Konrad Yakabuski: War of 1812 and Collective Amnesia

Konrad Yakabuski is The Globe and Mail's chief U.S. political writer, based in Washington.

There is a plaque on Washington’s L Street on the site of the former British Legation, now home to a chic condo complex, that should stir the heart of a Canadian in the U.S. capital.

Few if any of the George Washington University students who walk by it on their way to Trader Joe’s likely ever notice it. But each time I pass, it confirms for me that there was a time when Canada was top of mind here.

The plaque commemorates the 1817 signing of the Rush-Bagot Treaty, leading to the post-War of 1812 demilitarization of the Great Lakes and the eventual creation of the longest undefended border in the world.

The “undefended” part may become a casualty of Sept. 11, 2001. But history can never erase the fact that Canadians have had an obstructed front seat on a great civilization of the second millennium.

Ours is pretty good, too. And the bicentennial of the War of 1812 is an appropriate time to reflect, collectively, proudly, on why our forebears clung to their desire for an independent nation to the north of the United States...