Primary Cause Of The Seminole War

1332 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Was the US justified in dropping bombs on Japan

The primary cause of the Seminole War was the instability of Florida following the War of 1812. The Spanish were unable to prevent black slaves running away from Georgia and joining the Seminole tribe in Florida. The slaves who escaped and joined the Seminoles became known as the “Black Seminoles.” The Black Seminoles angered the Americans and they feared they would encourage more slaves to run away and join their forces. Further, the Creeks who had lost their land following the War of 1812 also found refuge with the Seminole tribe. The main source of conflict was a fort that a fort built by the British during the war located on the Apalachicola River. The fort was taken over by a force of 350 Black Seminoles and became known as “Negro Fort.” The United States viewed the fort as a threat and warned Spain that they would attack it unless they removed it. In response the United States constructed Fort Scott just north of the Florida border. The Americans moved a convoy of two gunboats carrying 270 men and laid siege to Negro Fort effectively killing the majority of the black garrison. In retaliation the Seminoles attacked a U.S. Army boat killing 34 soldiers, six women, and beating the brains out of four children; this act marked the start of the Seminole Wars.
The Monroe administration acted quickly and sent General Andrew Jackson to the region and gave him “full power to conduct the war as he think best” effectively giving him free reign. Jackson marched from Nashville to Fort Scott with 500 soldiers, 1000 militiamen and 1800 Creek warriors intent on squashing the Seminoles and if possible taking Florida from Spain; from there Jackson marched into Florida on a path of destruction. Jackson’s forces first completely destroyed th...

... middle of paper ...

... then turned to incidenary bombing at low altitudes with devastating results. In a few months 180 square miles of 67 different cities were destroyed; 2, 510,00 Japanese homes were destroyed leaving about 30% of the population homeless. With between 268,157 to 900,000 Japanese civilians killed there were more Japanese civilians killed by American weapons than were Japanese soldier and the majority of these deaths were direct results of firebombing. The United States then dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing 200,000 people and within days the Japanese surrendered. While the morality of the bombing of Japan is highly questionable the effectiveness is not. The bombing led directly to the surrender of the Japanese and saved the lives of the many American troops that would have been lost had the United States engaged in the invasion of the mainland.

Show More
Related

  • Why Andrew Jackson Was A Common Man

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1812 a war began. Jackson was elected the general of Tennessee Militia in 1802. Then the troops were needed on the southern and western frontiers, the War Department sent Jackson along with Tennessee Militia. Jackson became a war hero, in doing so, he surprisingly defended New Orleans against a full-scale attack by the British forcing them to withdraw form Louisiana. The unexpected victory launched an enormous sense of national pride as America began to realize its true potential.

    Read More

  • Prompt and Utter Destruction

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    ..., in a way that would undoubtedly change the image of the American military. The bomb on Hiroshima did just that, and left Japan with only the option to consider a surrender that would end the war. The first bomb was a horrific, necessary military operation. The bomb that destroyed Nagasaki just three days later, with a warning after the fact, was an animalistic attack. With the combination of the bomb on Hiroshima and the Russian invasion, the attack on Nagasaki was completely unnecessary. If the United States had never used the second bomb, the same conclusion would have been reached, but without the added destruction and brutal murder of innocent, noncombatant Japanese.

    Read More

  • Atomic Bomb Justified Dbq

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    In discussion of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one controversial issue has the dropping of the atomic bombs being justified. On the other hand others believe that there were other ways of getting Japan to surrender and it was not justified, the only way we could get Japan to surrender was to invade them. Our strategy was to island hop until we got to Japan. Many more lives were at steak when doing that. Not only would just Americans would die, but a lot of the Japanese would have died as well, and the death toll would have much greater. 199,000 deaths came after the dropping of the atomic bombs. However, many American lives were saved, what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbor, and the treatment of our American soldiers while

    Read More

  • What Were the Key Issues Leading To the Civil War?

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    Since the beginning of their new nation, the United States had many differences between the Northern and Southern states. During the Constitutional Convention they disagreed on how to determine their representation in the house based on population; the Southerners wanted to count their slaves and the Northerners did not, which lead to the three-fifths compromise. Later in the Convention there were concessions given to the South, which left the Northerners feeling uneasy, such as: a guarantee that the slave trade would not be interfered with by Congress until 1808 and slave owners were given the right to recover refugee slaves from anywhere in the United States. While many Northern delegates were disappointed with the rights given to the South, they felt it was necessary for the good of the Nation. This was necessary to form a strong central government and union between the states.

    Read More

  • A Brief Biography Of Andrew Jackson

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jackson remained in the military after the war. Late in 1817,he received orders to subdue the Seminole Native Americans, who were raiding across the border from Spanish Florida itself. He captured its bastions at St. Marks Pensacola and arrested, tried, and executed two British nationalists whom he charged with abetting the Native Americans.

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson Essay

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Indian removal was so important to Jackson that he went back to Tennessee to have the first negotiations in person. He gave the Indians a couple simple alternatives. Alternatives like to submit to state authority, or migrate beyond the Mississippi. Jackson Offered generous aid on one hand and while holding the threat of subjugation in the other. The Chickasaws and Choctaws submitted quickly. The only tribe that resisted until the end was the Cherokees. President Jackson’s presidency was tarnished by the way the U.S. government handled the Native Americans. Although financially, and economically Jackson truly was a good leader, some people view him in a negative way because of the “Indian Removal Act.”

