Genital Mutilation

War of 1812

When writing about notable events in the U.S. nothing is more notable than a war. In particular the war of 1812 stands out the most. This war is also referred to as the “ Second War of Independence.” This was was a great stress for both the U.S. and Great Britain. There are many reasons the war started between the two nations. The war lasted two years and eight months. Overall this was a completely unnecessary war and resulted in a lot of money being spent on both sides, and no real outcome.

The war was started for many reasons. Around 1807 Britain was at war with France and the armies of Napoleon. Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions to limit trade with France. The U.S argued that these restrictions were illegal under the international law. American shippers took advantage of the hostility in Europe to absorb the carrying trade Between Europe and the French and Spanish islands in the west indies. At the time Britain was the largest trading partner , receiving eighty percent of U.S. cotton and fifty percent of other U.S. exports. Because of this, Britain was resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition. The united states view was that Britain's restrictions violated its right to trade with others.

Another reported cause of the war was naval imprisonments. During the Napoleons rampage, the royal navy expanded to 176b ships of the line and 600 ships overall. Thus requiring 140,00 sailors man them. The royal navy could man the ships in peace time with volunteers but during conflict they competed with merchant shipping and privateers for a small amount of experienced sailors. They turned to imprisonment from ashore and foreign or domestic shipping when they could not operate its ships with volunteers alone. American anger grew as U.K. British ships were stationed right outside of U.S. shores. They also searched ships for contraband and impressed men while within U.S. territorial waters (Ducksters.)

America tried to expand more towards the northwest territory, but was obstructed by indigenous leaders like Tecumseh who were supplied and encouraged by the British. The northwest territory,which consisted of the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was the battle ground for conflict between the U.S. and native american nations. The British saw the native american nations as valuable allies and provided arms. Attacks on american settlers in the northwest further aggravated tensions between the two nations. Raiding grew more common in 1810 and 1811 which Westerners just wanted these raids to end. The British had a long term goal of creating a neutral native state that would cover much of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan. Unfortunately with the war that plan fell through.

Eventually, the United States got fed up with Great Britain's interference. On June 18,1812 President James Madison declared war on Great Britain. This was the first time the United sets declared war on another nation. At the time Britain was heavily engaged in the napoleonic wars. Over seas, the U.S. was having trouble growing its army due to joining being voluntary and it was very unpopular. It offered poor pay and there were few trained and experienced officers. On July 12, General William Hull led an invading force of about 1,00 troops to attack a British colony in Canada (War of 1812.) They faced an all prepared British army also receiving help from native americans. On August 16,1812 U.S. troops suffered a humiliating defeat. Sir Isaac Brock led the British to drive out the american army from Canada and scared Hull enough to surrender Detroit with no shots fired.

A notable win came to the American troops in the Battle of Lake Erie. On September of 1813 U.S. troops saw small vessels headed there way being led by British commander Robert Barclay. U.S. troops quickly got to there stations and prepared for the battle ahead. Ultimately the americans were able to take Lake Erie and were able to advance against the British. The British burned Detroit and fled to Canada.U.S. commander William Harrison Pursued them and defeated