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History essay on us independence
America's independence causes and results
American history after independence
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After the U.S gained their independence form Britain, they faced the greatest obstacle that would threaten their independence. This was a second war fought against Great Britain called the War of 1812. The war was fought on land and on sea and lasted almost three years. There were many forces that led Americans to declare war on Britain in 1812.
One of the main causes of the war was Great Britains's continued practice of impressment. The ocean was a common and affective way to transport good in order to trade with other nations. Every country has the right to use the ocean; but because Britain was causing America's rights to be restricted by capturing American ships and enslaving their seamen, it caused many problems between the two countries. Document 1 is a congressional report that describes Britain's violations of our right " to use the ocean, which is the common and scknowledged highway of nations, for the purposes of transporting, in their own vessels , the products of their own soil and the acquisitions of their own industry." The report calls Britain's impressment and seizure of ships is a
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violation of our American rights. According to document 2, congressman Jogn C. Colhoun, a Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina also belived that Britain is causing America's rights to be restricted. In Calhoun's speech, he states that Britain is attacking our maritime and commercial rights and we need to declare war to protect our rights. According to document 2 it states,"The questions...is reduced to this single point-which shall we do, abondon or defend our own commercial and maritime rights, and personal liberties of our citizens employed in exercising them? These rights are essentially attacked , and war id the only means of redress...". It also states," ...if the British persist in such daring insult and injury to the United States, it will be bound in honor and interest to resist." This shows how the British were violating America's trading rights and states that if the British did not stop these actions, the United States would have to declare war. Another main cause of the war is that some members of the House of Representatives wanted to expand into Canada for more farmland. There were some poeple who hoped to gain new territory from a war with Britain. They felt the U.S. could acquire Canada, and its lucrative fur trade, through a war with Britain. In addition, "some hoped to gain Spanish Florida in a war with Britain because Spain was allied with Britain". According to document 3, congressman John Randolph believed that the real cause of the war were land greed and their desire for expansionism but not for the protection of maritime rights. Document 3 states, "....if you go to war it will not be for the protection of...maritime rights. Gentelmen from the North have been taken up to high mountain and shown all kingdoms of the earth; and Canada seems tempting in their sight... Agrarian cupidity(greed for farm land), not maritime right, urges the war." This shows how some Americans wanted to declare war just to get more land in Canada. Yet some readers may challenge the view that impressment and want of land in Canada were not the main causes of the war.
After all, many believe that war with Britain would end the troubles Americans were having with Indians on the frontier. These critics might bring up that the British were arming and inciting the Native American Indians to attack American settlers. It It is true that the British supplied the Native Americans with weapons and incited them to fight Americans was a cause for the war of 1812. However, what these critics don't yet understand is that it wasn't the MAIN cause for the war of 1812. There were many minor causes that led Americans to declare war on Britain in 1812 such as the troubles with the Indians on the frontier ,but the main causes were the impressment of American soldiers and ships and expansion of United States into
Canada. Throughout this essay, it has been shown that many forces led Americans to declare war on Britain in 1812. The 3 main causes of the war were the impressment of American sailors into the British navy, American ships were being seized by the British and to gain new territory in Canada. Because of these reasons, President James Madison requested a declaration of war to protect the ctizens' rights.
The primary grievances of the United States that led to war with Britain was Britain interfering with trade on the high seas. According to the primary source handout on the war of 1812, “On 7 january 1807, a British Order in Council had prohibited ships from participating in the coastal trade of France and her allies” (34). The embargoes hurt the U.S far more than they did britain. Britain also were inciting Indian attacks on the frontier. But the number one grievance that lead Madison to declare the war was that british ships continually violated the American flag on the great highway of nation.
The British were the culprits that started this war. The fact that Britain and France were at war highly affected the start of the battle. “…the British were impressing American seaman to help fight the war against Napoleon”. They had been helping the Indians by giving them weapons and helping them “attack the frontier”, they hadn’t left our property and fort...
