The War of 1812 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The War of 1812 - Essay Example A lot of incidents related to the war also happened in the sea. Background Events Leading to the War: The war was instigated in 1783 after the termination of American Revolution. That was a time when US was irritated with Britain’s lack of consent to ratify commercial agreements in favor of America and Britain’s failure to retreat from the territory of America alongside the Great Lakes. The French Revolutionary Wars that happened between 1792 and 1802 and the Napoleonic Wars that started after that and continued till 1815 flared up American resentment. France and Britain were the primary contestants in these wars. With the passage of time, France dominated most of Europe. On the other hand, Britain ruled over the seas. France and Britain had commercial fights with each other in which Britain tried to blockade Europe while France did all to make sure that British goods were not sold in the French possessions. The maritime policies of Britain and France indulged into seve ral conflicts with the US in the 1790s. The difficulties became intense and grew manifolds after 1803. The British Orders in Council of 1807 tried to channel all neutral trade to continental Europe through Great Britain, and France's Berlin and Milan decrees of 1806 and 1807 declared Britain in a state of blockade and condemned neutral shipping that obeyed British regulations. (gatewayno.com, n.d.). Causes of the War: US felt that her rights upon seas were being subdued by France and Britain. Because of British dominance upon the seas, the British maritime policies were more disliked. British felt that it was their right to the British sailors with them from the merchant ships of America. In their haste, they took many Americans with them as well. This was the fundamental cause of tension between the two countries. There were numerous causes of the war. There was war going on between Great Britain and France in the early 1800s. In that war, England fell short of skilled sailors. In order to make up for the deficiency of sailors, Great Britain started stopping American ships and forcefully took sailors from them. In addition to that, Great Britain forbade US from entering into any trade with France. According to the Treaty of Paris (1783), Great Britain was supposed to remove her soldiers from the American territory, though she continued occupying US territory. A vast majority of the British soldiers remained along the Great Lakes and offered full support to Indians like Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader so that they may fully revolt against the American settlers. Proceedings of the War: US first tried to alter the European powers’ policies economically. The British ship Leopard attacked Chesapeake, which was an American frigate in 1807. At that time, Congress placed a ban upon American ships from trade by passing the Embargo Act. As a result of that, New England shipping was devastated but the French and British policies were left unaltered. Americans were i n the economic depression and were distressed. They resolved to commence the war in order to restore national honor. In 1810, the Congress was elected. In November, 1811, the War Hawks joined the Congress and asked to commence war against Great Britain. As a result of the aforementioned attempts by Great Britain all of which went against the interests of US, President James Madison convinced the Congress to declare war upon Great Britain in 1812. Battles of the War: In 1812,