Quote Originally Posted by Lady's Human
Canadians didn't burn the White House (Presidential house, as it was called at the time), it was British forces under Rear Admiral Cockburn, who was sent from the peninsular wars in Spain to invade the US.
Maybe they write the history books differently in Canada....

At the time, Washington was a minor port with only about 8,000 inhabitants — about 1,300 of whom were slaves. What it lacked in strategic value, however, it made up in symbolic value. The British and Canadians sought revenge on the United States for the destruction they had caused on the capital of Upper Canada (now Ontario) at York (now Toronto) after the Battle of York in 1813. Naval commander George Cockburn wrote that he hoped the destruction of the new republic's capital might demoralize the enemy as well.