Cause of 1812 War

Cause of War of 1812

The War of 1812 began with British and French economic sanctions against the US during the Napoleonic Wars and American outrage at British impressment, notably after the Chesapeake Affair of 1807.

After the 1806 British Orders in Council hampered American trade, Jefferson tried many retaliatory embargoes.

These embargoes affected America more than Britain, angering Americans and supporting War Hawks like Henry Clay in Congress.

US Congress declared war on Britain in the year 1812 under the leadership of President Madison.

We must first understand why the US went to war with Great Britain in 1812 to appreciate this painting's naval success.

Several causes influenced the decision to fight the world's strongest naval power.

The Louisiana Purchase, frequently neglected, contributed to the War of 1812.

France needed money to buy soldiers and supplies for its war with Great Britain, while the US needed a large vast expanse of land for westward expansion and exploration.

The US paid $15 million for the land after negotiations. Napoleon waged war on Great Britain, and the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) destroyed the French and English industries.

As European rural economies slowed, the US became a key provider of commodities to Britain and France, who pushed the emerging country to remain neutral during the battle.

American ships re-exported French and British Caribbean commodities to Europe as well as their own.

American suppliers first made great profits, but as the war stalled with Napoleon dominating mainland Europe and the British controlling the oceans, the fighting countries began to interfere with the American reexport trade.

Britain blocked French ports and any American ships headed for France to starve the French into submission, angered by this commerce.

Based on the revived Rule of 1756, neutral countries transporting goods from an enemy colony to the continent would be considered an act of war.

The regulation also prohibited re-export commerce by requiring neutral states to carry only peacetime goods.

This rule authorized Great Britain to seize American ships.

British seizures occurred off American coastlines, whereas French seizures occurred in and near French-controlled European ports.

The US Congress approved the Non-Importation Act of 1806 in reaction to Britain's violation of neutral trade rights.

Britain blocked French-controlled European ports again with its fleet. France then banned British trade.

Several orders were exchanged. The U.S. was targeted if it followed one country's rules.

The British Royal Navy likewise impressed American sailors, angering Americans.

Britain used impressment to find Royal Navy fugitives who joined American commerce ships for better money, food, and facilities.

Before 1812, 6,000 American sailors were impressed. Britain impressed Americans more as their conflict with France progressed and they needed additional sailors.

These elements defeated US neutrality efforts.

“The behavior of [Britain's] Government shows a series of measures antagonistic to the United States as an independent and neutral nation,” President James Madison told Congress on June 1, 1812.

He listed three key justifications for war.

On Neutral Rights:

“Our commerce has been looted in every sea, the main staples of our country have been cut off from their lawful markets, and a fatal blow thrown at our agricultural and maritime interests.” 

British Impressment:

The US had to fight Britain to protect its sovereignty and marine rights.

On June 18, 1812, Congress declared war on President Madison, but it was not unanimous. Western and Southern states, the main benefactors of a British defeat, supported it.

Northeastern states rejected it since they had the most to lose with their commercial rights and businesses.

Many Americans believed President Madison's war argument was ill-intentioned.

Some said war was declared due to America's wounded dignity and honor from British impressments and rights violations.

Others suspected, accurately, that the conflict was only an opportunity for the US to expand its borders and gain the desired land in the Northwest (Canada) and South (present-day Florida).

These were occupied by many Indian tribes and controlled by British and Spanish forces, respectively.

The US invaded British-occupied Canada to oppose Britain on land rather than at sea.

Canada was valuable for its territory but vulnerable due to its small population and weak defense.

Britain also motivated American Indian anti-Americanism from Canada.

The Indians depended on the fur trade with Europe and despised American settlers for taking their land and competing for wild game.

British supplies helped Indian leader Tecumseh rise to power and form a pan-tribal coalition to fight the American empire.

European War and Economy

Britain, the navy power, and France, the land power, fought in Europe.

Blockades and trade goods seizure were used to destroy each side's economy. The US adopted neutrality.

Britain issued Orders-in-Council declaring any vessel entering a French port without first stopping at a British port to pay a fee and acquire a license from an enemy.

The British believed this was important to defeat Napoleon, but the Americans felt Britain was demanding they have no trade of their own and that she manage all their international business, threatening their freedom.

The US replied with the Embargo Act, which banned all US merchant boats from sailing from US ports and all foreign trade.

The Embargo caused a nationwide downturn that nearly paralyzed the US economy. Canadian border smuggling flourished.

Impressing Sailors

British impressing sailors to join the Royal Navy was a major provocation before the War of 1812.

In a fight for national survival, the Navy didn't care about its own citizens' feelings, let alone American sailors who might join.

English Common Law stated that even British citizens who immigrated to other countries could not give up their citizenship, making them vulnerable to impressment in wartime.

