# American attempts to take Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 18, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502 "2025-05-18T14:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justdoit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@justdoit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justdoit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/1 "2025-05-18T14:02:35Z")
Maybe this has been discussed already here but Trump is not the first president who wanted Canda. USA tried to take it in War of 1812 when Canada was a province. Americans thought it would be easy but it wasn’t. Were there any other attempts to do that? None I know of. > **[War of 1812 - Causes, Battles, Aftermath | Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/event/War-of-1812/Final-stages-of-the-war-and-the-aftermath)** > > War of 1812 - Causes, Battles, Aftermath: Immediately after the war started, the tsar of Russia offered to mediate. London refused, but early British efforts for an armistice revealed a willingness to negotiate so that Britain could turn its full... "Americans were inordinately optimistic in 1812. William Eustis, the U.S. secretary of war, stated, “We can take the Canadas without soldiers, we have only to send officers into the province and the people…will rally round our standard.” Henry Clay said that “the militia of Kentucky are alone competent to place Montreal and Upper Canada at your feet.” And Thomas Jefferson famously wrote: “The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/2 "2025-05-18T14:10:29Z")
> [@justdoit](#): > > Were there any other attempts to do that? None I know of. The invasion of Quebec in 1775 by Generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold was the very first military initiative of the Continental Army. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/3 "2025-05-18T16:13:59Z")
Benedict Donald 😠 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/4 "2025-05-18T16:50:18Z")
In the era of filibusters, amateur invasions by Americans tended to look south, but the Irish Fenians thought their cause might be advanced by striking north. Ian at Forgotten Weapons recently discussed this while examining the rifle they used [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uvZfHkiYHII/hqdefault.jpg "Fenian Needham Conversion: Just the Thing for Invading Canada") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvZfHkiYHII) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/5 "2025-05-21T08:43:34Z")
I get the impression DJT has forgotten about Canada and moved on to the next shiny thing. And the Gulf states do a lot of shiny things. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/6 "2025-05-21T09:12:50Z")
I hope that Donnie has moved on to the next shiny thing. If he hasn’t, I’ve got 500 rounds of ammunition. If he hasn’t—well, I’ve got 500 rounds of rifle ammunition, and I know how to use them. And there’s plenty of us who have the same. Hey, can anybody set me up with four dozen rounds of 12 gauge Number 6 birdshot? Contrary to what many Americans think, Canadians are allowed to own guns. Why do you think otherwise? We will defend our country, however it takes. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/7 "2025-05-21T09:39:38Z")
Too late to add, but I think it needs repeating: Canadians most assuredly do not want to be Americans! ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/8 "2025-05-21T11:47:09Z")
Hell, these days a lot of Americans don’t want to be American. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-attempts-to-take-canada/1018502/9 "2025-05-21T11:58:03Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I get the impression DJT has forgotten about Canada and moved on to the next shiny thing. And the Gulf states do a lot of shiny things. I don’t know if it’s just coincidence, but the Orange Peril’s interest in new shiny things seemed to happen after the visit by Mark Carney, with whom he seems to get along. And Carney did tell him, both publicly and allegedly in private as well, to lay off the “51st state” nonsense. Since Trump seems misinformed about almost everything, he may have genuinely believed that many Canadians would love to be part of the US. He now seems to understand that almost no one does, and that the feeling against it is very strong. With the exception of a small group of lunatics in Alberta and Kevin O’Leary.