Summerize The Issues And Events Of The War Of 1812

Around the time of the War with 1812 the U.S was capitalizing from the war between Britain and France by trading goods to both, but swearing support for neither country. We got rich off of both nations, our trade expanded and the economy grew while we were able to stay free of foreign entanglement.

A number of things though caused the War of 1812

1) Violations of the American Sovereignty by Great Britain..

a) Impressments - Imprisonment or kidnapping of U.S. citizens and merchant marines on the open sea

b) Interference with American shipping and trade

c) Britain's refusal to turn over western forts promised to them at the end of the American Revolution, thus supporting the Native-American resistance.

2) American expansionism. Conquering of Great Britain's Canadian colonies to get them off of North America for good.

3) Growing Presence in U.S. politics of War Hawks

a) War Hawks led by Henry Clay

b) Asked for a declaration of war against Great Britain as a response to the grievances listed above and for the chance to take over the British Canadian colonies.

There were four theatres of operation during the war.

1) The Atlantic Ocean

2) The Great Lakes and the Canadian frontier

3) The coast of the United States

4) The Southern states

With the British ships outnumbering the United States vessels, the goal of the British was to protect their own merchant ships to and from Canada while cutting off the American supply line, thus interrupting the U.S. trade and economy. Although there were numerous battles over the two plus years of war, there were six strategic wars in these theatres of operation.

1) British Navy blockades the American Coast by 1813.

Although the American Navy was outnumbered and not as highly trained, they had early success in capturing a number of British frigates. With that, the British sent more ships and tightened the blockade by June 1813, in fact it was so tight that the British were able to land troops on American soil which led to the attacks on Washington DC

2) Lake Erie

Although the Americans failed to win battles for Lake Erie and Lake Champlain in 1812, they finally succeeded in September of 1813. Led by Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie, the victory here was a decisive one because it gave the Americans control of the lake and it also boosted morale which had been down after numerous defeats. It also led to another important battle on the Thames River.

3) Battle of the Thames

After the decisive win at the Battle of Lake Erie, future President William Henry Harrison defeated the British in Canada and also killed Tecumseh who was a widely respected Shawnee leader and to this day is a respected icon for Native Americans. Because of his death, it weakened Native American unity with Britain and resistance in 1813. The Americans would end up controlling the Detroit area for the remainder of the war.

4) Burning