It might seem strange that a lot of Americans are not even aware of the second war for independence (that is the other name for the war of 1812). However if we think about it, one can find quite a few reasons that have caused such ignorance among people. The war of 1812 has a very compound roots, extremely confusing course, and in addition to all of it the outcome of the war is also hard to understand, as both sides consider themselves to be winners. The war happened during the so-called stagnation period in the history of the US, the period that the great historian Richard Hofstadter has described as "dark and unproductive era of stagnant and imitative culture, mismanagement and limited management of violent internal conflicts, topped by an absurd and futile war. " 1
So, as it can be understood from the beginning, the war of 1812 is not the one America should be proud of, and that is true, it is not. The war is mentioned in student’s textbooks, but unlike all the other battles the country took part in it is not remembered out of classrooms. The purpose of this essay is to dig dipper into the history, connect the facts and finally understand why did the war of 1812 happened.
What were the main caused of the war?
There were scores of reasons that had lead to the collision of the United States (the country which had only been independent for 20 years) and the former motherland — Great Britain. And only some of them were related to the events that took place in Europe during those years. Reginald Horsman argues that “the confusion concerning the origins of the War of 1812 has stemmed primarily from the lack of attention paid to the position of England in the causes of the conflict, and from the overemphasis that has been placed on “western expansion”2 After the First war for independence the British had an attitude of disgusting contempt for Americans, former British citizens, who betrayed the king. They did not take the new state seriously, as most of them did not recognize it’s right for independence. At the same time, Americans had negative attitude towards Britain, so the antipathy was mutual. Of course it would be farcically to assert that it was the main cause of the war, as the roots of it can be traced deep down from the wobbly diplomatic relations of the United States with the traditional European powers.
As far as the Americans liked to think of themselves as of miraculously free from wars and alliances with the Old World, it was quite difficult to maintain that freedom while Britain and France were at war. When in 1803 Napoleon's desire for domination in Europe sparked new conflicts between these two countries, the two sides have introduced laws and a lot of orders in Council that deprived Americans of the right to a neutral trade: doing business with one of the parties was seen as a sign of devotion to a nation and a manifestation of hostility with respect to the other. So, The US had become a victim of foreign nation’s policies, even though it remained neutral all the time.
British policies and laws were the most destructive for the United States. The British ships patrolled the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, passing the American ports very closely. They did it with the purpose of inspecting the American merchant ships. The British used those rummages to solve the problem of human resources they had, forcibly arresting sailors who were born in Britain. In the opinion of the English, sailors were subjected to His Majesty, so they attempted to make captive Americans as part of their crew. Reviving the practice of forced recruitment they gained a lot of workforce what has led to the fact that a lot of Americans have experienced al the torments of life in the British Navy. The capture of American ships caused a huge resonance in the US, but the indignation turned into real anger only in 1807 when a British frigate opened fire on a U.S. military vessel, killing three sailors before the capture of four men who allegedly were British. After the incident, American citizens called for the war, however the American President Jefferson was hesitating. First of all he understood that the country were not ready for the war, possessing undersized and poor equipped army. Having become the President Jefferson has reduced the size of an army and navy to the minimum, leaving only a couple of ships ready to serve the country. Despite of that, Jefferson was a convinced pacifist, and “believed that wars and the armies and navies needed to fight them brought nothing but debt, taxes, more wars, and the destruction of republics.”1
According to the US Constitution only the Congress has the authority to declare war. The House of Representatives took up the message of the president, and 79 congressmen voted for the declaration of war in England, 49 voted against it. All Republicans voted for the war, and the vast majority of Federalists voted against it.
The South also insisted on the war with Britain, but the North was against it. Over the next few years Britain continued to provoke American, but it did not lead to the war. The next President — Madison, opposed the war, as Jefferson did, and he sincerely hoped to avoid it. He took a lot of steps preventing the war, one of which was asking the Congress to pass the law, prohibiting French and British ships from entering American ports. While the President was opposing the war, the new members of Congress did not see any other options but fighting the war. Therefore on June 18th 1812 the Congress declared war on Britain. Perhaps it would have been different if he had known that London had for domestic reasons already decided to repeal the hated Orders in Council.3 However it was too late to retreat, America had got itself into one of the most meaningless wars in its history.
The main territory where the war was actually fought was the area of the Great Lakes — St Lawrence border between the United States and British North America. It was the region, where all the big struggles took place, engulfing the United States, Great Britain, her colonies, and forty or more of the aboriginal nations in eastern North America4.
During the campaigns of 1812 and 1813, the lack of preparedness of Americans to war was obvious, thus the U.S. attempts to occupy the territory of Canada have failed. The British major general Isaak Brock proposed to strengthen British forces at St. Joseph and Amherstburg and be ready to seize Michilimackinac and Detroit as soon as the war broke out. He thought that victories early in the war were the only way to win the support of the Indians, and hoped that early defeats might discourage the Americans, who expected an easy victory. A setback might make them less willing to face the continued expense and difficulties of warfare5. The British managed to gradually strengthen the blockade of the American coast along its length. However, September 10, 1813 the American fleet defeated the enemy on Lake Erie. “The Battle of Lake Erie can be considered as America’s first major victory in the war. It made British to leave Detroit and retreat toward Niagara On October 5, 1813, Major General William Henry Harrison overtook the retreating British army and their Indian allies at the Thames River. He won a decisive victory in which the Indian leader Tecumseh was killed, thereby ending the fighting strength of the northwestern Indians6. As a result, the U.S. managed to take control of the border areas in the West. During 1814 the U.S. once again was in danger of being defeated, as, after the victory over Napoleon in Europe, the United Kingdom sent a large force to fight the Americans.
