Jeff Caton
11/19/15
History Outline
The War of 1812: A Series of Blunders
I. Introduction
The War of 1812 was unlike any other war. Lasting from 1812 to 1815, only 30 years after the American Revolution, the War of 1812 was unique because it was another war with our old enemy. Once again, the newly found United States was engaged in war with Britain. The main cause of the War was the French; ironic because they were our allies during the revolutionary war and without the French the United States likely wouldn’t have won the revolutionary war. France was engaged in all-out war in Europe against Britain in the Napoleonic Wars. This war dragged on and both sides were feeling the pressure, and the neutral United States provided France with a much …show more content…
In Europe the Napoleonic wars were coming to an end, which would have ended the practice of impressment. Only two days before President Madison signed the declaration of war against Britain, the British passed and sent and envoy to announce to appeal of naval laws (Stanley).That alone would have would have eliminated the main purpose of going to war. If the United States had been less impatient war altogether could have been avoided. In addition, the military at the time was seemingly underwhelming. The United States had a standing army of only 12,000 men; of those men it included aging Revolutionary War veterans, amateur junior officers, and militia that lacked any real training. The United States navy consisted of only 16 vessels, while Britain’s Royal Navy had 600 plus well equipped ships (Smith). Additionally, the general population who did support the war did not want to pay more taxes to pay for the war. The United States was unwilling to spend money to improve the military so they could minimize putting a strain on the treasury. One of the goals in the war was to try and invade and conquer Canada, but this plan failed as well because of serious errors in tactics. As Jefferson famously put it taking Canada would be as easy as, “a mere matter of marching” (Dale). The United States set up a three pronged attack to invade Canada: take Montreal, take …show more content…
The needless sacrifice of soldier’s lives for a useless war; it optimized the destructive results of pride, greed, and mismanagement. The War itself was ironic; while fighting for liberty on the sea the United States also focused on conquering Canada, which was a contradiction for the United States’ value of freedom. Instead of focusing on strengthening the bonds of a developing nation, the war only managed to weaken them. Instead of representatives trying to discourage war republican representatives continually pushed for war: fueled by pride and nationalism (Trautsch). Instead of honor and victory the United States only found defeat and weariness. The War of 1812 is often overshadowed in history, and when it is regarded it is mostly known as the second revolutionary, which isn’t really the truth. The truth of the war is an ugly one once you look at it in
11/19/15
History Outline
The War of 1812: A Series of Blunders
I. Introduction
The War of 1812 was unlike any other war. Lasting from 1812 to 1815, only 30 years after the American Revolution, the War of 1812 was unique because it was another war with our old enemy. Once again, the newly found United States was engaged in war with Britain. The main cause of the War was the French; ironic because they were our allies during the revolutionary war and without the French the United States likely wouldn’t have won the revolutionary war. France was engaged in all-out war in Europe against Britain in the Napoleonic Wars. This war dragged on and both sides were feeling the pressure, and the neutral United States provided France with a much …show more content…
In Europe the Napoleonic wars were coming to an end, which would have ended the practice of impressment. Only two days before President Madison signed the declaration of war against Britain, the British passed and sent and envoy to announce to appeal of naval laws (Stanley).That alone would have would have eliminated the main purpose of going to war. If the United States had been less impatient war altogether could have been avoided. In addition, the military at the time was seemingly underwhelming. The United States had a standing army of only 12,000 men; of those men it included aging Revolutionary War veterans, amateur junior officers, and militia that lacked any real training. The United States navy consisted of only 16 vessels, while Britain’s Royal Navy had 600 plus well equipped ships (Smith). Additionally, the general population who did support the war did not want to pay more taxes to pay for the war. The United States was unwilling to spend money to improve the military so they could minimize putting a strain on the treasury. One of the goals in the war was to try and invade and conquer Canada, but this plan failed as well because of serious errors in tactics. As Jefferson famously put it taking Canada would be as easy as, “a mere matter of marching” (Dale). The United States set up a three pronged attack to invade Canada: take Montreal, take …show more content…
The needless sacrifice of soldier’s lives for a useless war; it optimized the destructive results of pride, greed, and mismanagement. The War itself was ironic; while fighting for liberty on the sea the United States also focused on conquering Canada, which was a contradiction for the United States’ value of freedom. Instead of focusing on strengthening the bonds of a developing nation, the war only managed to weaken them. Instead of representatives trying to discourage war republican representatives continually pushed for war: fueled by pride and nationalism (Trautsch). Instead of honor and victory the United States only found defeat and weariness. The War of 1812 is often overshadowed in history, and when it is regarded it is mostly known as the second revolutionary, which isn’t really the truth. The truth of the war is an ugly one once you look at it in