the policy-makers - but ultimately, it was about an American invasion of Canada. While the Americans captured and occupied Canadian territory at times, eventually they were pushed out and then some.
I would say it was more about establishing American primacy over the continent. I think the US was perfectly content to leave Canada alone once it realized that Britain no longer threatened us. Annexation of Canada was not really necessary to achieve America's primary goals of expansionism in the West and South.
And since it happened after the end of the war, it's not really a factor in the question of who won the war.
Technically not, but it wasn't so much a matter of "winning" as much as flexing our muscle. I would suggest that if the US had been soundly defeated in the War of 1812, its position on the continent would have been much weaker and ineffective at further territorial expansion. The fact that we held our own against a major military power commanded respect from other nations which would help us later on.
That's really the only main significance of the War of 1812. It wasn't really all that important who "won," as much as it was to make a demonstration of US military power.
The British left American ships alone because the war with France ended. The Royal Navy no longer needed the sailors to man the blockade and the blockade wasn't there to intercept shipping bound for France.
Well, yeah. That too. I think the Royal Navy was in the process of being reformed as well. From what I've been able to gather, life in the Royal Navy back in those years was a living hell. Floggings, keelhauling, and other nasty barbaric punishments. Rotten food, scurvy, doctors sawing off limbs while the ship is sinking. I certainly wouldn't want to be forcibly impressed into the RN.
That's not entirely true. A few decades later in the Fenian Raids, terrorists operating from bases in the US launched a series of attacks across the border on targets in Canada. It's tricky to prove, but the general feeling is that this was done with the tacit approval of American authorities: a lot of government officials had to look the other way for the raids to have happened.
Fenian raids - Wikipedia
It's speculation, but even if true, there were those on the US side who may have felt justified due to their belief that Canadians had assisted the Confederates. By that time, the Union Army was the largest army in the world, and if they really wanted to invade Canada, it probably would have led to a much different result than in the War of 1812.
Well, there was that and abolition. Most of the British possessions in the Americas, particularly the Carribbean, were slavery-based economies. After slavery was abolished across the British empire in 1833, the Carribbean became less of a cash cow than it had been.
Then in 1872, the Suez Canal opened and trade with Asia became easier than ever.
I think there were lots of economic factors that took British attention away from the US. I don't actually see a lot of fear of tangling with the US from them.
Fear? No. But I think they clearly saw the impracticality of seeking war with America. Even with the defeat of Napoleon, things were still not entirely stable on the European continent, plus they were competing with other European powers and scrambling for hegemony elsewhere in the world. So, they were pretty busy in other areas of the world.
I think there may have been some fear later on, as various radical ideologies were cropping up in Europe, along with a rise in nationalism which threatened the balance of power. Germany trounced France in 1871, and there was a feeling that the Germans would just want more and more. There were also concerns about Russian expansion into Central Asia and the Far East, so the British saw that they needed to try to get America on side.
I don't think they had any fear of the US, at least not at that early stage, but they were thinking in more practical terms.
