Crisis In Great Britain During The 1800's

During the 1800s, Great Britain was facing a crisis as there was a war with France looming over them. Along with this crisis, Great Britain was facing conflicts with the United States. Great Britain was in a difficult situation as war broke out against France. At the same time, the United States was looking for a "Second Independence" as they were trying to finally prove their independence from The British Empire. Great Britain faced more serious matters with France as they were trying to stay free of French domination. America tried to cripple Great Britain in their war against France by imposing embargos on the nation but was unsuccessful as Great Britain had all the sources they needed to fight France. America realized they were hurting
Revenue was needed for resources which are required to supply the British troops. Funds are also needed to cover the military expenses. With the Napoleonic War going on, Great Britain had only a bit of revenue that they could supply their forces in America with (Bergeron). Due to this, British forces had to retrieve most of their coinage (this was the biggest source of Revenue at the time) from Boston and New York (Bergeron). The national debt in Britain forced a reduction in military spending, it was to the point that the revenue needed to fund the war was almost non-existent (Bergeron). The Americans, however, kept adding more damage to Britain's budget as they captured 1,345 British prizes and inflicted an estimated $45.5 million in damage on the British merchant fleet (Dudley). Great Britain was not able to offer much revenue to their forces stationed in Canada and with this, there was not enough money in Canada to pay for the war. The alternative was to issue legal tender notes that could be used as payment for any government debt (Bergeron). In 1812, £250,000 worth of notes in denominations were issued to the British troops, £500,000 were issued in 1814 (Bergeron). The first issue of army bills is dated 1813 (Bergeron). Once the Treaty of Ghent was signed ( the treaty that ended the war between England and the United States), there was about £1.32 million worth of army bills in circulation. While a total of
Great Britain was never able to fully fund the War of 1812. The war with France was depriving the British of all their available revenue and due to this, Great Britain was not able to supply their forces with the necessary supplies to continue with the war with the United States. Due to this, British troops had to find a mean to get their own source of supplies. Food wise, they had about 1.5 million acres of land that could be used to grow a variety of grains (Bergeron). Troops grew a variety of crops such as wheat, oats, barley, maize, and peas (Bergeron). With 48,000 soldiers in Canada, along with 10,000 militia, and 10,000 Native allies, (Bergeron) the consummation of crops was heavy. According to the records of the Commissary-General in charge of supplies and provisions for the military, 3.6 million pounds of flour were required for the forces in Canada between April 1812 and June 1813, about 2.6 million pounds were already at their disposal , and about another million was on it's way from Great Britain (Bergeron). However, with the increase in troops, Great Britain needed to supply more flour as there was a high demand for it from their troops (Bergeron). From April to August 1813, 3.38 million pounds of flour were shipped from Britain. As the war efforts grew, there was an increasing demand for supplies that couldn't be met in Canada especially since the military rations consisted of main grains,