In the argument that war does cost a lot of money, our ships being seized aren’t much cheaper. “From 1807 to 1812, more than nine hundred American ships were seized by either Britain or France”(“The War of 1812: Trade Embargoes”). This means in just one year, 200 ships were being seized. In any case, this is a lot of money down the drain – especially considering the size of the United States at the time. Each ship contained paid workers, loved family members, expensive supplies, the cost of replacing the ship, and because of all these seizes, no more international commerce.
The war of 1812 was not worth fighting for because the cause of the war is that the War Hawks were confident the United States would achieve a quick victory over the British, so they went to war.Another reason why the war of 1812 was not worth fighting for is the cost of this war was too high priced.Also why the war of 1812 was not worth fighting for is the treaty of ghent the treaty of ghent is a treaty that offers a peace agreement and it didn't change any existing borders.In the war of 1812 I think that it hurt people they
The War of 1812 otherwise known as the “Forgotten War”, was a three year military conflict between America, Britain and their Native allies. It was a relatively small war that arguably shaped a continent for centuries to come. Around the time of 1812 there was tension in and around America because of several controversial acts that Britain had passed out. Because of the Napoleonic Wars Britain had a “You are either with us or you are against us”, approach to other nations. However the British did whatever it took to get out of a war however that could not happen because of what they were doing. The British had forgotten America after the war of Independence and didn’t regard them as a powerful Nation. Their focus was on France however America managed to tangle themselves in this conflict between the two Nations by trading with the French. America wanted to make some money off France and had engaged in trade a while back. The British, because of their approach of dealing with other nations, had set up an embargo that made American ships pay a duty to the British before they could trade with the French. They had also engaged in what was called impressment in which they would take men of American ships, if the men had even the most vague connection to Britain they would take them hostage and put them on their own boats to go to war for the British. Theses acts angered the Americans and they wanted to go to war with Britain so a new breed of congress and government were put in place. They were called Warhawks, these men were more aggressive and were known to act before thinking. The Battle of Profits town had most probably been the tipping point for going to war, when Sir Governor William Henry Harrison and his militia had attacked P...
Before the United States entered WW II, President Franklin Roosevelt signed a series of documents known as the Neutrality Acts. These acts were passed and followed between the years 1935 and 1941 and were used to keep the U.S. out of the war.1 The Neutrality Acts limited weapons sales to countries not involved in the war, gave the U.S. power to keep its citizens off of ships of, or travelling to nations involved in the war, and outlawed loans to countries currently in war and countries who had not paid back previous loans.2 These acts also outlawed American ships to carry weapons to nations in the war. The U.S. believed that if a nation in war knew that a ship had weapons on it, this ship would be a prime target for that country, therefor drawing the U.S. into another war. The Neutrality Acts helped keep the U.S. out of WW II until the bombing of Pearl Harbor, at which point the U.S. helped the British through a "Lend-Lease Program". The Lend-Lease Program allowed the U.S. to give arms and...
Once again, Monroe’s position now caused him to focus on relations with Britain and France. At this time, these two countries were feuding, which of course affected U.S. trade and shipping with these countries. The U.S. especially wanted them to respect their trading prospects because of the United States’ neutrality. Ultimately, the U.S. declared war on Britain in June 1812. Many Americans, especially New Englanders, thought the war interrupted them from buying from European markets. However, both Madison and Monroe thought that the U.S. needed to resist the British’s attacking by force of arms
Great Britain’s debt level is high; rather, the compensation for her debt is the investment of a strong navy to defend herself and the American people. Conversely, “our land force is already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, while the continent remained in her hands” (34). Paine understands the important role of a navy, and he warns the American public that America is vulnerable to attack and destruction because the British will never sacrifice their manpower for America’s liberty and freedom from other countries. Paine points out that America has an opportunity to “leave posterity with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap” and prosper with a constitution and a military of her own to defend herself and her people in times of turmoil and crisis because “a navy when finished is worth more than it costs” (34, 36). “Commerce and protection are united,” and America’s “natural produce” of timber, iron tar, leaves the American ports to gain marginal profits for the colonial states across the Atlantic in Europe (36).
