I Used To Know That Part 7

However, Einstein's general theory of relativity describes gravity more accurately.

* EINSTEIN'S THEORIES OF RELATIVITY Before reviewing Einstein's general theory of relativity, take a look at his special theory of relativity. Before Einstein-that is, until the start of the 20th century-it was believed that the speed of light relative to an observer could be calculated in the same way as the relative speed of any other two objects (such as two cars driving at different speeds). Einstein's theory is based on the a.s.sumption that the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant (186,000 miles-or 2.998 x 108 m-per second), regardless if the observer is moving or at what speed. Furthermore, he suggested that as bodies increase in speed, they increase in ma.s.s and decrease in length (relative to the observer)-although this effect became noticeable only as objects neared the speed of light.

Relative to each observer, time moves at a slower rate. All this led him to the conclusion that ma.s.s and energy are two different aspects of the same thing, which led to the famous equationE = mc2,

where E is energy, m is ma.s.s, and c is the velocity of light.

So, back to gravity. The special theory of relativity concerned motion in which there was no acceleration-that is, a constant speed. The general theory extended this to consider accelerated motion. According to this, gravity is a property of s.p.a.ce and time that is "curved" by the presence of a ma.s.s. Einstein posited that the motion of the stars and planets was controlled by this curvature of s.p.a.ce in the vicinity of matter, and that light was also bent by the gravitational field of a ma.s.sive body. Subsequent experiments have shown him to be correct.

* ELECTRIC CURRENT There are also a handful of laws to do with electricity. Here's one of the more familiar: Ohm's law states that the current (I) flowing through an element in a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage drop or potential difference (V) across it: V = IR, where R means resistance-anything that gets in the way of the flow of current. What this means, more or less, is that the greater the resistance (measured in ohms), the greater the voltage (measured in volts) required to push the current (measured in amps) through it.

* EQUATIONS OF MOTION These are basic equations that describe the motion of a body moving with constant acceleration.

A body moving with constant acceleration (a) starts with an initial velocity (u) and achieves a final velocity (v) in a time of t seconds, covering a total distance s. If you know any three of these components, you can decipher the other two.

Acceleration can be expressed as Distance traveled (s) is simply time multiplied by average speed: These two equations-one for calculating acceleration and the other for calculating distance-are essentially all that is known here, but some other equations can be obtained by combining them.

For example, eliminate v from both of them. The first equation can be recast asv = u + at (multiply everything by t, then add u to both sides) and the second as: (multiply everything by 2, divide by t, and deduct u from both sides).

This may sound complicated, but the point is to produce an equation that defines v. Just in case you want to calculate v, you understand.... But you also now have two equations beginning "v=," so you can put them together and deduce that: which, after a bit of rearranging, is equivalent tos = ut + at2.

This looks a bit more impressive, but it's not really telling you anything new.

Similarly, you could eliminate u from each of our original equations, yielding:s = vt - at2.

Or eliminate t from them both to show that:v2 = u2 + 2as.

So, to give an example, if a body traveling at 30 m/sec (u) accelerates at 2 m/sec/sec (a) for 10 sec (t), it reaches a velocity (v):v = at + u = (2x10) + 30 = 50 meters per second s = ut + at2 = (30 x 10)+( x 2 x 102) = 300 + 100 = 400 meters.

Average speed is distance traveled (s) divided by t, which in this instance is = 40 m/sec. Which sounds reasonable, because it starts at 30 and ends up at 50.

Apparently, this isn't rocket science, unless you have a rate of acceleration equal to the force of gravity, in which case you are into the realm of projectiles and ballistics, which is, um, rocket science.

HISTORY.

High-school history books are typically gargantuan tomes of no fewer than 1,500 pages. You probably never covered more than 10 chapters or so, but you still had to lug those monstrous compilations onto the bus each day. Today, with history just a click away, students can quickly locate a specific historical tidbit or surf for hours (or even days) collecting information on major historical events.

