War of 1812 The main causes of the War of 1812 were found in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe between the French and the British Empires. One of the biggest offenses to American sensibilities at the time was the fact of British impressments—i.e., of Britain forcing Americans to join the Royal Navy to fight Napoleon. Americans had already won their independence from Britain and viewed impressment as dishonorable and unlawful. Impressment was lawful in Britain during war time—but America was no longer under British law, so they considered it an offense. The British needed men to work their ships in the Navy as the war against Napoleon was quite large—so the British were using Americans and pressing them into service. Another issue or cause of the War of 1812 was the use of economic sanctions by both the British and French against the U.S. The economic sanctions were used as fodder…...
United States Military Performance Against the British in the War of 1812
In June 1812, the U.S. declared a war against the British and their North American allies. The war, according to Smith, was motivated by America's quest to take control of Britain's North American territories, Britain's punitive trade policy, Britain's support for Native Americans, and the forced enrolment of American sailors into the British navy. As a young nation, the U.S. was eager to safeguard its newly acquired independence. Commonly known as the forgotten war (Hickey 1), the war had important lessons for the U.S. This paper briefly evaluates the performance of the U.S. military in the war.
As depicted in the film The War of 1812, the U.S. initially employed an offensive strategy against the British (Public Broadcasting Service). Since the British navy was the strongest worldwide, the U.S. paid attention to land campaigns, especially in Upper and Lower Canada.…...
There was another group of Americans who felt that all of America, including British Canada, should have been conquered during the Revolutionary War and then ceded to the Americans, so they felt the War of 1812, which began with Americans attempting to conquer Canada, should not have had to take place at all.
Finally, New England residents openly opposed the war, and did not support anything connected with it. They would not offer funds for the war, and they would not allow their militia to fight in the war. They were angry about the economy, but they were also angry because they felt they had been mislead by the government, and the war was really being fought to gain territory in Canada, which they did not agree with. Ultimately, the war ended in 1814, but much of American did not support or condone the…...
mlaIn addition, before the war, British naval power was the superior naval power in the world, and the French, after a defeat at British hands, stopped trading with Britain, and asked most other European countries to stop, as well. Thus, the majority of Great Britain's trade was with the United States before the war, and there were few other avenues open to the U.S., with European ports blockaded. So, when the British blockaded American ports, there was nowhere else to trade, and trade fell even more than it had before the war.
There was another group of Americans who felt that all of America, including British Canada, should have been conquered during the Revolutionary War and then ceded to the Americans, so they felt the War of 1812, which began with Americans attempting to conquer Canada, should not have had to take place at all.
Finally, New England residents openly opposed the war, and did not support anything connected with it. They would not offer funds for the war, and they would not allow their militia to fight in the war. They were angry about the economy, but they were also angry because they felt they had been mislead by the government, and the war was really being fought to gain territory in Canada, which they did not agree with. Ultimately, the war ended in 1814, but much of American did not support or condone the war.
The book is constructed on two main theses, the first revolving around the relevance of the Barbary wars in the freeing of the American population and in its formation as stable and confident people. The second thesis focuses on the Tripolitan war played in the formation of the modern American Navy. However the general history courses place little emphasis on the wars against the Barbary States, the naval forces commemorate them and recognize the role they played in the formation of the modern U.S. Marine. A third specification which could be made relative to the book is that, however not implicit, it also presents the historical conflict between the American and Islamic forces, relating as such to a contemporaneous matter, which is not as new as one could think.
"Wars of the Barbary Pirates: To the Shores of Tripoli, the Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines" is written in a…...
mlaReferences:
Gregory Fremont-Barnes, "Wars of the Barbary Pirates: To the Shores of Tripoli, the Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines," Osprey Pub Co, November 2006
Wars of the Barbary Pirates: To the Shores of Tripoli, the Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines, Random House, last accessed on October 1, 2008http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781846030307 ,
questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=114867845.
Meier, David a. "An Appeal for a Historiographical Renaissance: Lost Lives and the Thirty Years War." The Historian 67, no. 2 (2005): 254+. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5010923917.
Murdoch, Steve, ed. Scotland and the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648. Boston: Brill, 2001. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=109286924.
Silve, Benoit M. "From Leadership to Partnership: a New American Security Strategy for Europe." Naval War College Review 50, no. 1 (1997): 88+. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5037619771.
Theibault, John. "The Rhetoric of Death and Destruction in the Thirty Years War." Journal of Social History 27, no. 2 (1993): 272+. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000249833.
Wilson, Peter H. "Who Won the Thirty Years War? Peter H. Wilson Unravels One of the Most Notoriously Bloody and Complex Conflicts in European History to Answer the Question ." History Today, August 2009, 12+. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5031722573.
. Kevin Cramer, the Thirty Years' War and erman Memory in the Nineteenth Century (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 1.
. Kevin Cramer, the Thirty Years' War and erman Memory in the Nineteenth…...
mlaGraham Darby, "The 30 Years' War: Graham Darby Examines the Nature and Effects of the War That Dominated the First Half of the Seventeenth Century," History Review (2001), http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000921247 .
