This is the bicentennial of the War of 1812. I am fortunate to live near Fort McHenry, where our national anthem was written. The fort has just been through a major renovation and is a fabulous place to visit. Plus for the bicentennial we have loads of special events including the tall ships.

Today 200 years ago the Senate discussed declaring war. It updates every day.

http://ourflagwasstillthere.org/the-war ... today.html

That is interesting but how is it related to eligibility?

Well.......

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

[Chorus:]
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin.
There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.
And there must have been a hundred of'em beatin' on the drum.
They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.


Song: Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton

Actually, Jimmy Driftwood. Johnny Horton's version (of many, many recordings) was simply the one to make it to the top of the US charts.

Very cool, maru.

Thanks for sharing.

Ok, so it is not about eligibility. That is good because I tried and just could not figure out the connection. It is interesting that you mention the senate declaring war because now they never really do that, even though we go to war. And I do have the Battle of New Orleans on my iPod.

It's not. That's why it's in General Interest/Military History. We discuss all kinds of things.

In NOLA, I went to the Cabildo, which had a pretty extensive exhibit on the Battle of New Orleans. Things I did not know:

1. It's impossible to go through an exhibit on the Battle of New Orleans and not sing that song.
2. Free blacks fought on both sides of the battle.
3. Louisiana was the first state to commission an officer of African descent, and the first state to authorize a free black militia with its own line of black officers. The First Battalion of Free Men of Color had 353 members and an 11-piece band. Two Battalions of free blacks fought at the Battle of New Orleans.
4. I keep calling the building The Cabinda. (That's one way this topic relates to eligibility.)

Weird. I am in the section on eligibility, but I can see this post. I clicked the "President Obama's Eligibility" link and this post was in the list as an active topic. Normally, it is only eligibility posts, so I thought I must be overlooking some connection, but your explanation makes more sense. My boyfriend loves military history and studied it in college. I should tell him about your forum.

It was originally in Eligibility but someone moved it apparently.

I live near quite a few War of 1812 battlefields and sites such as Lundy's Lane and Queenston Heights. I find the war to be an odd piece of history because it, for a variety of reasons for both the British and Americans a stalemate that ended in the status quo. From a Canadian historical perspective, the American invasions of Upper and Lower Canada and the burning of York (now Toronto) played a large role in the creation of a "Canadian" identity. Laura Secord has obtained a somewhat mythological status in our history.

I particularly find it interesting that one of the consequences of the war was that the Great Lakes shortly afterwards became almost completely demilitarized and thus lead to the world's longest undefended border.

If it helps, KBOA filed her birther suit in the county that Francis Scott Key grew up in.

Fort McHenry has this awesome video that talks about the night the British shelled The fort, with Baltimore holding its breath. With Baltimore just a hop, skip and jump away from Dc and Phillip it was rather perilous. The video really draws you in, the at the end the screen actually opens and you see that flag flying over the fort for real. I literally burst into tears and not only coz I was wearing uncomfortable shoes.

She makes excellent chocolates! . I've been on a Canadian kick ever since discovering the author Louise penny.

Off topic, but is Brave out and did you see it? I want to see it. (popcorn because movies make me want popcorn).
Maybe I will go to Ft. McHenry sometime. I am not too far away. Just hope I don't run in to any birthers.

Brave isn't out yet, but I will see it. I look a tad like the heroine but a movie about me would be likely called Mild.

I went to Fort McHenry with a Sarah Palin supporter.

TIL: The Battle Of New Orleans was fought after the peace treaty that ended the war was signed.

I was reminded of that little fact during our tour of Montpelier on Monday. Well worth the visit, if just to see how much work it took to take alterations done between 1840 and the 1970s and work it back to the building James Madison last occupied.

When I was first at Montpelier (sometime in the early 1950s), the tour guide pointed out that the house had no indoor toilets. We had just been at Monticello, which did have indoor toilets. I figured that that was a good explanation for why Madison was a frequent guest of Jefferson. Ten-year-olds think funny (and I don't know if the plumbing stories were true).

We couldn't afford both, but Montpelier had no in-house bathrooms. But the restoration work (approximately 20 years worth) is absolutely astounding. The other owners, especially the DuPonts, did radically mean things to the building. The archeologists and craftsman they had to do the restoration did an astounding job.

Although the story was confused by a visitor's account of "no toilets" inside the house, Monticello did have indoor toilets of a sort, although the plumbing is uncertain.

Here is the confused story: http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/privies

I think this was of interest to me at age 10 because the house in which I lived the first few years of my life had only an outhouse some distance from the house. That also accounts for my fear of snakes.

I only brought it up because Madison was prezinut during the war and the Battle of New Orleans happened during his term and after the peace treaty was signed.