With thousands of years to cover, and many choices and opinions regarding the proper texts, this chapter can only scratch the surface. But one thing most people agree upon regarding history is the importance of its study. As writer and philosopher George Santayana stressed so insightfully, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Notable U.S. Presidents

At the time of publication, there have been 44 presidents of the United States. Since there is not enough room to include a compete list, what follows are facts about some of the most notable ones, with their time in office noted following their name. (D = Democrat, R = Republican-parties that came into being around 1828 and 1854, respectively.) George Was.h.i.+ngton (1789-97): commander-in-chief of the forces that rebelled against British rule in the 1770s, and president of the Const.i.tutional Convention of 1787, which produced the blueprint of today's Const.i.tution. Unanimously elected first President of the United States two years later. Probably didn't chop down a cherry tree or tell his father that he couldn't tell a lie, but the legend persists.

John Adams (1797-1801): another major figure in the War of Independence, known as the "colossus of the debate" over the Declaration of Independence. Became America's first vice president, then president after Was.h.i.+ngton's resignation.

Thomas Jefferson (1801-09): credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence and something of a polymath, with an interest in architecture, science, and gardening, to name but a few. Lived for 17 years after ceasing to be president and became a respected elder statesman.

James Madison (1809-17): "the father of the Const.i.tution," having played a major role in the Const.i.tutional Convention of 1787.

James Monroe (1817-25): promulgator of the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that "the European powers could no longer colonize or interfere with the American continents."

John Quincy Adams (1825-29): the son of John Adams. Secretary of State under Monroe, he may actually have written the Monroe Doctrine. Also an antislavery campaigner.

Abraham Lincoln (R, 1861-65): really was born in a log cabin. Gained national stature from his stance against slavery. His election to the presidency caused the Southern states to secede from the Union, thus beginning the Civil War. His famous Gettysburg Address-"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty..."-further expressed his antislavery views, as did his campaign for reelection in 1864. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth five days after the surrender of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee, which effectively ended the Civil War.

Ulysses S. Grant (R, 1869-77): the leader of the Union army during the Civil War; presided over the reconstruction of the South.

James Garfield (R, 1881): a.s.sa.s.sinated by a disgruntled office-seeker after only four months in office.

William McKinley (R, 1897-1901): president during the Spanish-American War that saw the United States acquire Cuba and the Philippines. a.s.sa.s.sinated by an anarchist in Buffalo.

Theodore Roosevelt (R, 1901-09): one of four U.S. presidents to be awarded a n.o.bel Peace Prize (for his role in ending the Russo-j.a.panese War). Expansionist policies included promoting the growth of the U.S. Navy and the building of the Panama Ca.n.a.l. A great advocate of the United States, entering the First World War.

Woodrow Wilson (D, 1913-21): avoided joining the war for several years, but in the end was forced "to make the world safe for democracy." His Fourteen-Point plan to prevent future wars formed the basis of the League of Nations (the forerunner of the United Nations).

Warren Harding (R, 1921-23): campaigned on the issue of opposing U.S. members.h.i.+p of the League of Nations during Wilson's tenure; died in office under mysterious circ.u.mstances.

Calvin Coolidge (R, 1923-29): notoriously taciturn president whose economic policies were blamed for the 1929 Wall Street crash. Apparently, a woman who sat next to him at a dinner party bet him that she would get at least three words out of him in the course of the evening. "You lose" was the president's reply-and she did; he didn't say another word for the rest of the night.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (D, 1933-45): the longest-serving president in U.S. history. Stricken with polio and confined to a wheelchair throughout his presidency, he came to power at the height of the Great Depression and inst.i.tuted the New Deal for economic recovery. He was president during most of World War II and died in office three weeks before Germany surrendered. His wife, Eleanor, was a noted diplomat and political adviser.

Harry S Truman (D, 1945-53): Roosevelt's vice president, who succeeded him in the last months of World War II and was responsible for the decision to drop atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiros.h.i.+ma. Also popularized the expression "The buck stops here."

Dwight D. Eisenhower (R, 1953-61): Nicknamed Ike, he was the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces during the 1944 Normandy landing. His presidency coincided with the height of the Cold War and the birth of the civil rights movement.

John F. Kennedy (D, 1961-63): the first Catholic to be elected president. He and his glamorous wife, Jackie, changed the image of the presidency. President during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which may be the nearest the world has ever come to nuclear war. a.s.sa.s.sinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was himself shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The conspiracy theorists are still working on it.

Lyndon B. Johnson (D, 1963-69): Known as LBJ, he was Kennedy's vice president. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, which extended the voting rights of African Americans, were pa.s.sed during his presidency, but Johnson is mostly remembered for his escalation of the Vietnam War and the subsequent protests.

