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The War of 1812

The war took place in the United Kingdom, United States (US) from 18th of June 1812

to17th of February 1815. It entailed severe conflicts between America and Great Britain due to

violation of the maritime rights of America by the British. The war came to an end when the two

parties agreed to exchange the Ghent Treaty ratifications. Some of the main events that led to the

war were America's desire to expand their territory, American seamen impressment by the Royal

Navy, and the attempts to limit the US's trading activities by the British government. The US

incurred many costly defeats from Britain, capturing the American Native and Canadian troops

during the war, burning of Washington, DC, the capital of the US in August 1814. However, the

British invasions into New Orleans, Baltimore and New York were repulsed by the troops of

America, thus enhancing new patriotism spirit and national confidence. The war was celebrated

as the US's independence second war, marking the national pride and partisan agreement era

(Sonneborn 15)

Causes of The War

During the war of Europe and the economy involving France's land power and the naval

power of Britain, each party tried to block and confiscate each other's trade goods, thus crippling
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the economy of either side. The US remained neutral all this while, and any ship that attempted

to dock at France's ports without passing through the ports of Britain to be taxed was treated as

an enemy through the council orders issued by Britain. To beat Napoleon, the British felt

issuance of such orders were necessary. However, the United States felt that the British were

limiting their trade, thus also taking power over their international commerce and endangering

their independence. The United States stopped all their vessels of the merchant from leaving

their ports and forbade international trade involvement by retaliating through the Act of

Embargo. The act affected the United States regions, leading to their economy being paralyzed

as smuggling flourished along Canada's borders (Horseman, 1962)

The issue of impressment involved sovereignty thus became the most critical problem

between Britain and the United States. It involved searching for deserters from the commercial

vessels as a right. The British sailors deserted with thousands due to harsh punishment, poor

food, and hard labour; thus, several of them ending up in the United States. However, the right to

search the US Navy vessels was never claimed by the British but claimed the right of searching

private ships because it did not invade the sovereignty of another nation (Gilje 29). The United

States, however, felt the act insulted the sovereignty of their nation. The US Navy vessel called

the Chesapeake sailed from Norfolk on the 22nd of June 1802; four Chesapeake crew members

were then removed by the British who boarded, claiming they were their deserters.

Regarding issues of politics and territory expansion, the British and Canadian merchants

were displeased by losing the valley of Ohio River and vital routes of trade to the land division

after the American Revolution. The loss resulted in creating an independent state of Indigenous

population who lost their home to the land division to settle in Lake Erie's western and southern

sides. The First Nations' support from the British was felt as a threat by the United States to the
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force policy of converting the people of First Nations to farmers and surrendering their hunting

grounds to use by the Americans. The South and North expansion calls rose in frequency and

volume when the US and Britain's relationship worsened. Canada's good lands were conquered

by the farmers who were hungry for land after their Old Northwest farmlands were exhausted.

These problems led to a small fraction of political persuasion called War Hawks. The War

Hawks called Britain for war in the leadership of Kentucky's Henry Clay elected to the Congress,

1810 (Gamm & Shepsle 42)

The War and Its Results

In the 1811's fall, William H. Harrison, the territorial governor of Indiana, led America's

troops to victory fighting the Tippecanoe Battle. Tecumseh, the celebrated chief of Shawnee, and

many other Indians from the Territory of Northwest were convinced by the defeat to reconsider

the need for support from the British to prevent the United States from invading and displacing

them from their lands. Towards the end of 1811, the Congress War Hawks placed Madison under

a lot of pressure, leading to a war declaration against Britain by the president on the 18th of June,

1812 (Cave 643). The Senate and the House had bitter differences regarding the issue despite

Congress's ultimate voting for the war. The Federalists, especially those who heavily relied on

the British trade, for example, the New Englanders, accused the advocates of the war of

exploiting the maritime rights in promoting their agenda of territorial expansion.

The by then colony of Britain, Canada, was almost attacked by the US forces to mount an

attack on Great Britain. The officials of America became very much optimistic regarding the

success of that invasion, in relevance to the under-preparedness of their troops during that period.

The United States faced the challenging defense of Britain, which was coordinated and

effectively managed by Sir Brock, the in-charge administrator of Upper Canada, a British
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soldier. On the 16th of August, the same year, Tecumseh and Brock's forces chased the American

armies under Michigan W. Hull's leadership over Canada's borders, thus humiliating and

defeating the United States, making them surrender Detroit to them without any more war.

The victory of Commodore Oliver H. Perry in the Lake Erie Battle in September of 1813

made situations better for western America as they firmly had the Territory of Northwest under

their control. Tecumseh perished in the victory of Harrison over the Thames Battle, where he

consequently retook Detroit city. In the beginning period of the war, the Royal Navy lost several

victories to the navy of the United States. In April 1814, when the armies of Napoleon were

defeated, the full attention of Britain was turned to the North American efforts of war. On the

24th of August, 1814, the Bay of Chesapeake was raided by the increasing number of troops from

the British forces and captured the capital of US, Washington DC, and burned down buildings of

the American government such as the White House and the Capitol (Sonneborn, 31). The action

was then justified by the British in retaliation for Upper Canada's capital, York's (Toronto of

today) destruction by America in 1813.