The main areas of impact were New York (in order to cut off from the rest of New England, USA ) , New Orleans (in order to block the Mississippi River ) and the Chesapeake Bay area ( which was a fraudulent maneuver ) . August 24, 1814 the British under Admiral George Cockburn took Washington and burned it. Perhaps the story is not well known because it is a painful reminder of a humiliating episode7.
However, on the outskirts of Baltimore at Fort McHenry on September 13-14, the British met a fierce resistance. In the north, 10- thousandth of a British army acted the part of Montreal. In spite of this September 11 the Americans defeated the British fleet in the Bay of Plattsburgh and having lost the support of the fleet the British ground forces were forced to retreat to Canada. The negotiations on the conclusion of a peace treaty began in June 1814, and on 24th of December the Ghent agreement was signed. The agreement restored the pre-war status quo, but it did not solve the territorial and economic issues that caused the war. It is also worth mentioning that in the peace negotiations of Ghent, Great Britain failed to secure a permanent reservation for the Indians, leaving them at the mercy of an expansive people determined to engross lands up to and even beyond the Mississippi river8.
Even after the conclusion of the peace treaty, the U.S. Army, not knowing about it, under the command of future president Andrew Jackson on 8th of January 1815 defeated the British at New Orleans. But under the terms of the peace agreement, the parties returned to pre-war borders and returned each other the occupied territories. As a result, the United States failed to join Canada, but they had a free hand in expanding its territory to the West and the Indian lands that were previously considered allies of the British Crown.
The significance of the war of 1812
In Great Britain the war of 1812 is not considered to be something big and major. Of course, considering the scope of the war with France, and the loss from that war, it is very obvious that for the United Kingdom the second war with the United States did not play any significant roles. However it was not like that for America. The consequences of the war of 1812 were crucial for such a young country as the US those days.
The end of the war did not mean the one hundred percent victory over the external enemy, however on the domestic political scene it certainly meant the triumph of the Republicans and thus defeat of their opponents.
The war of 1812 brought significant changes in the situation of the indigenous population of Americas. First of all, it helped to effectively ruin the Indians' capacity to resist American expansion east of the Mississippi River. By the end of 1815 the French and the Spaniards lost influence in North America, and by the end of the war of 1812 being abandoned by their British allies, the Indians grudgingly gave up most of their lands north of the Ohio River and in southern and western Alabama to the U.S. government.
Secondly, the war allowed the United States to rewrite its boundaries with Spain and solidify control over the lower Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the United States did not defeat the British Empire, it had fought the world's strongest power to a draw. Spain recognized the significance of this fact, and in 1819 Spanish leaders left Florida and agreed to an American boundary running clear to the Pacific Ocean.
The third factor, which is not less significant, is the shift in the American politics after the war has ended. For example, right after the war myriad of Americans branded Federalist party as traitors, therefore the party never got rid of that marking, and disappeared from national politics9.
Having looked at all of the aforementioned facts one has to come up with his own conclusion whether the war was worth being fought or not. The question of the necessity of that war is very controversial, and there are a lot of answers on it. So many people, so many minds. That is totally natural. The abnormal thing is the fact that no one really talks about that war in America. As it was already mentioned, student’s study about it at school, but that is it. Its anniversaries are not celebrated neither honored, what seems very strange. I agree that that war can be humiliating for the country and its people, but nevertheless it happened, and people who fought the war, and died on the battlefields deserve to be remembered.
Moreover, the war has played a very significant role in American history. Having defended their independence the second time, American government understood that the country has all chances to become recognized and powerful. Therefore, the country, represented by President James Monroe, started to express its concern about the fate of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, which were liberated from the colonial rule. In future it has led to the adopting of the Monroe doctrine, which was considered to be bold and proud declaration of a new, powerful, sovereign republic.
Notes
- Lundberg, James M.. "War of 1812 Bicentennial: Why does no one remember the war that made Andrew Jackson famous? - Slate Magazine." Politics, Business, Technology, and the Arts - Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2012/05/war_of_1812_bicentennial_why_does_no_one_remember_the_war_that_made_andrew_jackson_famous_.html (accessed September 16, 2013)
- Horsman, Reginald. The causes of the War of 1812. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962, 263.
- Lord, Walter. The dawn's early light. Johns Hopkins paperbacks ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012, 14.
- Benn, Carl. The Iroquois in the War of 1812. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998, 3.
- Turner, Wesley B.. The War of 1812 the war that both sides won. 2nd ed. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008.
- "Digital History." UH - Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=2988 (accessed September 16, 2013).
- Pitch, Anthony. The burning of Washington: the British invasion of 1814. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2000, Preface.
- Hickey, Donald R.. The War of 1812: a forgotten conflict. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989, 303.
- "Digital History." UH - Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=2989 (accessed September 16, 2013).
Bibliography
Benn, Carl. The Iroquois in the War of 1812. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
"Digital History." UH - Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=2989 (accessed September 16, 2013).
"Digital History." UH - Digital History. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=2988 (accessed September 16, 2013).
Hickey, Donald R.. The War of 1812: a forgotten conflict. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989.
Horsman, Reginald. The causes of the War of 1812. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962.
Lord, Walter. The dawn's early light. Johns Hopkins paperbacks ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.
Lundberg, James M.. "War of 1812 Bicentennial: Why does no one remember the war that made Andrew Jackson famous? - Slate Magazine." Politics, Business, Technology, and the Arts - Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/history/2012/05/war_of_1812_bicentennial_why_does_no_one_remember_the_war_that_made_andrew_jackson_famous_.html (accessed September 16, 2013)
Pitch, Anthony. The burning of Washington: the British invasion of 1814. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 20001998.
Turner, Wesley B.. The War of 1812 the war that both sides won. 2nd ed. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2008.