Richard Nixon (R, 1969-74): the only U.S. president to resign under the threat of impeachment, following the scandal known as Watergate: The Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel had been robbed during the 1972 elections, and it became apparent that Nixon knew all about it and the subsequent cover-up. Was.h.i.+ngton Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the exposure-the story is told in their book All the President's Men, and a film based on the book was made.

Gerald Ford (R, 1974-77): the only president not to have been elected, even as vice president: Nixon appointed him after the elected vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned over a tax scandal. Ford granted Nixon a presidential pardon for his role in Watergate.

Jimmy Carter (D, 1977-81): the peanut farmer from Georgia who brought social reform at home and was instrumental in arranging a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. He will be most remembered for the chaos surrounding the taking of U.S. hostages in the American emba.s.sy in Iran. Carter won the n.o.bel Peace Prize in 2002 for his international peacekeeping efforts, work in human rights, and economic development.

Ronald Reagan (R, 1981-89): former Hollywood film star and long-term governor of California before becoming president. Introduced the anti-Russian Strategic Defense Initiative (known as Star Wars) but later reached an arms-reduction agreement with the USSR. Reagan ordered military action in Granada, an island north of Venezuela. His administration is also remembered for the Iran-Contra affair. In 1981 there was an unsuccessful a.s.sa.s.sination attempt against him that provoked his remark, "Honey, I forgot to duck."

George H. W. Bush (R, 1989-93): a former West Texas oil executive before becoming president, his political posts included director of the Central Intelligence Agency and vice president in Ronald Reagan's administration. He took the world into the first Gulf War and ordered military action in Panama, and was in office when the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. His popularity at home declined when he broke a campaign promise to lower taxes. Bush is the father of the forty-third president George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida.

Bill Clinton (D, 1993-2001): young, charismatic, Clinton spent a lot of time in the headlines because of his alleged affair with a White House intern. Married to Hillary, who ran, unsuccessfully, for the 2008 democratic presidential nomination.

George W. Bush (R, 2001-2009): a former partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team and governor of Texas, Bush was elected president in 2000, receiving a majority of the electoral votes, but narrowly losing the popular vote. In his first term he enacted "No Child Left Behind," a measure later signed into law that aimed to close the gap between rich and poor student performance. After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, he initiated a global war on terrorism and launched attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq.

Canadian Prime Ministers

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once said: "Living next to the Americans is like sleeping next to an elephant-no matter how friendly and even-tempered the elephant, one is affected by every twitch!" It takes a certain kind of character to cope with such sleeping arrangements, as well as the challenges that come with running the second largest (in area) country in the world. Here are the top politicians that Canadians voted in and out.

Sir John A. Macdonald (1867-73; 1878-91): a Scottish-born lawyer with a soft spot for hard drink, he shepherded the country from being a rump of four tiny provinces into a vast nation linked from sea to sea by a brand-new transcontinental railway. A champion of Canadian autonomy within the British Empire as well as the status of the French in public inst.i.tutions, the Conservative PM is also remembered for the binge drinking that dogged him during his time in office.

Alexander Mackenzie (1873-78): emigrated from his native Scotland at age 20 in pursuit of the girl he loved. As the country's first Liberal head of government, Mackenzie established the Supreme Court and founded the Royal Military College. A staunch democrat proud of his working-cla.s.s roots, the former stonemason turned down an offer of knighthood three times.

Sir John Abbott (1891-92) son of an Anglican priest and two-term mayor of Montreal. The Conservative also happened to be the great-grandfather of Hollywood actor Christopher Plummer.

John Thompson (1892-94): Conservative PM who suffered a stroke and promptly died during a visit to Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria was not amused.

Mackenzie Bowell (1894-96): forced to resign by his own cabinet ministers, this prominent Orangeman lived long and prospered, dying in his 95th year.

Sir Charles Tupper (1896): Conservative who served the shortest period in office of any prime minister: 69 days. On the other hand, his marriage to wife Frances Morse lasted the longest: 66 years.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1896-1911): once decreed: "The nineteenth century was the century of the United States. I think we can claim that Canada will fill the twentieth century." During the Liberal's 15 years as head of government, Laurier witnessed an era of unprecedented immigration, infrastructure expansion, and the creation of two new western provinces.

Robert Borden (1911-20): last prime minister to be born before Confederation, whose bold commitment to the war effort precipitated the Conscription Crisis. This cost the Conservative the support of many French-speaking Canadians. His face adorns the Canadian $100 bill.

