The War of 1812 Essay

Submitted By sm343010
Words: 661
Pages: 3

The War of 1812

Many people believe that the war of 1812 was an unnecessary war but I think that there are some factors that show, that this war wasn’t really unnecessary. The war of 1812 was called the “second war of independence”. The war had a big impact on the United States’ future. The victory at the battle of New Orleans boosted the Americans patriotism and national self-confidence.
When Great Britain was in a long conflict with France, both nations tried to block the United States from trading with the opposite side. The English really frustrated America’s leaders when they forced U.S. seamen to join their Navy and started using the method of impressment to get their soldiers back, who had escaped Britain’s Army and were looking for naturalization in the United States. To impress those soldiers the British Navy had to attack American ships. They destroyed many U.S. ships and killed several American and English seamen. In 1802 the Orders in Council in Great Britain decided that neutral countries must get a license before they could trade with France. This decision hurt the American trade a lot, that’s why Thomas Jefferson signed the unpopular Embargo Act, which got soon replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act. This act prohibited The United States from trade with Great Britain and France. But the Non-Intercourse Act also got replaced by a bill which said that if either one of the two powers dropped their restriction, they would in exchange resume their Non-Intercourse Act with the opposing power. France’s current leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, agreed and President Madison blocked Great Britain from all trade with the United States.
With their aggressive Impressment tactics, the English broke many maritime laws and they were encouraging the Native’s hostility against the United States’ expansion in the west. This behavior caused the American Councils to press the President, Madison, to declare war against Great Britain. The troops though, were very unprepared for the war but, they were confident that they had a chance to defeat their opponents. At the battle of Tippecanoe, the Native Americans realized, that they needed help of Great Britain to keep the Americans from expanding westwards. The United States attacked Canada and after that British colonies and they got defeated by the strong English Army.
At the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813, the Americans took over the North West Territory and they had several other victories over the Royal Navy. In August