Of course, Royal Navy duty meant tight discipline, bad food, and the inherent risks of maritime warfare.

However, American commerce ships offered sailors a greater pay rate, less discipline, and more comfortable accommodations without the risk of attack.

Tens of thousands of British sailors served on American ships when offered.

Donald Hickey estimates 30% of American merchant shipping personnel; other authors have estimated larger numbers.

The British tried to find Royal Navy deserters on American ships if only to punish them and prevent others.

But it was always hard to figure out who a deserter was, especially after the US started giving citizenship papers with a basic description that could easily fit British sailors.

1. USS Chesapeake Ship Seizure by British troops

In June 1807, officers on the HMS Leopard found out that the USS Chesapeake had a lot of Irish people who were trying to escape.

The Leopard hailed the Chesapeake several miles off the American coast to exchange dispatches.

The dispatch boat's British officer spoke with many sailors.

After returning to the Leopard, he stated that he had overheard several men with Irish accents, and Leopard captain Salisbury Humphreys demanded permission to board and search the Chesapeake.

Captain James Barron declined, saying a warship was on sovereign territory and not subject to search and seizure by foreign ships.

Humphreys ordered the Leopard to fire three broadsides at point-blank range after being provoked.

The U.S. cruiser was so damaged that it could not fire a single shot before striking its flag, killing three sailors and wounding sixteen.

The British boarded, captured four sailors and left satisfied. 

Four years later, the USS President, sailing around the coast to prevent an American ship seizure, encountered the HMS Little Belt.

The 54-gun President destroyed the 20-gun Little Belt, killing 9 sailors.

Who shot first is unknown.

It was portrayed as an unmitigated act of hostility in Britain and a perfectly justified act of retaliation in the US four years later.

2. Conflict with American Indians

The British felt sympathetic toward many Native American tribes, especially those along the northwesterly boundary.

Many of those tribes had fought with the British during the Revolutionary War, and when the British withdrew, the new U.S. government retaliated.

The British did not openly encourage tribes to fight Americans, but many Americans assumed they did.

However, the British supplied gunpowder and rifles to the tribes, helping them fight American invasions.

British diplomatic pressure failed to limit American-tribal connections. American negotiators tried everything to get tribes to sign away their land rights and leave.

The Shawnee gave the U.S. Northwest Territory land in the Treaty of Fort Wayne.

Tecumseh, a youthful Shawnee chieftain, demanded that territorial governor William Henry Harrison reject the treaty.

Tecumseh formed an alliance to resist American invasions after Harrison declined.

3. EXPANSIONISM Motives

The distribution of land following the American Revolution did not satisfy everyone.

The loss of the Ohio River basin, which had major fur trade routes, displeased British and Canadian traders.

It was also home to a sizable Indigenous population, the majority of whom had supported the British during the American Revolution.

Because British supported their demand for the creation of an autonomous Indigenous state south of Lake Erie.

The Americans viewed British assistance to the First Nations as a threat to their expansion and their policy of forcibly converting First Nations peoples to farmers in exchange for the use of their hunting territories.

Primarily, the urge to occupy Canada was motivated by the perceived help the British in Canada were providing to the Northwest Natives.

Even the Americans did not overlook the fact that Canada was the last British stronghold on the continent.

As relations with Britain deteriorated, calls for northern and southern expansion intensified in bulk and frequency.

The loss of farmland in the Old Northwest prompted land-hungry farmers to advocate for the acquisition of Canada and its fertile plains.

4. Thomas Jefferson Diplomacy

As Jefferson became president in 1801, relationships with Britain slowly deteriorated, and systematic enforcement of the Rule of 1756 resumed after 1805.

The important British naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar (October 21, 1805) and attempts by the British to blockade French ports showed that this was a bad trend.

This is why Napoleon cut Britain off from trade with Europe and the United States.

Napoleon's Continental System was founded by the Berlin Decree (November 21, 1806), which violated US neutrality rights by identifying ships visiting British ports as enemy vessels.

The British responded with Orders in Council (November 11, 1807) that forced neutral ships to get permits at English ports before trading with France or French territories.

In reaction, France published the Milan Decree (December 17, 1807), which enhanced the Berlin Decree by enabling the capture of any neutral vessel that had been submitted to search by the British.

As a result, American ships that obeyed Britain risked being captured by the French in European ports, while if they followed Napoleon's Continental System, they risked being captured by the Royal Navy.

5. Tecumseh - A Native American Tribal Leader

Tecumseh felt that Native American tribes must unite to stop American expansionism.

He dispatched ambassadors to tribes around the nascent nation to seek support.

His brother Tenskwatawa, a prophet, led the cause spiritually, while Tecumseh led militarily.

