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War of 1812
In June of 1812 the United States declared war on Britain. This declaration was the result of almost thirty years of problems between the two nations. It both surprised the British and humiliate many Americans who saw it as a foolish attempt. This was not because of there being too few reasons to go to war with Britain. It was simply that the United States had deliberately avoided war for so long that when she abandoned her peaceful policy it was unexpected. She had maintained a cautious neutrality through successive administrations since 1789. The potential risks in changing this policy and settling the existing grievances against Britain by force were many. The country was young and untested by war. Its army consisted of little more than six thousand regular troops. Its navy amounted to sixteen vessels of various sizes. Its military capability was as low as it had been in over a decade. That the United States chose this time to declare war on a nation that had a navy of six hundred ships and an army of over a quarter of a million men caught many by surprise.
Most historians have found there is no single cause for the War of 1812 but several related causes. In the next few pages I will cover many of these causes. I would like to show the reader of this essay how important it is for us to keep military capability.
First we must go back a few years from the war's beginning. to the period of the European war between Britain and France, which, found the United States once again trying to maintain its neutrality as it had in the late 1790's. Following the defeat of the combined French and Spanish fleets in 1805, an invincible naval power, the British, now faced an all conquering land power, the French. Since they could not fight each other directly, they tried to defeat one another by economic strangulation.
The United States objected to many British maritime practices. The British carried out most of these practices in the 1790's during the first period of the war between Britain and France. However, they enforced them much more often after the renewed hostilities in 1803. One reason for the more vigorous execution of these policies was the increasing fear in Britain of an invasion by Napoleon. This fear combined with other reasons inspired the British to ignore the rights of neutrals enabling them to prevent any possible aid to the French. The British shipping interests and their supporters also felt the American merchant marine was profiting immensely from the European wars. This growth of American shipping was a threat to British commercial to British naval power, and to the safety of the country. Restrictions on American commerce would do harm to France. At the same time it would help the British maritime interests compete with the United States' shippers.
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