Yes, you really were.
The reasons for the war were: American imperialism, arrogance and inability to understand the loyalists.
The war began because of American expansionism: the "impressment" issue was a red herring (even today, the Americans believe the lie that the Royal Navy impressed Americans into service).
Because the Americans thought that Canada would join the US in an anti-British rebellion, and that Britain was in no position to prevent the US invasion of Canada because of the war with Napoleon.
The background was that Britain was in a life or death struggle with Napoleon, and that the War Hawks in the US could not understand why the Northern British American colonies did not join in the American Revolution. They just needed to find an excuse to annex Canada.
Luckily for them the US Navy provided them with one. The US Navy granted citizenship to any sailor who would join them. Many British sailors jumped ship, more for the better pay and lower chance of getting involved in military action, than for the chance of a new passport. The Royal Navy sought to prevent this breach of international law by stopping American ships and seizing any deserters they could find.
The US was incensed! "How dare the Royal Navy impress OUR sailors" they cried. As I said, even today Yanks still believe that the British impressed American sailors into the RN, even though the British were merely retrieving British sailors who had deserted to the US Navy.
The other excuse was provided by the war in Europe . The US was prevented from trading with Napoleonic France - normal behaviour in war-time, the US was attempting to trade arms and ammunition with the French.
The British were also imposing a ban on the slave trade - turning ships back to African ports, and releasing their human cargoes. "How dare the British interfere with free trade" the Americans shouted!
So off to war they went, burning York - the Canadian capital city, hoping that the Canadians would join them in fighting the British. Oh boy, were they mistaken. The Canadians had no desire to join the Americans, and fought them back, kicking them out of Canada, pushing them back to Washington, where the British burnt the White House. They marched on, towards the Gulf of Mexico. There was one moment of hope for the Americans - they won the battle of New Orleans (although that was two weeks after the peace treaty had been signed). However, just a few days later, the victory was soured, the Battle of Mobile was a rout. The Americans were comprehensively defeated.
In Britain the war was a sideshow, an irritation. The British, and Canadians, simply wanted the Americans to go back to their borders, and stop acting like children. Just in case they did try to continue the fight, over 10,000 battle hardened soldiers were about to embark for the New World - the Americans realised that if they landed, there was a real chance that the USA would cease to exist - the British might simply re-absorb it back into the empire. They called for peace - the British were magnanimous, they withdrew their troops from American soil: that was all they wanted.
The Americans have lied to themselves ever since that this humiliating defeat, one that nearly cost them the country, was either a draw or a victory.
The Monroe doctrine was hypocritical at best - saying to Europe (not just Britain) that they shouldn't expand their empirical interests into South America so that the USA could create an empire by proxy in South America.
Of course,the tragic thing is that this sort of nonsense actually passes for history in America. You lot don't get taught what actually happened. You just get taught romantical, pro- American rubbish.
"Very little is known about the War of 1812, because the Americans lost it."
Eric Nicol, Canadian writer
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