The War of 1812 was an official fight between the United States and Great Britain. This war was not caused because of US expansion; the main cause that led to this war was the disputes over maritime rights. Britain and America had previous conflicts from the Revolutionary War; therefore, this event added to the tension. The most impactful dispute was over Britain's unlawful treatment of the United States ships and seamen. America began to lose money, and these allegedly unlawful treatments from Britain were bringing them down as an economy in terms of income. Another cause that contributed as well as the Native American involvement. America suffered greatly from the disputes over maritime rights which led them to their war with Great Britain, also known as the War of 1812.
One of the biggest causes of the War in 1812 had to do with trade between Britain and France. Britain and France both wanted to stop their opponent from trading with the United States. This caused the United States to suffer economically. Most of America's income came from trade because they made more profit this way. Cutting off the trade would make it harder to find certain resources for a good price. For example, some of the most popular trade resources were wood, leather, fur, and textiles. Using trade to receive these resources was a great way for the US to receive profit in things that were popular in their nation. Not being able to trade to receive these resources for lower prices is what made them angry because they begin to lose money.
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America did not want that to happen so they thought they would fight for their way of trade, which led one step towards the war of 1812.
Another cause that contributed to the War of 1812 was impressment. Many British soldiers were stopping American ships and forcing the onboard sailors to join their navy. Forcing Americans to join the British navy was a way for the British to create a strong military. From the British point of view, this was a brilliant idea because they knew America was a big society with millions of people. An example of impressment would be the USS Chesapeake. The British captured sailors and pressured them to join the British ships, and this is known as the most famous impressment. On America's end, this was crushing their society because they were losing their citizens while the British were gaining sailors. America didn't like this at all, so they decided to put their foot down and this led to another step towards the War of 1812.
Many events led the US to the War of 1812. The unlawful treatment of US merchants and seamen was the main cause. There were many attempts at negotiations between Britain and the US such as Jay's Treaty. Jay's Treaty was an agreement between Britain and the US that helped turn away war from each other. Events like the USS Chesapeake reflect how the British tried to own the US on water rather than land. The British felt more powerful on the water than they did on land. The power over water that the British felt that had led the US to take a stand, and caused the War of 1812.
Though America dealt with disputes over maritime rights, another way to look at the cause of the War of 1812 could be US expansion. The Louisiana Purchase held a huge contribution to this. The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between France and the US for the land west of the Mississippi River. The US wanted to get this land because they feared that France would access this land and create an empire that would bring access to travel to the Northwest of the US. Jefferson only wanted to purchase New Orleans for the benefit of trade routes, but the French offered the entire territory of Louisiana because they needed money to help support their war with Great Britain at the time. Even though US expansion had its ways of starting a conflict with expanding, maritime rights messed with the income of the US. Without consistent income, the country will be at risk, which is why the disputes over maritime rights were the cause of the War of 1812.
In today's world, we experience many similar scenarios that are similar to how the US got involved in the War of 1812. Just like the disputes over maritime rights, we have the causes that bring us to conflict. For instance, when people have riots and march for their rights in our country. They just don't do it for fun, there's always a cause that triggers them to do those types of things, just as the US had a reason to fight in the war of 1812. The biggest cause that affected recent riots was the murder of George Floyd. George Perry Floyd Jr, an African-American man who became a household name, was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest after he was suspected of trying to buy items with a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. These protests are protests that go against police brutality and racism in the US. These protests may never stop because as Americans we want to fight for what we believe is right, just like we did when the British tried to overpower our economy.
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