Causes of the Declaration of War Against the British

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When we fought for our independence the first time with Britain, it was because we did not like the way the British was using us and treating us poorly in comparison with their own homeland. Britain tried to keep us underneath their arms; to hold us closely and extort our land and take advantage of our people, but with the revolution, we kept them out. We made a peace treaty with Britain, but apparently Britain thought they could still control us; Britain thought that they could keep ‘tabs’ on us and prevent us from doing any trading with France while they were in all-out war with them. Napoleon was making his rounds within Britain and with all the things that Britain had pulled on us from the year before up to the now, the good people of America figured it would be a good chance to show Britain that we were not kidding when we said we wanted independence. And what better time than to do it while they were at war?

There were many causes of the declaration regarding the war, with the first one being that Britain, abducted American merchant sailors for the sake of forcefully enlisting them to fight for the Royal Navy service, also known as impressment. Interestingly, this issue was actually already solved two days after war had been declared. The British had agreed to end the acts of impressment, and yet we still use it as a major reason regarding the declaration of war.

Often, Britain would violate the Treaty of Paris which was the treaty formed at the end of the American Revolution. The British would invade U.S. areas located within the western frontier. Then there was the issue of Britain working with the Native Americans to conduct acts of aggression towards traders in the Americas in an effort to scare them away and all for...

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...acts On File, Inc., 2005. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EWAR1706&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 27, 2014).

Rohrbough, Malcolm J. "War of 1812." In Rohrbough, Malcolm J., and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: Expansion and Reform, 1813 to 1855, Revised Edition (Volume IV). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHIV241&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 27, 2014).

Tucker, Spencer C. "War of 1812, causes of." In Tucker, Spencer C., gen. ed. Encyclopedia of American Military History. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EMHIII0296&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 27, 2014).

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