What do you think the biggest missed opportunity in world history was? I’ll tell you what I think it was: Canadamerica.
While reading the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, which, for those of you who are unaware, was the governing document of the United States of America before the adoption of the Constitution, I came across this article (I wish I could say I usually read the Articles of Confederation on weekends, but alas, I was researching for a history paper).
Article XI.Canada acceding to this confederation, and joining in the measures of the united states, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this union: but no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine states.
Yup. Canada had a chance to become the 14th state of the union, and they passed it up. I bet every Canadian with common sense is mentally kicking themselves to this day. Just think about how great we could have been united…. Oh well, I guess if the US Army gets bored there is still a chance we could annex our maple-syrup-drinking compulsively-apologizing igloo-inhabiting Northern allies on a weekend.
2 replies on “The Biggest Missed Opportunity in History”
A missed opportunity, indeed.
Unfortunately for our neighbors to the north, their forebears were much more fervent loyalists than ours were. A lot of Americans who deeply disagreed with the American Revolution emigrated northward from 1776 onward, as did most of the defeated loyalists who fought for the Crown here in the colonies.
They’ve still got a much more polite, subservient culture than ours. I doubt even Alberta or Saskatchewan would accept an official invitation to become US states if we offered it to them tomorrow.
Agreed.