Sharing the same colonial roots and inextricably linked by both trade and tradition, the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were America's most unlikely enemies. Not only were they near neighbours, but many inhabitants of Atlantic Canada were former New Englanders, whose loyalty to King George III during the American Revolution had forced them to relocate northwards. While continuing to support Great Britain politically, many displaced merchants maintained their business connections with the United States through a variety of stratagems, not the least of which was smuggling.

Thinly populated and poorly endowed with agricultural resources, the Atlantic provinces traditionally relied on fishing, lumbering, and the coasting trade for their livelihood. Unable to produce enough food for their own inhabitants, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia enjoyed a mutually beneficial trade with their American neighbours, exchanging food for British manufactured goods. This traditional economic interdependence refused to recognize national borders in spite of political manoeuvring elsewhere in Europe. When the War of 1812 threatened to interrupt their longstanding commercial relationship, inhabitants on both sides turned to licences, smuggling, and subterfuge to maintain the flow of trade. Throughout the war, military contractors at Halifax had little difficulty purchasing American goods, while British manufactures imported by Halifax merchants continued to find their way across the border. Once war was declared, Lieutenant Governor Sherbrooke of Nova Scotia was quick to issue licences enabling provincial merchants to import emergency supplies of foodstuffs from any American port. As long as their so-called enemies were willing to pay, American shipmasters had no intention of allowing anyone to starve. Only the most rigorous patriots found anything odd about American farmers supplying the British fleet that was blockading their coasts.

This chapter focuses on the economic, political, and social forces that initiated such an unpopular war and its ultimate failure to engage the maritime and merchant interests for whom it was declared. Forced into reluctant enmity, the maritime communities of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia sought to circumvent or subvert the war by fair means or foul.

Causes of the War of 1812

Unnecessary, unpopular, and inconclusive, the War of 1812 was declared in response to American political and economic agendas related to national ambition, regional selfinterest, and political opportunism.