The Events Leading Up to the War of 1812
After the war of independence the United States government worked out its initial issues and in 1809 James Maddison would enter office, but over in Europe, the Napoleonic wars were going on and the United Kingdom had a large shift in its foreign policies with its non-European trading partners. In 1809 Thomas Jefferson would write Maddison a letter, "I am sorry they are sending a minister to attempt a treaty. they never made an equal commercial treaty with any nation, & we have no right to expect to be the first. it will place you between the injunctions of true patriotism & the clamors of a faction devoted to a foreign interest in preference to that of their own country. It will confirm the English too in their practice of whipping us into a treaty.”1 Showing escalating British anxiety. Later for a majority of reasons including the seizure of American sailors to be conscripted into the Royal Navy, many Americans had enough and in 1812 the US declared war on the United Kingdom.2 The ideology of the average American was still based on the beliefs of the revolution, however there was a fear among many that the British would eventually return to try and take their former colonies back. So when war was declared in 1812 there were mixed opinions among the American public, some were for war and wanted to take more British territory, some were scared as the memories of being under British occupation before and during the revolution was still fresh for many, and some were indifferent and against the war as it would strongly affect the economy and livelihoods of many, like in New England.3 Once war was declared Maddison would address congress and with his mindset and the American ideology at the time he would state, “The practice, hence, is so far from affecting British subjects alone, that, under the pretext of searching for these, thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of public law, and of their national flag, have been torn from their country, and from everything dear to them; have been dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation, and exposed, under the severities of their discipline, to be exiled to the most distant and deadly climes, to risk their lives in the battles of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy instruments of taking away those of their own brethren.”4 This shows both his and the American peoples frustration over the British taking American sailors and the pressure they are feeling from the increasing British aggression. I feel like this entire ideology of the time further enhances my thesis. The war had also seen a large sense of American nationalism and brought very important historical Americans into the public knowledge.5 Also during the war many different groups took the ideal of the revolution and transformed it into their own image, for example the war hawks who were heavy advocates of the war and wanted to fulfill their ideals of a large and strong United States.6
Overall these stacking factors increasing tensions with the British and the damage done to the American pride and ego, and the major political figures involved, war was surly to follow.
1 University of Virginia Press, “Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 27 April 1809,” n.d., https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-01-02-0140.
2 “War Declared on Great Britain by President James Madison,” Newspapers.Com, June 25, 1812, https://www.newspapers.com/article/-war-declared-on-great-britain-by-presid/47012875/.
3 J. T. Headley, The Second War With England (New York : C. Scribner, 1853). Page 59
4 “James Madison’s War Message to Congress, 1812,” n.d., Paragraph 4, https://www.ruhr-uni bochum.de/gna/Quellensammlung/04/04_madisonwarmessage_1812.htm.
5. “American Citizens - War of 1812 (U.S. National Park Service),” n.d., https://www.nps.gov/subjects/warof1812/american-citizens.htm.
6. “Federalists, War Hawks & the War of 1812,” American Battlefield Trust, July 8, 2024, https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/federalists-war-hawks-war-1812.