One of the things mentioned in the Dec. 5, 1888 issue of the Chatham Tri-Weekly Planet was the latest movement in the U.S. to annex Canada.

One of the things mentioned in the Dec. 5, 1888 issue of the Chatham Tri-Weekly Planet was the latest movement in the U.S. to annex Canada.

A map that was published in the New York World magazine showed a version of North America proposed by a group of Americans centred in Boston. At the time, it was just the latest in a line of efforts by Americans to annex Canada. Sound familiar?

American efforts to include Canada as part of one large North American country pre-date even America itself. In the lead-up to their break from Britain, various people, including Benjamin Franklin, tried to convince folks in the northern colonies to join them.

In fact, there’s a great novel written by Thomas H. Raddall called His Majesty’s Yankees which deals with this. It’s a little-known Canadian literature piece from 1942 and well worth reading.

Then, in 1823 as part of his state-of-the-union........

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