Tecumseh traveled to the southeast in late 1811 to recruit the Five Civilized Tribesmen.

The Red Stick Creeks joined the Shawnee Confederation, but most refused.

Harrison led an armed band into Shawnee country, marching toward Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers, to provoke a confrontation while Tecumseh was away.

Harrison's men defeated many tribes' warriors on November 7, 1811, and burned the village after losing twice as many troops.

He paid a terrible military price, but it was a strategic win since it showed that the Shawnee Confederacy could not secure its de facto capital and may not have spiritual favor.

Harrison's advance drove Tecumseh and his followers across the Canadian border to British defenses.

The British blocking Harrison's troops were perceived as further proof that they supported Native American forces fighting American civilians.

6. Congressional War Hawks

Elections in 1810 were influenced by the question of war with Britain.

Young representatives and senators were deployed to Washington, with many identifying as "War Hawks."

Henry Clay of Kentucky, their most vocal and renowned leader, was elected House Speaker at the age of 34.

He began expanding the American military establishment and enhancing preparedness for a potential battle immediately.

In 1812, the U.S. Army was authorized to increase its strength from around 5,000 to 10,000 soldiers.

An additional 25,000 regulars were permitted for one-year duty, to be supplemented by up to 50,000 volunteers and 100,000 paramilitaries.

The active force available for a fight with Britain increased from 5,000 to 185,000 soldiers. 

The Navy began construction on major warships, while Army engineers strengthened coastal fortifications and began building in new areas.

It became immediately apparent that the United States was preparing for war.

In June 1812, President Madison formally requested a declaration of war against Great Britain, which was approved by a vote of 19 to 13 in the Senate.

In the House, it was approved by a vote of 79 to 49.

As so, it is the least favored declaration of war in the history of the United States, with 61 per cent of legislators voting in favor.

Support for the war was primarily regional, with the South and West accounting for the large majority of pro-votes.

It was also the only straight-party vote for war in the history of the United States; notice that one Federalist supported the resolution. 

7. US Economic Ambitions

The failure of Jefferson's embargo and of Madison's economic persuasion, according to Horsman, "War or ultimate surrender to England were the only choices, and the latter posed even greater terrors to the new colonies.

The war hawks came from the West and South, districts that had supported economic warfare and were the most affected by British limitations at sea.

Despite frequent captures by both France and England, New England merchants made significant profits from the wartime carrying trade, but western and southern farmers, who gazed longingly at the export market, were suffering from a depression that pushed them to demand war."

8. The Official declaration of War

Young Democratic-Republicans known as "War Hawks" rose to prominence in the US House of Representatives in 1811, led by Speaker Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

They advocated war against Britain for all of the aforementioned reasons but emphasized their grievances rather than territorial expansion.

President James Madison delivered a speech to the United States Congress on 1 June 1812 in which he outlined American grievances against Britain but did not directly advocate for a declaration of war.

After Madison's speech, the House of Representatives voted swiftly (79 to 49) to declare war, while the Senate followed suit (by a vote of 19 to 13).

The war officially began on June 18, 1812, when Madison signed the bill into law.

It was the first time the United States has declared war on another nation, and the vote to declare war was the closest in American history.

None of the 39 Federalists in Congress voted for the war, which was afterwards dubbed "Mr Madison's War" by its critics.

9. Consequences of the War of 1812

In the end, the United States went to war primarily due to opportunism, outrage, and incorrect assumptions.

It recognized the opportunity to seize control of the Canadian territory from the British.

The nation felt it was important to exact retribution for the persecution of American citizens, especially at sea.

And it asked that the fighting European powers acknowledge that American merchants had the right to stop at any port, at any time, without interruption, despite having no power to enforce such a concept.

The war effectively bankrupted the United States, both economically and ideologically, and the three years of conflict led to a return to the international status quo.

It is difficult to say who won the war, but it is quite simple to identify who lost.

Although neither the United States nor Great Britain won large possessions as a result of the conflict, the Native Americans who took part in it suffered massive territorial losses.

The remains of the Shawnee Confederacy were effectively expelled from the Northwest Territory.

The conflict also convinced future president Andrew Jackson of the need to erect a permanent barrier between the Native American and white populations of the United States.

When he gained power, he moved swiftly to transfer the Five Civilized Tribes west of the Mississippi River, as they had nearly entirely denied participation in the war.

The War of 1812, the nation's first declared war, was one of the most strange wars in American history.

Its ill-defined objectives, lack of unified political backing, and poor execution all contributed to its irrelevance in American history.

Later, larger conflicts, many of which ended in a decisive win rather than a ceasefire, have long overshadowed the War of 1812.

Yet, the choice to go to war established several patterns that influenced subsequent decisions to declare a state of war.

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