The War Of 1812 APUSH

Brandon Nieves

12/4/14

Ms. Pearson

APUSH
The War of 1812

Throughout the course of history, the United States and Great Britain always seem to be bumping heads with each other constantly. They can never settle on the same page as they seem to have their differences on each other’s point of view. It all started with the American Revolution when the colonists demanded independence from Great Britain and now the United States find themselves going against Great Britain once again. This is known as The War of 1812 which was only
29 years after the American Revolution. American leaders have attempted to prevent their own involvement with the wars between France and Great Britain.
Because of this, George Washington issued a Proclamation of Neutrality which was meant for the United States to not choose sides between the two European powers. In addition, John Adams had also agreed to the Convention of 1800 and this also terminated the alliance between the United States and France that was formed during the American Revolution. However, this led to Europe violating
American rights, destroying American ships, seizing cargoes, and kidnapping sailors which forced Thomas Jefferson to place the Embargo Act. The United States continued to struggle in terms of economy due to the fact that it put many merchants, shippers, and sailors out of work. Thus, leading to the United States becoming involved and declaring war on Great Britain.
There were many forces that led the United States to declare war on
Great Britain. They were fed up with Great Britain’s ways of restricting the rights of Americans. For example, America’s commonly used method of trading and transportation was the ocean. Britain forced conflicts between other nations due to restricting the rights of Americans by capturing American ships and enslaving seamen. According to Document #1, Congressman John C. Calhoun is a
Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from South
Carolina. He expresses his belief that Britain is the reason why America’s rights are being restricted and becoming worse in his speech. He states that Britain are affecting the maritime and commercial rights (trading rights). He adds on by stating that they are against Great Britain because of their style of government, claiming America’s rights, and becoming an independent power. According to
Document #2, Congressman Calhoun continues his speech by agreeing with the fact that Great Britain is discriminating the rights of the Americans. They put all of their efforts during the American Revolution to gain their independence and have civilized rights. The fact that they have to declare war on Great Britain once again to gain their rights back is frustrating for the United States, however, they would not want to lose their rights so they will give it their all. Congressman Calhoun

believed that, as Americans, we should be able to fight and defend to protect our personal liberties. On the other hand, another Congressman by the name of John
Randolph believed that these were not the reasons for American declaring war on
Great Britain. According to Document #3, Congressman Randolph believes that the reason for America declaring war on Great Britain was not because of their rights being restricted but it is because of their environment. In other words, the greed for farmland and soil was the reason for this war. Finally, President James Madison voiced out his opinion in Document #4. Madison believed that the United States declared war on Great Britain primarily because of the failure of defense. In other terms, Madison felt that the United States government failed to protect and secure the rights of American citizens.
Other forces that led the United States to declare war on Great Britain were based on the states that voted for war and sided themselves with the United
States or Great Britain. According to the accompanying map that is shown on
Document #5, some states either voted for war or voted for no war. However, some of these votes forced states to vote for war mainly because they were split decisions. The voting poll that is shown in Document #6 also explains why the War of 1812 was approved to go into effect. Most of the voters that strongly favored the War of 1812 were mainly the Democratic-Republicans while the Federalists completely opposed the War of 1812. The reason for such a high vote for the War of 1812 was because the Americans wanted to gain their rights back and settle their differences with Great Britain. Congressman Hugh Nelson of Virginia also stressed his reasons for why he decided to support the War of 1812. He stated that the reason for his vote to support the war was because he wanted to demonstrate to the world that the United States are one nation. A nation that cannot and will not be broken down and separated just because Great Britain was trying to force them to by taking their rights. The involvement of the United
States and declaring war on Great Britain contributed to why President James
Madison successfully became reelected during November 1812. Americans believed that James Madison would be the push that they needed to become successful over Great Britain during the War of 1812.
In conclusion, there were many forces that led to the United States declaring war on Great Britain. Whether if it was because their rights were being restricted, the greed for farmland was strong, or because of the failure of defense. Primarily, the United States got themselves involved and declared war on
Great Britain to prove that they are one nation. A nation of Americans that are willing to make a sacrifice or make that risk to fight for their country and their personal liberties. The United States were determined to prove a point through wr and they were not going to stop there.