    Read More

  • Use of the Atomic Bomb Against Japan was Justified

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...s who would do anything to win their war so a powerful weapon was needed to weaken their will. The bomb?s intense impact saved more soldiers? and civilians? lives involved in the war than it destroyed. The damage the atomic bombs produced was miniscule compared to the massacres the Japanese militarists created. The bomb clearly improved American foreign relations, especially with the Soviet Union. The choice to use the atomic bomb was justified because it coerced a Japanese surrender, saved countless lives, served as retribution for the sufferings of many people, and acted as an anti-Soviet deterrent.

    Read More

  • Displacement and Mistreatment of Native Americans

    2250 Words  | 5 Pages

    There was one obstacle to the settlers to expand into the lower South. The obstacle was the Indian tribes such as the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw, and Seminole nations (Indian Removal 1). According to the white settlers, the nations were in the way of the white’s progress. The whites wanted this land because they needed it to grow cotton, which was making a huge profit (Indian Removal 1). With money on the settler’s minds, the settlers asked the government to gain the Indian Territory. Andrew Jackson agreed with the settlers and pushed for the Indians removal (Indian Removal 1). For instance, in 1814, Andrew Jackson made military forces defeat parts of the Creek nation (Indian Removal 1). The Creek nation lost twenty-two million acres in Georgia and Alabama (Indian Removal 1). When the United States found out that the Seminoles were holding fugitive slaves, the United States decided to take more land as the Seminoles punishment (Indian Removal

    Read More

  • SWOT Analysis: Thew South During The Civil War

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lincoln took the divide and conquer approach putting a military in Virginia while also sending the military troops through the Mississippi

    Read More

  • Causes of The American Civil War

    2128 Words  | 5 Pages

    The war is the unfolding of miscalculations." -Barbara Tuchman Lasting from 1861 to 1865, the Civil War is considered the bloodiest war in American history. However, the Civil War had seemingly been a long time coming. There were many events that took place within the fifteen years leading up to the Civil War that foreshadowed the eventual secession of seven “cotton states” from the Union.

    Read More

  • Atomic Bomb Morality

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were ethical decisions made by President Harry Truman and the United States government. By the time of the atom bomb was ready, the U.S. had been engaged in military conflict for over four years and lost over 400,000 soldiers. Truman claimed, "We would have the opportunity to bring the world into a pattern in which the peace of the world and our civilization can be saved" (Winkler 18). The bomb was aimed at ending the war immediately and avoiding prolonged battle in the Pacific Theater and the inevitable invasion of Japan. President Truman hoped that by showing the Japanese the devastating weapon the U.S. possessed, that the war could be brought ...

    Read More

  • The Unjustified Use of Atomic Bombs on Japan

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with the possibility of forcing the U.S. to join World War II. About 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had been sunk, and 188 aircraft were destroyed. On August 6 and 9 of 1945, the U.S. retaliated and dropped two atomic bombs called Fat Man and Little Boy on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The U.S. was not justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan because of the locations that were bombed, the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and the lack of previous bomb testing. Firstly, the bombings were unjustified because of the locations where the bombs were dropped.

    Read More

  • The Atomic Bomb

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...e atomic bomb on Japan was extremely controversial it ultimately ended in America’s favor when Japan surrendered. According to Karl Compton, “it was not one atomic bomb, or two, which brought the surrender; it was the experience of what an atomic bomb will actually do to a community, plus the dread of many more, that was effective.” Hiroshima and Nagasaki will always serve as a reminder of the tremendous effects powerful weapons can have on a country. America consciously decided to seize Japanese lives in order to save American lives. The attack effected Japan in a massive amount of negative ways but the outcome of the atomic bomb did create positive effects for America. The devastation generated by the atomic bomb will never be forgotten by citizens worldwide. “The atomic bomb was more than a weapon of terrible destruction; it was a psychological weapon.” (Stimson)

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Atomic Bomb

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    On August 6, 1945, the first bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. Three days later on August 9, the second bomb hit Nagasaki. Whether the United States made a moral and ethical decision is still an ongoing debate. President Truman was faced with a difficult choice. The U.S. chose to adopt a stance that seemed to limit the amount of casualties in the war, by significantly shortening it with the use of atomic weapons. It was certainly a reasonable view for the USA to take, since they had suffered the loss of more than thousands of lives, both military and civilian. To the top rank of the US military the death toll was worth it to prevent the “many thousands of American troops that would have been killed in invading Japan.” This was a grave

    Read More

  • How Did The Hiroshima Bombing Changed America

    440 Words  | 1 Pages

    On August 6, 1945, America changed ancient warfare. It was now about mass destruction using nuclear warfare, as seen by the Japanese that fateful day the atomic bomb struck their land. The bombing of Hiroshima killed thousands, America soon tried to mend their ways with those affected. In America's Hiroshima by Peter Schwenger, it tells of the many different ways the bombing affected those here in America and how the bombing is looked at today.

    Read More

More about Primary Cause Of The Seminole War

Open Document