ABSTRACT
Canada and the United States may enjoy better relations than any other two bordering countries in the world. They trade more with each other than any other two countries. Canada emerged naturally and tranquilly from colonial to Dominion status in 1867, almost a century after the United States tore itself away violently from Britain. "Special relationship" is, of course, another way of saying "community". However strong and stable that community may be today, it has not always been thus. In fact, for more than a century following American independence, the relationship was fundamentally one of mistrust and hostility. In some respects, the War of 1812 was a reprise of the Revolutionary War, precipitated in part by British harassment of American trade with French-controlled Europe and the searching of American ships for British deserters. Both countries focused their attention on national development for the balance of the nineteenth century.