Arthur Meighen (1920-21; 1926): the Ontario-born prime minister. The son of a farmer, he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Toronto. The Conservative was instrumental in creating the Canadian National Railways system.

Mackenzie King (1921-26; 1926-30; 1935-48): grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie, leader of the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. As Canada's longest-serving prime minister, this Liberal led the country for 22 years. King was a bachelor who had a penchant for holding seances and talking to his dog. But he was also a capable politician and statesman. He steered the country through much of the Depression as well as World War II. A social reformer, his government brought in unemployment insurance and family allowances.

Richard Bennett (1930-35): elected on the eve of the Great Depression, he was Canada's only prime minister to be buried abroad. It took the Conservative several years to implement radical economic reforms, but by then it was too late for his government. After his defeat he moved to England, where he died.

Louis St. Laurent (1948-57): dubbed Uncle Louis for his folksy and avuncular campaigning style, he staked Canada's global role as an important middle power. His Liberal administration got the ball rolling on the Trans-Canada Highway and St. Lawrence Seaway, welcomed Newfoundland into Confederation, and oversaw Canadian partic.i.p.ation in the Korean War.

John Diefenbaker (1957-63): set out to make Canadian citizens.h.i.+p more inclusive to people of diverse origins, with an emphasis on aboriginal peoples. The Progressive Conservative appointed the first female federal cabinet minister, Ellen Fairclough, and was an outspoken opponent of apartheid in South Africa. But economic and fiscal woes, as well as his decision to sc.r.a.p the Avro Arrow jet project, led to his government's demise.

Lester Pearson (1963-68): considered to be the "inventor" of U.N. peacekeeping, for which he won the 1957 n.o.bel Peace Prize, his Liberal government initiated federal bilingualism, established a national pension plan, signed the Auto Pact with the United States, introduced universal Medicare, and unveiled a new national flag. A well-rounded athlete, Pearson played semipro baseball in Ontario and hockey while studying at Oxford.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968-79; 1980-84): not only a swinging playboy, but also a no-nonsense gunslinger. When rioters hurled objects at him during a 1968 ceremony, he refused to withdraw to safety. When separatist terrorists took hostages in Quebec, he sent in the army. He stuck it to the Alberta oil barons during the energy crisis of the 1970s. He made mincemeat of his main opponent during the 1980 referendum on Quebec sovereignty. A Liberal, he brought in official bilingualism, the metric system, and-in his proudest moment-repatriated the Const.i.tution, to which he added the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Fidel Castro, his good friend, was among the pallbearers at his funeral.

Joe Clark (1979-80): dismissed as "Joe Who?" during his early years on the national stage, this Progressive Conservative politician astounded the pundits when he was elected Canada's youngest-ever prime minister at age 39.

John Turner (1984): das.h.i.+ng, dapper, and athletic, he inherited the prime minister's job after Pierre Trudeau retired. The Liberal is remembered for his tooth-and-nails crusade against the proposed free-trade deal with the United States.

Brian Mulroney (1984-93): won the largest majority government in Canadian history in 1994. The Progressive Conservative soon came under fire for his cozy friends.h.i.+p with U.S. president Bush, a revolving door of scandals, and ill-advised tinkering with the Const.i.tution. Nevertheless, his administration hammered out the 1988 Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement.

Kim Campbell (1993): Canada's first female prime minister, who voters never actually gave a mandate to rule. Instead, she briefly inherited the reigns of power, only to go down to a prompt and decisive defeat.

Jean Chretien (1993-2003): eighteenth child of a paper-mill worker, he was a seasoned veteran of Liberal cabinets dating back to the 1960s. A brilliant, if rustic, campaigner, his long experience and political instincts won him three consecutive majority governments.

Paul Martin (2003-6): as a Liberal three-time finance minister, he has been credited with getting Canada's fiscal health into shape. The scion of a wealthy s.h.i.+pping family, he faced the electorate, but once as prime minister won a short-lived minority mandate.

Stephen Harper (2006-present): the current prime minister, he represents a Conservative party that removed the word Progressive from its official name. An influential back-room player whose survival skills brought him to the fore, Harper has consolidated power in the prime minister's office as rarely seen before.

