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What, if anything, comes to your mind when you think of the War of 1812? If you have been paying close attention in your U.S. History class, you might recall that the British siege of Baltimore gave us our national anthem and that the Battle of New Orleans elevated Andrew Jackson to a national hero. Otherwise, the War of 1812 holds a TENUOUS or weak place in our national memory.
According to SAT test writers, the War of 1812 also has a TENUOUS place in British history. Although British soldiers burned down the White House, the epic battles with Napoleonic France have always dominated English textbooks and relegated the War of 1812 to a few short paragraphs.
So all in all, the War of 1812 occupies a TENUOUS place in historic memories in both America and Great Britain. But beware, SAT test writers have used the War of 1812 to create an unexpected vocabulary in context question!
TENUOUS – very weak; not strong or secure