Historical Relations of Canada and US

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David Shribman, We Stand on Guard for Thee; Canada -- that oft-parodied frozen realm of hockey arenas and Celine Dion -- is more interesting than half of the American states. Wall Street Journal, Dec 30, 2015
http://www.wsj.com/articles/we-stand-on-guard-for-thee-1451429887
(book review on Robert Bothwell, Your Country, My Country; A united history of the United States and Canada. Oxford University Press, 2015)

Quote:

Quote:

"Mr Bothwell * * * holds a chair in history at the University of Toronto

"The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 is, in Mr Bothwell’s estimation, the decisive event in continental history. 'It ensured that the United States was and would become a much larger power than [UK]

"For anyone who harbored dreams of a vast continental unity, the War of 1812—which involved fighting along the border, with Canada serving as a staging ground for British forces—sealed the notion that Canada and the United States would remain separate, though not necessarily equal.

"For anyone who harbored dreams of a vast continental unity, the War of 1812—which involved fighting along the border, with Canada serving as a staging ground for British forces—sealed the notion that Canada and the United States would remain separate, though not necessarily equal.

Note:
(a) "the topic [Canadian-American relations] generally could be said to lack a certain vivacity. It is the snoozy Ambien of (North) American academic life, featuring sleep-inducing words like 'Manitoba' and 'cross-boundary trade’'
(i) Zolpidem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolpidem
(brand names Ambien; by the French pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi-Aventis; a more effective agonist than GABA (an inhibitory neurotransmitter) at GABA A receptor)
(ii) GABA = gmma-Aminobutyric acid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Aminobutyric_acid

is a neurotransmitter.

(b) "Happily, 'Your Country, My Country' does not linger on matters that for generations have made high-school eyes glaze over, and here we are speaking of Jay’s Treaty (1795) and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842), both concerned with cross-border details once vexing but now lost in the mists of time. Still, American readers—defiantly ignorant of Canadian history—will benefit from learning about Durham’s Report (1839), the analysis of a British politician"
(i) glaze (v, n; from glass): "[NO OBJECT] lose brightness and animation <the prospect makes my eyes glaze over with boredom>"
www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/glaze
(ii) Jay’s Treaty or Jay Treaty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Treaty
(chief negotiator John Jay)
(iii)
(A) Webster-Ashburton Treaty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster–Ashburton_Treaty
(The treaty was signed by United States Secretary of State Daniel Webster and British diplomat Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton)
(B) Ashburton, Devon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashburton,_Devon

View the map only.
(iv) Report on the Affairs of British North America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re ... itish_North_America
(commonly known as the Durham Report; written by John George Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham)

(c) "While Americans have been divided over race, Canadians have been divided over language and religion, with Catholic, French-speaking Quebec uneasily tucked inside a broadly Protestant, English-speaking polity. This odd conjunction, Mr. Bothwell reminds us, was the result of the North American component of the Seven Years’ War, which left a defeated French region in British hands. To this day, Québécois are less than pleased by the arrangement, but many of them have stopped agitating for secession, for now."
(i)
(A) In Seven Years' War (1756-1763), UK allied with Prussia against France and Austria, as well as Russia (prior to 1762).  (UK was ruled by House of Hanover (1714-1901). Frederick II or the Great led Prussia.)
Diplomatic Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_Revolution
(B) France lost, with UK occupying its colonies in North America from Quebec to Louisiana east of Mississippi to Appalachian mountains. Treaty of Paris (1763) formalized this. Also in this treaty, Spain ceded Florida to Britain, but was compensated by France with Louisiana WEST of Mississippi(, which Napoleon regained in Napoleon in 1800 but in 1803 sold to US).
(ii) Quebecois (n; singular and plural forms the same in spelling and pronunciation)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Quebecois

(d) "Overall Mr Bothwell has produced a charming volume, with a minimum of minutiae. I report with some relief that in nearly 400 pages of well-sculpted prose the phrase 'softwood lumber dispute’' does not appear, though the reader with an inexplicable interest in fisheries and in pelagic sealing will not be wholly disappointed."
(i) Canada–United States softwood lumber dispute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada–United_States_softwood_lumber_dispute

is unimportant, according to the reviewer.
(ii) pelagic (adj; etymology): "of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea :  OCEANIC <pelagic sediment> <pelagic birds>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pelagic

(e) "Nor will readers who agree with Mr Bothwell that the diplomatic back-and-forth between President William Howard in 1910-11 represented a critical passage in our shared history. Taft and Laurier, we are reminded, combined to produce an important reciprocity treaty."

Wilfrid Laurier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Laurier
(Canada's prime minister 1896-1911; party: Liberal; section 3.2 Reciprocity and defeat)