Notable Kings and Queens of England

Major World Conflicts

Times may change, but the issues that incite wars among people around the world remain the same: Power, territory, religion, and resources are usually at the heart of the matter.

* 1066: BATTLE OF HASTINGS The year 1066 was a busy one. King Edward the Confessor died on January 5, leaving four claimants to the throne. The legitimate heir, Edward's son Edgar, was a child and no one took much notice of him. Military expediency preferred the successful Saxon general Harold G.o.dwin, but there was also the Norwegian king, Harald Hardrada, who invaded northern England and, on September 25, was defeated by Harold at Stamford Bridge, near York. Three days later an army led by William of Normandy (to whom Harold G.o.dwin may or may not have promised allegiance in a visit to Normandy the previous year) landed at Pevensey in Suss.e.x, some 249 miles (400 km) away. Harold marched to meet him, and the battle now known as Hastings took place on October 14. Harold was killed (tradition has it by an arrow in his eye), and on Christmas Day, William the Conqueror was crowned King William I.

* 1337-1453: HUNDRED YEARS WAR A war between England and France. Primarily a dispute over territory because parts of France, notably the prosperous wine-growing areas of Gascony and Aquitaine, had come into English possession through a succession of strategic marriages. The battles include: Crecy (1346), at which Edward III's son, the Black Prince, "won his spurs;" Poitiers (1356), when the French king, John II, was captured and held for ransom; and Harfleur and Agincourt (both 1415), when English archers won the day. After Henry V's early death in 1422, a French resurgence inspired by Joan of Arc gradually pushed the English back, until in 1453 the French won a decisive victory at Castillon and reclaimed all of the southwest part of the country. Only Calais remained in English possession.

* 1455-85: WARS OF THE ROSES A series of civil wars between the English royal houses of York and Lancaster. In a nutsh.e.l.l, Edward III had far too many descendants who thought they ought to be in charge. Key battles were, Wakefield (1460), in which Richard, Duke of York, leader of the opposition to the Lancastrian Henry VI, was killed; and Tewkesbury (1471), a Yorkist victory, shortly after which Henry VI died-probably murdered-in the Tower of London. Rivalry between the in-laws of the new (Yorkist) king, Edward IV, the numerous and opportunistic Woodvilles, and other members of the aristocracy ensured that conflict continued. It culminated in the Battle of Bosworth (1485), when Henry Tudor, a Lancastrian descended from an illegitimate son of Edward III's son, John of Gaunt, defeated and killed the Yorkist Richard III and became Henry VII.

* 1622-1917: THE AMERICAN INDIAN WARS In the past, American history books have conveniently skimmed over or skipped the Indian wars altogether. A few early proprietors, such as William Penn, formed alliances with the Native American people, even learning to speak their language, but a large number of the early settlers encroached upon Indian territory, defied treaties, monopolized game, and practiced outright slaughter of the Native Americans. In some cases the Native Americans attacked first, but most often they felt threatened. The Pequot War of 1637, one of the earliest skirmishes, essentially eliminated the power of the Pequot tribe in present-day New England; most were killed, others were sold into slavery. The Indian wars were eventually fought in other parts of the East, the Great Plains, the Southwest, and in California. Some of the wars include Tec.u.mseh (the Creek War), the Texas-Indian Wars, the Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand), the Wounded Knee Ma.s.sacre, the Navajo and Apache conflicts, the California Indian wars, and many more. Native Americans were killed, relocated, or escaped to Canada. The 10th Cavalry Regiment, an African-American unit that the Native Americans termed Buffalo Soldiers, fought one of the last battles in 1917.

* 1759: THE BATTLE OF THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM A significant turning point in North American history, the British rout over French forces at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City on September 13 was an important milestone for the ascendant British Empire. This battle by land and sea that cost the lives of the commanding generals on both sides all but eradicated France's colonial role in the New World. It also helped set the stage for the American War of Independence less than two decades later.

* 1775-83: AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, OR THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR The clue is in the t.i.tle, really. The thirteen British colonies in North America revolted against British rule, specifically against taxation without representation. The Boston Tea Party (1773) was an act of direct action, which helped spark the American Revolution. Late on the night of April 18, 1775, a silversmith named Paul Revere recieved word that the British posed an imminent threat, which Longfellow preserved in the infamous poem Paul Revere's Ride ("Listen my children and you shall hear..."). Early battles at Lexington and Concord (the shot heard 'round the world) were followed by the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was really fought on Breed's Hill. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and battles followed across what are now the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. George Was.h.i.+ngton, the American commander-in-chief, led troops across the Delaware River to mount an attack upon the British and Hessian troops. This success at the Battle of Trenton (1776) marked the turning point of the war. France, Spain, and Holland all sided with the Americans-the Dutch gained control of the English Channel and threatened to invade Britain. Britain finally acknowledged American independence by the Treaty of Paris (1783).

