History and War of 1812

We read a story on Edhelper about Laura Secord and out of curiosity we read about the War of 1812, generally to find out where the canadians came in. In the process, we learned why we went to war and what impressment means in Military terms. We did learn that the British and the French were at war with each other and the British were fighting Napoleon. And the French had control of Europe, and America, being a free country was exporting their goods to both of them, via ships. But