The British would seize American ships without proper permission; this caused the American
On June 1st, 1812, President James Madison declared war on the British for many reasons. In his war message, Madison brought three unpardonable British acts to Congress’s attention. The first, impressment. “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,” (War Message to Congress, Paragraph 4). British Navy ships would stop American ships to search for British deserters. This often resulted in natural American citizens being apprehended and forced into the British navy. During this time, Britain was at war with Napoleon and wanted to hurt France economically. To do so, Britain tried to restrict French trade with other nations, including America. “Not content with these occasional expedients for laying waste our neutral trade, the cabinet of Britain resorted at length to...
When the war began, it was being fought by the Americans to address their grievances toward the British. This seemed like a justifiable cause for a war, however not all of the citizens shared the same sense of unity about the political issues the war was being fought over. The US was quite upset about the continuing impressment of American sailors into the British Navy and the seizures of American merchant trading vessels by the British. Another reason the United States wished to go to war with Britain was because of their dealings with the Indians in the West. The British were not only trading with the Indians, but they were also giving them weapons and encouraging them to attack American settlements. Along with these reasons, the Americans, now becoming hungry for land, dreamed of capturing British Canada and possibly Florida for the union. Also, the Americans still contained a certain degree of resentment from the Revolutionary War, which they were eager to take out on the British. Even though these were the causes the nation was supposedly fighting for, the entire nation lacked a major driving force to gain restitution for them. The nation was not really united for the cause, as backcountry farmers didn't care about what was happening to coastal shipping businesses, as coastal shipping businesses didn't care about what was happening to the backcountry farmers. Everyone was only concerned with their own problems, and not concerned with the problems facing the nation regarding the situations its citizens were enduring.
...entually were unjustified and reasons manipulated. These factors, with others, caused the war of 1812, which finally put to rest the age old conflict between the British and the United States of America.
The War of 1812 was a war between Britain and the United States fought primarily in Upper Canada. It had many causes, few which involved British North America. The results of the war include the fact that there was no clear winner or loser among them. The only real losers in the situation were the Natives in the region. They were driven out of their lands and customs. None of the borders was changed by the war, though many attempts were made. The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, did nothing to advance the state of the countries. It went so far as to end the war and put things back the way that they were, but the main causes of the conflict were not addressed or dealt with. In order to evaluate the significance of this war, Canadian victories and losses, as well as overall results, must be analyzed.
...colonist was taxed and oppressed by the British government. To list each reason that the colonists had to start a war with Britain would be impossible, but the main, igniting reason was that the British taxed and oppressed the colonists. Without the taxation of the colonists, the American Revolution would never have begun, and perhaps the world today would look very differently.
Multiple European powers such as Great Britain have had a history of interrupted commerce with the Barbary States. The Barbary States had seized the European trade. To prevent further interruption from the European powers such as Great Britain would pay to secure uninterrupted transit in the Mediterranean Sea. This in return protected the colonies when still under British rule. When the colonies declared their independence on July 4, 1776 that protection disappeared. In October 1784, the American Merchant ship Betsy was attacked and the crew was taken and enslaved in Morocco. This would be the beginning of a long and a economically destructive journey for the United States. When Betsy was seized the American Naval Force was weak, therefore the U.S congress authorized an 80 thousand dollar to secure “peace”. Obviously it wasn’t really secured because two weeks later two more American Merchant ships were attacked and 21 more crew member were captured and taken back to the Algiers region. Many more attacks followed. The conditions of imprisonment were so poor that by the time peace was purchased in 1796, 85 of the 131 American hostages remained