* 1789: FRENCH REVOLUTION The French finally had enough of the Bourbon kings and overthrew them, storming the state prison, the Bastille, on July 14, mobbing the palace of Versailles and eventually beheading King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. The revolutionaries proclaimed a republic, but the moderate Girondins were ousted by the more extreme Jacobins. Power pa.s.sed to the hands of the Committee of Public Safety (one of those names that you can just tell is going to lead to trouble). Georges Danton, initially one of the most important members of the committee, was superceded by a lawyer named Maximilien Robespierre, and the ensuing Reign of Terror saw the execution of thousands of alleged antirevolutionaries. Perhaps inevitably, Danton and Robespierre both also ended up on the guillotine.

* 1792-1815: NAPOLEONIC WARS Napoleon Bonaparte rose to prominence in the aftermath of the French Revolution, and was in charge of the French army fighting the Austrians in Italy by 1796. Next he decided to break down the British Empire by conquering Egypt. Defeated by the British admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of the Nile (1799), he returned to France, overthrew the Executive Directory (the post-revolutionary government), became consul and then emperor in 1804-and he was 35 years old. The following year, he was again defeated by Nelson (at Trafalgar, where Nelson was killed) but did better on land, winning victories at Austerlitz, Jena-Averstedt, and Friedland and more or less conquering continental Europe. The British Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, defeated him in the Iberian Peninsula-a subsection of the Napoleonic wars known as the Peninsular War (1808-14), in the course of which Napoleon also found time to march on Moscow, losing about 400,000 of his 500,000-strong army in the harsh Russian winter. He was defeated again at Leipzig in 1813, forced to abdicate, and exiled to Elba, an island off the coast of Italy. He escaped, resumed power for the "Hundred Days," and was finally defeated in 1815 at the battle of Waterloo, and exiled again, this time to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he died in 1821.

* 1812-15: THE WAR OF 1812 Contrary to its name, this war lasted almost three years. The British were invading American s.h.i.+ps and putting its sailors into servitude. And a British sea blockade on France during the Napoleonic Wars made trade difficult (although New England opposed the war and was trading with Britain and Canada). The British also didn't appreciate that forces within the United States were moving into the Northwest Territories and the Canadian border. However, British and Mohawk forces stood ready for a U.S. advance and many American soldiers were taken prisoner at the Battle of Beaver Dams. This war ended with the conclusion of the Napoleonic War when the British fleet pulled out of its blockade, and the Treaty of Ghent took effect in 1815. Since, technically, the United States was not defeated (although it took a beating), the war was considered a stalemate, with both sides going back to their corners and calling it a day. The United States considered the war a confirmation of its independence because they stuck together, once again, and fought bravely.

* 1846-48: THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR The bankrupt Mexican government had a loose hold on Texas and its northern and western provinces (the West) after it won its own independence from Spain. American settlers in the Texas region, such as a group led by Colonel Davy Crockett, fought a war of independence from Mexican forces in the area (remember the Alamo?). With many losses the Texas settlers eventually won this war and proclaimed annexation from Mexico in 1845, but Mexico did not recognize this secession. The Texans and Western states obtained support from the U.S. government. Although many Whigs in the United States opposed the war, many southern Democrats, who wished to gain territory and expand slavery, held the belief of Manifest Destiny, proclaiming that the United States was somehow divinely destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. Mexico and the United States disagreed regarding borders, and after more skirmishes and battles the United States declared war on Mexico in May 1846. Author Henry David Th.o.r.eau refused to pay his taxes as a protest to the war and was put in jail for a night as a result-an incident that inspired him to write an essay that was later dubbed "Civil Disobedience," which stated that individuals should not allow the government to sway or overrule their own sense of conscience, especially in true matters of injustice. Ultimately, the United States won the war and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which required Mexico to secede not only Texas but also parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming as well as all of California, Nevada, and Utah in return for $15 million.