Graham Darby, "The 30 Years' War: Graham Darby Examines the Nature and Effects of the War That Dominated the First Half of the Seventeenth Century," History Review (2001),
Form this point-of-view (Goodman) the war hawks are considered to this day the catalysts of the 1812 war, despite the circumstances and the eventual need for world consideration.
Overall it can be concluded that the war hawks represent a rather controversial presence in the history of the United States. While some argue that they are in fact responsible for a painful war against ritain that could have been averted, other view them as important characters in shaping the honor and prestige of the United States in the decades to come.
ibliography
Clay, Henry. Letter in Support of the War of 1812. 2008. 27 February 2011 .
Goodman, Warren H. "The Origins of the War of 1812: A Survey of Changing Interpretations ." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (Sep., 1941), pp. 171-186
Hatzenbuehler, Ronald L. "Party Unity and the Decision for War in the House of Representatives, 1812 ." The William…...
mlaBibliography
Clay, Henry. Letter in Support of the War of 1812. 2008. 27 February 2011 .
Goodman, Warren H. "The Origins of the War of 1812: A Survey of Changing Interpretations ." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (Sep., 1941), pp. 171-186
Hatzenbuehler, Ronald L. "Party Unity and the Decision for War in the House of Representatives, 1812 ." The William and Mary Quarterly Third Series, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 367-390
Muhall, Jill K. The War of 1812 . Huntington Beach: Shell Education, n.d.
Lear and Comodore Barron, the commander of the American fleet in the Mediterranean agreed in 1805 that Ahmad was no longer useful to the American cause. As a result, Lear met with Muhammad D'Ghies, Tripoli's Minister for foreign affairs, and eventually reached an agreement. War prisoners would be mutually exchanged, and America had to pay a sum of $60, 000 to Tripoli. However, this sum was considerably smaller than what the Pasha had asked for in 1804. Legendary Commodore Charles Morris wrote, "On the 3rd of June, a peace was concluded with Tripoli by Colonel Lear, who had been authorized by the President to negotiate."
One of the most important consequences of the war was its power to produce some of the earliest American war heroes. In the absence of news correspondents, and the far-reaching means the press has today, the accounts of the war were given by the people…...
War of 1812
A mere thirty years after the end of the Revolutionary War -- which saw the American colonies separate from and defeat the British empire -- the fledgling United States found itself once again face-to-face with the world's greatest military power in a struggle to secure for the new nation, a mark of international status. The War of 1812 began with a "secret vote on June 4th, in which House members endorsed going to war 79-49…and a Senate vote on June 17 favoring war 19 to 13" (Langguth, A.J. 2006). How though had the U.S. arrived at this precarious position and what would the confrontation invariably mean for American interests going forward?
Causes of War
America's "second war of independence" (Langguth, A.J. 2006) had three primary causes: the impressment of American sailors, the British trade and embargo and blockade of U.S. ports, and the "incitement of Native American's to violence against…...
The third theater of operations, besides the naval and Canadian one, was focused on the ritish push towards the capital city. Although successfully burning out Washington, the ritish were discouraged by the strong hold of Fort McHenry and the battle of New Orleans, in which they were defeated by Major General Andrew Jackson. As the Treaty of Ghent was signed in December 1814, news of this came to the American and ritish forces almost two months after the signing, putting also an official end to the war. As with altimore's fight, the defense of Fort McHenry, the author reminds the reader of another important information on the significance of this war. The battle of altimore later inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the poem "The Star-Spangled anner" which later became the national anthem of the United States.
As the author goes on with the war narrative, he introduces various descriptions of…...
mlaBibliography
Borneman, Walter. 1812: The War That Forged a Nation. Harper Perennial, 2005
That is simply not the case. Troops are being pulled out and replaced with mercenaries.
By using such deceptive tactics as talking points like that -- "I will bring the troops home" (one of Obama's campaign promises) -- the American public are fooled about politicians' plans. Politicians are by and large bought and sold by lobbyists from the military-industrial complex as well as by the Israeli lobby like AIPAC. If Americans in favor of peace cannot be fooled by phony promises of pulling the troops out (because they know they are only being replaced by hired mercenaries and unrest is still being promoted in the Middle East as a part of America's foreign policy), then Americans are tricked into believing that the Arab states are full of terrorists and that America is not safe unless it occupies the whole of the Middle East.
As Howard Zinn observes, "The United States has…...
mlaWorks Cited
Joseph, Paul. Are Americans becoming More Peaceful? MI: Paradigm Publishers,
2007. Print.
McCoy, Katherine. "Uncle Sam Wants Them." Contexts, Winter 2009, 14-19. Print.
Zinn, Howard. A Power Governments Cannot Suppress. SF: City Lights, 2007. Print.
Furthermore, while it established Canada as an independent
nation, it also established America. As a war over its previous colonizer,
America can be said to have won a second war of independence. This is
further reflected in considering President Madison's war message to
Congress. Madison appeals to the "honor" of his country, as if Britain has
violated it and it is America's responsibility to retain it (Madison,
1812). Although the war was fought primarily for economic reasons, the
"honor" Madison is referring to was regained during the war as Great
Britain was unable to dominate the United States. In fact, the United
States did more than a good job of fighting the British. Thus, it appears
that the war was fought somewhat over honor, and the United States
maintained their honor in the war. This means that the United States
established itself, and its pride, in the war, and this can be considered
an outcome of the war.
