We think of the country as inevitable, but it’s always been a chancy gamble. The American Revolution’s success was thanks to lucky breaks and a handful of people pulling through while most of the country worried on the sidelines, wondering what their neighbors were thinking, joining the other side?

A scant 36 years later, the War of 1812 was another haphazard, deeply controversial near-disaster. Today, inasmuch as it’s remembered at all, it’s for the Star-Spangled Banner and the Battle of New Orleans—a victory that meant nothing strategically, as the war had already officially ended with the Treaty of Ghent 14 days prior, but which allowed the country to tell a story about a humiliating, unpopular stalemate being a glorious victory.

Who, for instance, remembers that we began the War of 1812 by invading Canada? The attempted territory grab was a dismal failure, not the easy victory Thomas Jefferson had predicted when he said taking Canada would be “a mere matter of marching.” Within two years, the war had flipped so dramatically that British troops invaded Washington, D.C. Their first stop was the Capitol: they piled up furniture in the House and Senate, mixed in rocket powder, and applied the torch. Both chambers, and the Library of Congress—3,000 volumes—were destroyed.

After the war, the nation rebuilt both its central architectural symbol and its mythology. We do ourselves a disservice, though, wallpapering over the past. Our imperfect union has always been contentious, has always required surviving infighting and failure.

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Links:

• “A Most Magnificent Ruin”: The Burning of the Capitol during the War of 1812 – Architect of the Capitol

  
  

• “The War of 1812: When the U.S. Invaded Canada — and Failed” – Ishaan Tharoor, TIME, June 18, 2012

  
  

• “A Mere Matter of Marching” – National Park Service

  
  

• A Capitol in Ruins - United States Senate

  
  

• Out of the Ashes: A New Library for Congress and the Nation – Library of Congress

  
  

• Treaty of Ghent - The National Archives

  
  

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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