Hellen Wang
War of 1812 Essay
"A Free Trade and Sailors Rights," a quote that became a political slogan and a rallying cry during the War of 1812. For America, the War of 1812 was justified. Great Britain attempted to restrict U.S. trade by seizing American men and “impressing” them, Britain started inciting Indian attacks on the frontier and provided arms and support to Native Americans who attacked settlers, and American "warhawks" desire to go to war with Britain and to take Canada from Britain. Therefore there was no other choice but war. Great Britain and France was locked in a long and bitter conflict. The U.S. wanted to remain neutral, they did not want to get involved and destroy relationships with the two countries. Britain and France in an attempt to cut off supplies from reaching the enemy, both sides attempted to block the United States from trading with the other.
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waters and forcing them to fight for the British instead. The British justified “impressment” with the idea that American soldiers, once subjects of the King, were always subjects of the King. Between 1793 and 1812, the British impressed more than 15,000 sailors, by 1812 the U.S. had enough and declared war on Britain.
For Native Americans, the War of 1812 was a struggle for freedom and independence. Before the War of 1812, the U.S. were planning to expand onto Native American territories. Most Indian tribes saw their lands at risk, so they sided with the British, and were against the United States. Thus Britain started encouraging Indians to attacks on the frontier. They provided arms and support to Native Americans who attacked settlers. Native Americans led by Tecumseh, defended Canada. After being abandoned by the British, they fought the Americans who were led by William Harrison and
The War of 1812 was a war that lasted for two years that helped the United States to firmly and officially establish its independence. After finishing with the concern of France, England turned its attention over to the United States. At first, the United States did not want to resort to war and fighting (Doc. B) but rather sort out their issues economically--because England had seized all ships that did not stop in the British port before heading to their other European destinations, Congress passed the Embargo Act and then the Non-Intercourse Act, allowing trade with all nations except France and England. Then, England refused to allow this trade to occur, so America had to resort to war. The Northeastern Federalists were not in favor of
In the early 19th century, Britain and France were engaged in a life-or-death struggle. After much war through the years, France dominated a lot of Europe, though Britain was the ruler of the seas. When it became obvious that neither side was likely to win a decisive military contest, the warring nations turned to commercial warfare: Britain tried to blockade all of Europe, and France attempted to prevent the sale of British goods in their possession(http://gatewayno.com/history/War1812.html, War of 1812). During the 1790s, French and British maritime policies produced several crises with the United States, but after 1803 the difficulties became much more serious. In November of 1807, Britain issued a trade regulation called an Order in Council, which compelled all neutral ships to either call at British ports or be subject to a search by British authorities. A month later, Napoleon decreed
It also give a momentous lift to the political or military careers of other men. The War of 1812 looked more to the past then to its future, it echoed the philosophy and problems of the American Revolution rather than exploring new ones. It was it second and last time that America was the underdog, tried to conquer Canada, and the Indians played any major role. The war was unusual in generating such heated political opposition and nearly distinctive in ending the war in a draw. Though most Americans pretended that they had win the war, they could point to a few gains to withstand this claim. It is this lack of victory that may best explain why the war was little
The war of 1812 was caused by several different reasoning’s. First, Britain was at war with France. However, Britain did not want the United States to provide France with food and supplies. This would lead to Britain setting up a particle blockade. Second, between the years of 1802 and 1803 the British had captured (kidnapped) about 6,000 American sailors forcing them to work on British ships. Third, many of the American settlers believed that the British were stirring up the Native resistance to limit settlement. Finally, members of congress like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun had started to sire up about the ideal of war. This was based off of their resentment towards British violation of maritime rights and Britain’s encouragement of Native American hostility against American expansion in the West.
The War of 1812 was a war between Britain and the United States fought primarily in Upper Canada. It had many causes, few which involved British North America. The results of the war include the fact that there was no clear winner or loser among them. The only real losers in the situation were the Natives in the region. They were driven out of their lands and customs. None of the borders was changed by the war, though many attempts were made. The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, did nothing to advance the state of the countries. It went so far as to end the war and put things back the way that they were, but the main causes of the conflict were not addressed or dealt with. In order to evaluate the significance of this war,
The War of 1812 was started by America due to British encroachment on three fronts, trade restrictions imposed by the British, the increasing alliances of the British with Indian tribes blocking American expansion West, and due to British interference with merchant class ships in the Atlantic. The war was fought in the Great Lakes region between America and Canada, near New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Atlantic trade routes, and around Washington DC. The British had always considered the American insurrection in the 1770s to be a temporary event, their continued battles within the European continent as well as the rest of the British empire had proven to be too distracting to keep a solid check on North America. The British also had not anticipated a war in North America in the lead up to the war of 1812 due to the fragility of the American states, leading to the hubris Britain retained in its relations with the young United States of America.
