The War of 1812 was the result of ongoing political, diplomatic, and economic problems with the British and French, as well as expansionist/territorial issues with the Native American populations along the Western regions of the United States. Du ring the early 19th Century, the United States relied on foreign countries for manufactured goods, since manufacturing goods for itself was relatively new. The U.S. exported raw materials and crops to the England and France, and received finished goods from both of those nations. In 1803, the Napoleonic Wars (France and Great Britain) raged, but because the United States traded with both nations, the U.S. wanted to remain a neutral party, thus continuing to do business with both countries. American neutrality angered Britain and France, believing that America’s neutrality benefited the other belligerent in the conflict. Thus, both France and England took actions to “prevent the United States from trading with the other.’ (Brinkley ,189.) More than the French, the English violated the neutral rights of the United States to the extreme by seizing U.S. merchant ships, confiscating the cargo, and taking men, who were assumed to be English defectors, into naval service. Additionally, the Native Americans along the Western frontier were being encouraged by the British to fight the Americans who threatened to remove them from the western lands as the Americans continued its expansionist movement in that direction. There are three primary reasons why the United States declared war against England. First, as the war between England and France intensified, American merchants continued to trade with both countries. In 1805, a British court ruled that enemy goods were not neutralized ... ... middle of paper ... ...Treaty of Ghent, essentially sealed the fate of the Federalist Party, since it from that time forward, carried the stigma of being disloyal. Lastly, the spirit of patriotism was widespread as a result of General Jackson’s victory in New Orleans. The nation now had new heroes, had proven it was indeed a force to be reckoned with, and was ready to undertake the potentials of a new era. After fighting the British for a second time, and arising unbroken, the sovereignty of the United States would never again be questioned. Works Cited Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. 5th Ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008). Tindall, George Brown and Shi, David Emory. America: A Narrative History. 8th Ed. Brief. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010). Hollinger, Andrew. Chesapeake and Leopard, 1807. Lesson 5:L5:2
America had suffered numerous devastating losses, such as the capture of Washington D.C. The ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on February 17, 1815, ended the war. The war of 1812 was known as the second war of independence and was called the beginning of an era of partisan agreement and national pride, or the “Era of good feelings”. “The Era of Good Feelings” was an inaccurate label for the selected time period.
After the U.S gained their independence form Britain, they faced the greatest obstacle that would threaten their independence. This was a second war fought against Great Britain called the War of 1812. The war was fought on land and on sea and lasted almost three years. There were many forces that led Americans to declare war on Britain in 1812.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
The Era of Good Feelings was one in which the federalist dissolved thus leaving only one party; the republicans which left no room for party politics, this resulted into nationalism which was emphasized not only with that of Madison's letter but also the Star Spangled Banner, the Bonus Bill, the Monroe Doctrine, The Court Decisions of John Marshall and most importantly National Spirit through the U.S. After the win of James Monroe a Virginian Republican president nationalism was looked at through that of a great perspective wherein Monroe won 231 of the electoral vote verses Adams of the electoral vote. (Doc I-Presidential Election, 1820) Also as the war between American and Britain came to a halt there were some minor issues that took place however, both countries settled the disputes between each other rather than going to war. This is because the British had taken note of U.S. sovereignty, therefore the U.S. was able to put forth Nationalistic ideals seeing that one of the strongest European nations had now respected the sovereignty that we, as a young country, had established. This was followed by a letter that Madison wrote to Congress in 1815 which represented once again the spirit of National Pride.
Tindall, G.B. & Shi, D.E. (2010). America a narrative history 8th edition. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. p.205-212.
The Peace of Amiens did not last long after it’s signing on March 27, 1802, to end the European wars between the allied France and Spain, and Great Britain, with the United States now neutral due to the coup of the French monarchy. Neither France, nor Britain upheld the treaty, and hostilities were reassumed. In 1805, Britain seized and condemned the US vessel Essex, engaging in trade with French West Indies. A year later, it was reported that Britain had seized over 120 American vessels. In April of 1806 Congress passed a non-importation act excluding trade with many British products.
The French and Indian War impacted the trans-Atlantic economic relationship between the motherland and her colonies. Before the war colonists were rushing to buy new British manufactured goods resulting from the early stages of the industrial revolution. To pay for these manufactured goods, colonists increased their export of raw materials for sale to Britain. Although the exports were able to pay for a significant portion of cost of British imports, a significant shortfall was covered by British loans. This economic relationship saturated much of pre-French and Indian War colonial America and became normal. After 1763, Britain was in dreadful need for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War. Britain was clever on finding ways to raise revenue from the colonies. From 1650 to the end of the French and Indian War was a period of "salutary neglect." Britain had very little involvement in the lifestyle of the colonies. After the French and Indian War, mercantilism became strictly enforced. Merc...
Henretta, James A., Rebecca Edwards, and Robert Self. America: A Concise History.( Boston: Bedford, St. Martin's, 2006),
On June 1st, 1812, President James Madison declared war on the British for many reasons. In his war message, Madison brought three unpardonable British acts to Congress’s attention. The first, impressment. “Thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of public law and of their national flag, have been torn from their country and from everything dear to them,” (War Message to Congress, Paragraph 4). British Navy ships would stop American ships to search for British deserters. This often resulted in natural American citizens being apprehended and forced into the British navy. During this time, Britain was at war with Napoleon and wanted to hurt France economically. To do so, Britain tried to restrict French trade with other nations, including America. “Not content with these occasional expedients for laying waste our neutral trade, the cabinet of Britain resorted at length to...
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, Canadian victories and losses, as well as overall results, must be analyzed.
Divine, Robert A. America past and Present. 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Longman, 2013. 245. Print.
...entually were unjustified and reasons manipulated. These factors, with others, caused the war of 1812, which finally put to rest the age old conflict between the British and the United States of America.
While engaged in war with each other, Britain and France tried to eliminate trade from the United States from the other by capturing American ships headed into the others ports. The two countries believed that trade was a way for America to show support of one side over the other. The rapid decrease in overseas
...th of these ideas were significant, they did not truly change how the nation operated as a whole. For all his talk, Jefferson did little to change the Federalist policies established by his predecessors and ultimately ended up embracing many of them. Yes, the election represented change, but was the election was really the “Revolution of 1800”, as claimed by some? Perhaps the greatest proof against this idea is that the national government has more or less existed in the same form since it was established by the Constitution.
George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shi, America: A Narrative History, Ninth Edition, Volume One, (New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 504.