West Florida Republic: The birth of US imperialism (BBC)
In 1810, a colourful group of ambitious Anglo-American Louisianans declared a swathe of Spain's West Florida colony an independent nation. More than 200 years later, Rod Dreher explores the revival of West Florida rebel nationalism.
I, for one, have always hated that James Madison.
Actually, this is not exactly true. Until practically the day before yesterday, I revered America's fourth president as the author of the Bill of Rights and the Father of the US Constitution.
Yes, Madison may have kicked off the happily forgotten War of 1812 with the crackpot idea of invading Canada to spread democracy and seize its poutine mines, or some such thing.
The Washington war hawks predicted a cakewalk for the Americans ("a mere matter of marching," Thomas Jefferson reckoned), but it turned into a total debacle when three attempts to invade Canada were repulsed by five guys named Lorne.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18418696
(This is the 200th anniversary + 2 days of the beginning of the War of 1812, which is presumably what brought this up)
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