The war of 1812 had…...
mlaReferences
Feldmeth, Greg D. (31 March 1998). U.S. History Resources. Retrieved 3
March 2007 fromhttp://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/USHistory.html.Harney, Major W. (1989). The Causes of the War of 1812. Retrieved 4 March
2007 from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1989/HWW.htm .
Civil ar and Sectionalism
Even after the creation of the United States of America in 1776, sectionalism guided economic and political realities throughout the union. The United States developed regional economies, regional philosophies, and regional politics. Slavery, its economics and its politics, was the most contentious issue that divided the nation along northern and southern lines, and would eventually cause the Civil ar. As early as the 1790s, the northern states abolished slavery within their borders while the Southern states held on strong to the institution. Sectionalism would become the key cause of the Civil ar, the bloody manifestation of sectionalist issues within the United States.
Early signs of sectionalism became evident as early as the ar of 1812. The New England states still held strong economic ties with Great Britain, so those states generally opposed the war for financial reasons. Clearly, the economies of the north and south were evolving differently.…...
mlaWorks Cited
'The Causes." The American Civil War. .
"Pre-Civil War (1820-1860)." SparkNotes. .
Barbary Terror: America's 1815 ar against the Pirates of North Africa
During the 19th century, pirates were far from an abstract threat on international seas. Nor was piracy merely due to the actions of some rogue elements. The nations of Algeria, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli used state-sponsored piracy to profit off of ransom money. Sailors who were not ransomed in a system of state-sponsored forced labor. European nations had long taken the attitude that piracy was inevitable, and rather than fight it, they rationalized that "paying Barbary rulers a 'license' for trade was less expensive than constantly convoying ships or attacking the Barbary powers in their heavily fortified ports" (Leiner 14). Remarkably, the still relatively weak and young American nation under the leadership of President James Madison was able to challenge and defeat the Barbary nations at the piracy game. The book The End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815…...
mlaWork Cited
Leiner, Frederick. The End of Barbary Terror: America's 1815 War against the Pirates of North
Africa. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
More recently two schools of military history have developed that attempt to consider its object from a more eclectic, objective perspective, dubbed the "New Military History" and "War and Society" history. New Military History "refers to a partial turning away from the great captains, and from weapons, tactics, and operations as the main concerns of the historical study of war," and instead focusing on "the interaction of war with society, economics, politics, and culture."
New Military History is a relatively broad category, and its perspective can be evinced both on the level of a particular methodology and ideology.
Along with the "War and Society" school of thought, New Military History seeks to uncover the multifarious factors driving and influencing military conflict, with a particular view towards the interaction between these factors and the actual practice of war. That is to say, these schools of thought do no entirely abandon any consideration of…...
mlaBibliography
Alexander, Joseph G. "The Truth about the Opium War." The North American Review (1821-
1940) 163, (1896): 381-383.
Bello, David. "The Venomous Course of Southwestern Opuim: Qing Prohibtion in Yunnan,
Sichuan, and Guizhou in the Early Nineteenth Century." The Journal of Asian Studies.
Barbary ars
Frank Lambert's The Barbary ars: American Independence in the Atlantic orld is a look into a time when the United States was insignificant on the world stage; a time when the U.S. didn't even have a navy. The book literally begins with the tale of an American merchant ship named Betsey, which was captured by a band of Barbary pirates in November of 1784. The Crew, commanded by Captain James Erwin, were taken prisoner and held captive in the Moroccan port of Sale on the Atlantic coast. The newly independent United States of America was unable to act against this heinous act of piracy due to the fact that it had no navy. All naval ships authorized during the course of the Revolution had been sold off to help pay the expenses of the war. In 1784, the United States had no navy to speak of, and it's…...
mlaWorks Cited
Lambert, Frank. The Barbary Wars: American Independence in the Atlantic World. New York: Hill and Wang, 2005. Print.
Thesis Statement:
The United States Navy has played a crucial role in shaping the course of history, safeguarding national interests, and upholding global security. Its contributions encompass a wide spectrum of operations, from defending territorial waters to conducting humanitarian missions, demonstrating its unwavering commitment to protecting the nation and its allies.
Arguments/Points to Discuss:
1. Historical Significance:
- Highlight the Navy's origins during the American Revolutionary War, emphasizing its instrumental role in securing independence.
- Discuss the Navy's involvement in major conflicts, including the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, showcasing its adaptability....
1. Exploring the Historic St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
2. Environmental Concerns Along the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
3. The Economic Importance of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Shipping
4. Indigenous Perspectives on the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
5. The Impact of Climate Change on the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
6. Recreational Opportunities Along the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
7. The Role of Conservation Efforts in Preserving the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
8. The St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes: A Gateway to North America
9. The Political and Social Significance of the St. Lawrence....
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