The War of 1812 had many conflicts and made a lot of enemies between countries. The British did not want America to trade with France and the British colonies such as Canada were forced to fight for them. The First Nations were reluctant to fight at first, but they were terrified about the Americans migrating west, therefore were required to fight with the British. All sides had a different reason to fight in the war. In the end, no one obtained what they desired, and everyone lost something. Among the many losers in the War of 1812, the First Nations lost the most because they lost more in many different ways such as, many of them lost their home. Also, due to the residential order, over 100 Nations were permanently displaced.
One cause of the War of 1812 was Britain’s impressment of American soldiers and incapability to acknowledge American neutrality rights. Impressment was the act of Britain’s Royal Navy of sending officers to U.S. ships, inspecting the crew, and seizing sailors who were accused of being escapees from British ships. The British used impressment because the Royal Navy was on a war footing and need all the sailors it could obtain. Impressment was more commonly known as “press gangs” and was regularly recruitment by force. Between 1803 and 1812, around 6,000
On July 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Britain which resulted in the beginning of The War of 1812. The War of 1812 was a military conflict between the United States and Great Britain. The war lasted from 1812 to 1814. The War started when the colony of Great Britain and Canada, was invaded by the Americans. The war was fought in Upper Canada, Lower Canada, on the Great Lakes, the Atlantic, and in the United States. The War of 1812 was a big dispute between the United States and the British Empire. The British limited the American trade system because they were afraid it would be damaging to their war with France. They also wanted to arrange for an Indian state in the Midwest. They wanted to do this to maintain their influence in the region. That’s why 10,000 Native Americans fought for the British in the war of 1812. Because Canada was a British colony at this time, Canadians were considered as British allies. Americans just wanted to prove their independence from the British Empire once and for all.
The War of 1812 was declared by United States on Great Britain because they were impressing American Sailors and blocked any trade with France. Canada and the Native Americans joined the British in the war. Donald Fixico, an Arizona State Professor wrote “A Native's Perspective on the War of 1812” where he states how the death of the leader of the Native American confederation and war icon Tecumseh, ruined any chance of the Native Americans pushing the US back in expanding into their territory. After Tecumseh died, the British abandoned the Natives which really gave them no chance to defending themselves against the American push west. Fixico goes on about how a strong leader like Tecumseh played a huge role for the Natives. After he died the Americans kept expanding west and the Natives couldn’t handle it. Donald Hickey a professor at Wayne State College writes “An American Perspective on the War of 1812” where he states that the war was started over how the US couldn’t trade with any European country and Great Britain kept impressing American sailors. Hickey explains how the foreign policy of Great Britain irritated the US and caused a declaration of war which helped the US gain land at the end of the
The War of 1812 was caused by the many conflicts with Great Britain and France. Even though the United States had made many efforts to stay out of the Napoleonic Wars, the conflict was not avoided. The United States had three primary reasons for declaring war: impressments and violations of trading rights, Indian conflicts, and a desire for western territory.
The War of 1812 had a strange lack of victors, but to fully comprehend its effects, one must first evaluate the causes of the war. Each nation involved in the war had a very specific set of goals they wished to accomplish. Initially, the United States aimed to stay neutral in the affairs of Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars until the two rivals attempted to restrict American trade. In an effort to combat this, President Jefferson passed the Embargo Act of 1807, which banned trade with all foreign countries. The act, intending to deprive the world of American trade, backfired and was later replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act to instead ban trade with only Britain and France. America's unwillingness to trade with the two caused tension that was intensified by the British policy of impressment.2 The resulting “anti-British sentiment” was greatly encouraged by the War Hawks, a group led by Henry Clay that supported war with Britain. They ardently pursued the end of impressment due to the Chesapeake-Leopard Incident in which the HMS Leopard boarded the USS Chesapeake, took four prisoners, and executed one thinking that they were British deserters. Once discovering that they were not, Britain returned the
The British didn't want America trading especially with France because of a war involving France and Britain that was going on at the time. According to ManyThings.org
In 1812, youthful America declared its first war. Battling the British, numerous events triggered the war, which occurred from 1812 to 1815. First, disrupting shipping and trade, the British stopped American ships, kidnapped sailors, and forced them to servitude. Second, settlers promoted the idea of war in want for more land and therefore, slaves and farmers. Third, a source reported to the Americans that the British were encouraging a militant indian named Tecumseh to attack the Americans. On June 18, 1812, the U.S. launched the war, with a navy that consisted of 17 ships against Britain’s 1,000. Meanwhile, the American army consisted of approximately 12,000 soldiers that were “slunk into either sloth, ignorance, or habits of intemperate
Leading up to the war, the Americans had a multitude of reasons for anger towards the British. The wrong done by England that outraged many U.S. citizens was the British's capturing of America's trading vessels and impressing of American sailors. During England's war against Napoleon, France's current dictator, the English army began to grow smaller in numbers, causing the need for more men, which they supplemented by taking America's seamen. Because Britain and France were also at war at the time, neither country wanted trade to exist between America and the enemy, leading to even more captured