The US navy took victory over the fleets of Britain in the Plattsburgh Battle of Lake

Champlain, New York, on the 11th of September, 1814. Two days later, the navy of Britain

bombarded Fort McHenry, Baltimore, which they withstood for 25 hours. The next sunrise, the

flag of America was hoisted by Fort McHenry's soldiers inspiring Francis S. Key to write a poem

which was later set to a song with the tune of drinking by old English, "The Star-Spangled

Banner" adopted for America’s national anthem. However, the Bay of Chesapeake was

subsequently left by the forces of Britain with the aim of effort accumulation to retaliate against

New Orleans. The Federalists of New England became angry regarding the effects of the war on

commerce. They, therefore, brought together Connecticut and Hartford with the objective of
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putting forward possible ways to redress their differences. Moderate resolutions were adopted by

the Convention of Hartford from 15th of December 1814 to 5th of January 1815 (Sonneborn 34).

However, the existence of the convention led to the questioning of patriotism and loyalty of the

Federalists and New England by other nations, resulting in the dooming of the party.

End of The War

In August 1814, the two parties involved in the war sent their representatives to sign a

treaty for resolving the war causative issues in Ghent city of Belgium. Regarding the war of

economics and Europeans, the British repealed the council orders and grievances of the United

States, limiting their trade with the nations of Europe by June 1812 (Grodzinski 173). The British

acquired numerous sailors for their vessels with Napoleon's defeat and stopped engaging in the

issues of impressment, which had been dropped by the United States in the context of issues

relating to Naval power.

Concerning consistent territory expansion issues, in 1814, the peacemakers from both

war parties sat down in Ghent. Britain dropped the creation of the barrier state of First Nations

that existed between Canada and the United States. The two nations then agreed to set their

differences apart and get back to their pre-war peaceful state. The treaty of peace was signed on

the Eve of Christmas the same year. Britain and the United States had to return to their peaceful

affairs of the pre-war era, as stated by the articles of the treaty. The council orders or

impressment which propelled America to war declaration was never mentioned, and it was

assumed the war never happened. However, the British mounted a great bloody attack in the

New Orleans Battle on the 8th of January 1815, unaware of the peace treaty which had just been

signed. They were defeated by the army of Andrew Jackson, the future president of America
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(Sonneborn 43) The news America’s victory improved their sagging morale even though they

never achieved their pre-war goals

Impacts of The War

Even though the war is perceived as a minor historical conflict in Britain and America, it

was the largest for the Native Americans and Canadian people, who viewed it in the perspective

of a transition mark to earn their independence. Contrary to the expectations of the United States,

Canada became independent under the British and repulsed the invasions of the Americans.

However, the expansion of the United States into the people of Northwest Indian aspired

unchecked, thereby ending the influence of Britain in the region. The War of Creek encouraged

large settlement in the South, thus persuading Spain to hand over Florida State to America, 1821

(Bickham 256). The war had an extreme effect in America as the Ghent Treaty ended several

years of the bitter war in the partisan government and brought in an era of peace among inter-

state governance. The Anglophobia tradition reinforcement and the unpatriotic stance of antiwar,

which was propelled by the Party of Federalist, thus starting the War of Revolution, were also

terminated by the War of 1812 (Lambert 451). The most significant outcome of the war is that it

encouraged America's spirit of expansionism and State self-confidence, thus determining the

19th-century stance.

In general, the war was a turning point in the history of the United States. America got

inter-states respect as it took victory in the war over various great military powers of the world

and instilled great nationalism sense among its people. The war had virtual minimum effects on

England as it promoted colonies of British in Canada, thus paving the way for Canadian

precursor, the Confederation of Canada. However, if the war never occurred, the United States

would have had Canada in its powers as several Americans would relocate to the North. The
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global impact of the war that significantly endured was the Ghent clauses of arbitration. Its core

objective of settling the disagreements that caused the war in the first place established

significant ways that could be adopted by the changing ministries of Britain, the administrations

of America, and several events of the world (Black 321). It marked the beginning of comity by

Anglo-America that would intervene possible causes of another war in the future and promote

international peace worldwide.

Work Cited

Bickham, Troy. The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire, and the War of

1812. OUP USA, 2012.

Cave, Alfred A. "The shawnee prophet, tecumseh, and tippecanoe: a case study of historical

myth-making." Journal of the Early Republic 22.4 (2002): 637-673.

https://doi.org/10.2307/3124761

Black, Jeremy. "Britain and America Go to War: The Impact of War and Warfare in Anglo-

America, 1754–1815." The English Historical Review 121.490 (2006): 320-321.

https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cej085

Gamm, Gerald, and Kenneth Shepsle. "Emergence of legislative institutions: Standing

committees in the House and Senate, 1810-1825." Legislative Studies Quarterly (1989):

39-66. https://doi.org/10.2307/440091

Gilje, Paul A. Free trade and sailors' rights in the War of 1812. Cambridge University Press,

2013

Horsman, Reginald. The Causes of the War of 1812. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962.

Sonneborn, Liz. The War of 1812: A Primary Source History of America s Second War with

Britain. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 2004