<P> Annexation was supported by American border businessmen who wanted to gain control of Great Lakes trade . </P> <P> Carl Benn noted that the War Hawks' desire to annex the Canadas was similar to the enthusiasm for the annexation of Spanish Florida by inhabitants of the American South; both expected war to facilitate expansion into long - desired lands and end support for hostile Indian tribes (Tecumseh's Confederacy in the North and the Creek in the South). </P> <P> Tennessee Congressman Felix Grundy considered it essential to acquire Canada to preserve domestic political balance, arguing that annexing Canada would maintain the free state - slave state balance, which might otherwise be thrown off by the acquisition of Florida and the settlement of the southern areas of the new Louisiana Purchase . </P> <P> Historian Richard Maass argued in 2015 that the expansionist theme is a myth that goes against the "relative consensus among experts that the primary U.S. objective was the repeal of British maritime restrictions". He argues that consensus among scholars is that the United States went to war "because six years of economic sanctions had failed to bring Britain to the negotiating table, and threatening the Royal Navy's Canadian supply base was their last hope ." Maass agrees that theoretically expansionism might have tempted Americans, but finds that "leaders feared the domestic political consequences of doing so . Notably, what limited expansionism there was focused on sparsely populated western lands rather than the more populous eastern settlements (of Canada)." Nevertheless, Maas notes that many historians continue to believe that expansionism was a cause . </P>

What happened in the war of 1812 summary