The War of 1812: Justifiable for the United States The war of 1812 could either be viewed as a justifiable war or pointless to the American and English people. The United States declared war on the British on June 18, 1812, for many reasons. To some, the causes of the war were not grave enough for a real war to erupt. However, there are three main motives that clearly made it valid to declare war. The British’s actions of impressment, efforts to restrict the United State’s trade, and the conquest for land in Canada and Florida were major contributors of the war of 1812 being considered justified for America. Before the war started, the British navy had a huge lack of sailors due to circumstances of low pay or low skill level ("The Mariners' Museum: Birth of the United States Navy."). Obviously, the British were not a fan of their scarcity of men. Britain decided to start impressing naval officers, meaning that they would force any British sailor they could find to serve for the the royal navy ( Lambert, Andrew). British seamen started to abandon the British ships they worked on to work for American merchants who would pay them more. This led the Royal Navy to the impressment of American soldiers as well. An estimated figure of about 6,000 America men were pressed and forced to serve in the …show more content…
The issue of impressment was something that needed to be dealt with not only in America, but globally. If the United States did not fight against the trade barriers, who knows what could have happened to our economy. The land we gained in Florida was just one minor contribution to the large, beautiful country that is known today. Plus, if the war never occurred, the United States would not have the Star-Spangled Banner or the iconic Uncle Sam that all Americans
First, people think that the war had a very big factor in the United States history. For example, in source 10 it states that “Great Britain and France were preventing U.S. trade with foreign countries.” (“52 Interesting
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain from June 1812 to the spring of 1815 (Findling, 15). When the war began, it was being fought by the Americans to address their grievances toward the British, though toward the end, the issues eventually were unjustified and reasons manipulated. There is no single cause for the War of 1812 but instead, several related causes, such the influence of the War Hawks, the impressments as well as the Embargo and Non-Intercourse acts, and the British's possible interference with the Indian Nations, and land ownership disputes between the Natives and Americans, ultimately leading to the Battle of Tippecanoe.
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
The War of 1812 has always been a part of American history not very exiting to learn about for most Americans. It was a tumultuous time for the New Republic and some of the battles of the war shamed the new nation. The War of 1812 did not have the same glorious, honorable, and just cause of the American Revolution. The British made fools of the American people and even burned the Capitol and the White House, the centers of American politics, to the ground. However as shameful as the war was, it also had some good benefits and it demonstrated to Great Britain and the rest of the world that the United States of America was its own sovereign nation, and not some British Sphere of Influence. Although the treaty of Ghent failed to address
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and England. Ending in 1815 with the Treaty of Ghent, the war did not accomplish any of the issues it was being fought over. For the US, the War of 1812 seemed to just be one failure after another. Although the military suffered great failure during the war, these were the direct consequence of the failure of the citizens to unite for the causes of the war. Because of these failures, it is quite valid to call the War of 1812 "America's worst-fought war".
For the Americans, the greatest irritant was Britain’s practice of impressment, or the seizure of American seamen for service in the British navy. The British government claimed that it only seized subjects of the Crown who sailed under the American flag to avoid wartime service in their own navy. In fact, the British seized not only their own deserters, but also impressed a sizeable number of United States citizens—estimates suggest 6000 or more (Encyclopedia Encarta).
However, Great Britain refused to recognize the French Republic due to the beheading of the monarch. England’s acknowledgement of France would display agreeance in the beheading and doing so would inspire radicals within the empire to follow the example of the French. The confrontation that develops between France and Great Britain will cause the United States to declare war. This essay will examine the views of those in favor for the War of 1812 and those opposed.
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.
On June 1, 1812, the United States’ fourth President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Britain approved by Congress. This is obscurely known as the War of 1812, which was also the first war of the 19th century and lasted from 1812 to the spring of 1815. The War of 1812 is widely known as the “forgotten war” because the war has left very little to the popular memory. Despite the opposition from an entire region, mainly the Federalists, of the United States for the War of 1812, there were many reasons for the United States to commence the war. The War of 1812 was caused by numerous reasons including British impressment of American sailors and their refusal to acknowledge American neutrality rights, the United States’ widespread belief the British were encouraging Indian rebellion, the actions of some newly-elected Congressmen dubbed the “War Hawks,” and the American desire for more land.
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
To understand the War of 1812 we have to look at the Napoleonic Wars for it was during this time that both Great Britain and France began to harass American trade ships. The United States attempted to remain neutral; they wanted to have peaceful trade with both countries but France and Great Britain began to restrict American
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 harm of trading rights and citizens were one major cause of the War of 1812. Great Britain was known to have been interfering with U.S rights to use the sea. “Great Britain, in defiance of this incontestable right, captures every American vessel bound to, or returning from, a port where her commerce is not favored; enslaves our seamen, and in spite of our, perseveres in these aggressions.” (Document 1) The Americans feared that they would lose all their trading rights to Great Britain. If the American leaders did not do something soon, then Great Britain would take over American trading ports. “… Which shall we do, abandon or defend our own commercial and maritime rights, and the personal liberties of our own citizens employed in exercising them? These rights are essentially attacked, and war is the only means of redress.” (Document 2) For Americans to regain their freedom of trading they had to declare the War of 1812.
The war of 1812 is one of the bloodiest wars in us history. This war having around 19,465 us casualties and less than a third of that of British casualty this is one of the worst wars the US has ever been in. But this number of casualty was not for nothing as they fought for a good cause. There efforts made America what it is today.
When the situations of war were getting worse for the Americans, the United States declared war on June 18, 1812, due to trade restrictions by the British, “the impressment of American sailors” forcing Americans to work in the British ships, belief that the British were motivating the Native Americans to fight the settlers of America, and the desire of seizing Canada and kicking the British out of it.