Major Causes: The War Of 1812

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 passing of the Embargo Act in 1807 banned all trade with European nations during the Napoleonic Wars in an attempt for the United States to steer clear of war and to prove to the European Nations that American goods were essential to their economies. Alexander Anderson's cartoon, drawn one year after the bill was passed, shows how the American people were affected by the Embargo Act. They resorted to smuggling goods in order to make money during the economic depression caused by the act. After Jefferson's poor decision with the Embargo Act, his party members began to loose faith in him and his Federalist opponents gained a great amount of popularity. By refusing to trade, the United States experienced the bad aspects of war with none of the potential gains through the signing of treaties. After the Embargo Act, the American citizens begin to

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 in Europe dominated James Madison's Presidency. The previous policy of the Embargo Act had failed, and Madison repealed it with the Non-Intercourse Act, which allowed trade with any country except the belligerents. When this became unenforceable, the Macon Bill, stating that the United could trade with any country agreeing to respect US neutrality, replaced it. Napoleon agreed to this stipulation, the British refused, so the United States began trading with France but not with Great Britain. This led to increased tension with the British, manifested both in the continued impressment of American sailors by the British and an increasingly hostile Indian population in the Northwest supposedly incited by the British.

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

For many years Great Britain and France violated the United States’ neutral shipping rights by confiscating American ships and impressing American sailors. Impressment was the practice of removing sailors and requiring them to serve the Royal Navy by force. The Chesapeake incident on June 22, 1807 made America realize something had to be done. The HMS Leopard, an English naval vessel, requested permission to board the Chesapeake, a smaller American naval vessel, to search the sailors for Royal Navy. The commander of the Chesapeake denied permission to the HMS Leopard, at which point the HMS Leopard opened fire on the Chesapeake resulting in killing three, injuring eighteen and impressing four American soldiers. Because of this incident U.S President Thomas Jefferson, announce the Embargo Act.

America wanted to annex Canada because it had a lot of resources that America would have loved to get there hands on the great amount of resources that America could have used. America also wanted to annex canada because it would have been a huge amount of territory gain for america and it would have made America a super country, it would have been a metaphorical spit in the face to Great Britain.

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.

In fact, during the European embargoes, thousands of American sailors were forcibly impressed by the British because Royal Navy life was so awful and unrewarding it caused British men to desert their own country en masse for the better-paying, better quality life of American maritime. In response to the Chesapeake affair, Jefferson, U.S. president at the time, made the Embargo Act which prevented Americans from trading with any ports outside the United States. The act really hurt American economics and trade and created such uproar in people that it was soon replaced with a more sensible act. The Non-Intercourse act forbade American trade with Britain, France and their colonial allies until their own embargoes were dissolved.

With the new President also came a Congress filled with new congressmen. The new Congress appeared to be in favor of war and authorized the construction of ships of war. In 1810, the new members of Congress began seeking war against the British Empire. Innocent Americans were being killed or taken off of American ships, Britain’s encouragement of Native American hostility against American expansion in the West, and the mere fact that the British were still on American soil attempting to instill their influence had finally reached the limit and on June 18, 1812, Congress declared war.

Since America was developing as a new nation, it was neutral. Great Britain cut off America’s trading because they thought it would interfere with their war against France. They also restricted trading because they wanted to set up an Indian population in the Midwest in order to still maintain their influence. The trade restriction was the first major cause of the War of 1812. During America’s neutral status, the British began to impress Americans, taking about 6,000 mariners and making them serve on the British ships.

The causes of the war of 1812 included the British seizing America’s with their cargo and goods. As well as the expansion westwards, this caused the Native Americans to rebel. The final reason was the election of 1812 where the Democratic-Republicans had disputes with the federalists.

The immediate causes of the War of 1812 were a series of economic downs taken by the British and French against the US as part of the Napoleonic Wars and American outrage at the British practice of impressment. In response to the 1806 British Orders in Council, which crippled American trade. In 1812, with President Madison in office, Congress declared war against the British. There were many causes of the war including British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen and America’s desire to expand its territory. The United States suffered from many costly defeats from the hands of the British, Canadian and Native American troops over the course of the War of 1812. Some of which were the capture and burning of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., in August 1814. Many in the United States

The war of 1812 was fought between the united states and great Britain over three main disputes. The first being that the British set up an economic blockade to prevent the french from trading with the U.S. The second being that captured united states seamen were forced to join the British royal navy. The third was that the British supported hostile native American tribes along the great lakes. All around this war had a costly affect on the people.