Analysis of the Reason of the War of 1812

遲毅潔

Abstract：The United States is often mentioned as a maritime power， which has a favorable wind all the way. But， she also took a lot of detours and experiencedsetbacks. What we can do is to study from the US， contrast the frustration that she suffered to the success of her marine strategy， sum up experience and learn from the lessons， in order to help our country develop the ocean strategy.The main content of this paper is briefly introduced and reasons of the War of 1812， combining with the analysis of background of the war. In order to analyze the causes of the war of 1812， the author tried to find the reasons from both Britain and the US， from the analysis of the most basic elements， including economic factors， political factors， fuse of the war.

Keywords： the War of 1812， the reason of outbreak， economy and political aspect

Introduction

The war of 1812 referred to the period from 1812 to 1814， the US and Britain made the war in the American Continent， compared to the American Independent War that happened in 1775， it was called the Second Anglo-American War. The famous American scholar S.F. Bemis said "If there is no war in 1812， there will be no federal victory in 1865."Thus， the War of 1812 played an important rolein the history of the US. The impact of the war on the US can be described as a whole， including not only the economic and military， but also the ocean policy of the US.

Causes of the outbreak of the Anglo-American War in 1812

War is always the product of the intensification of contradictions， but also the results of the interaction between internal and external contradictions. The outbreak of the 1812 Anglo-American war was the irreconcilable product of the intensification of the contradictions between the two countries，Britain and the US. There were contradictions between the two countries， having their own domestic contradictions and even being related to the powers of the European continent. After the Independent War， Britain and US hadnumerous wars and a series of commercial negotiations on the issue of economic interests. By the end， the US published the U.S. 1807 Embargo Act to deal with the limitations that Britain throw onto US. The outbreak of the Second Anglo-American War was also in contradiction with the domestic two parties and the voice of domestic nationalism， so that the outbreak of that war had become inevitable. Then， the author will discuss the contradiction between the US and Britain as follows.

（a） In the economy， as the economic developing of the US， the British and American commercial friction escalated.

The economic base determines the superstructure， and the economic reason is always the fundamental reason for the existence of the development of things and relationship. As early as in the colonial period， the contradiction between Britain and US had been happening. From the establishment of the first North American colonial stronghold of James Don in 1607 to establishing thirteenth colonies， Georgia in 1733， Britain fought for the overseas market with the European countries， especially the North American colonies. So that the North American colonies were involved in the four wars， during which the Seven Years' War， from 1756 to 1763， was the most important. In the Seven Years' War， Britain defeated French， signing the Treaty of Paris， which was the final determination of the British rule in North America.The UK had been pursuing mercantilist policies on the economy， in the mercantile system； the Navigation Actsoccupied an important position. The Navigation Actsput into practice in 1651 during the period of Cromwell. Before the Seven Years' War， the colonial business protected by the British mercantilism policy， so that North American colonial economy still had a certain degree of freedom development. After the Seven Years' War， Britain implemented the high-pressure policy on the colonies， which limited the development of colonial economy， eventually led to the outbreak of the American Independent War. After signing the Treaty of Parisin 1783， although the US won independence，thebilateral trade issues between the US and Britain was still tense. The Navigation Actswas still restricting the development of the US. The British government refused to enter into any trade treaty with the US， and attempted to block the US from economy.

In order to solve the contradiction of commercial trade between them， the confederate government of the US had sent Adams to Englandin 1785， hoping that she can conclude a business agreement with Britain， and hoping to solve the debt problem and frontier stronghold. However Britain not only refused to conclude on commercial agreements with the US， but also even claimed that if the US does not pay before the colonies incurred British debt， Britain will not withdraw from the frontier stronghold. Negotiation had become a serious problem of Anglo American relations since then， after that， the two countries made numerous competition around those issues. As a result， trade conflicts between two countries wasserious， and the contradiction was not only in the economy， further related to sovereignty the problem of the US.

（b） From the political point of view， the frontier conflict between the US and Britain was serious.

The contention between Britain and the US was one of the important reasons for the US declaring war on Britain in 1812.

In fact， the US was long forCanada with envy. After theIndependent War， the US went on the road of overseas expansion， which made Canada， an adjacent country to the US， as her first target of aggression. “The St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi River combined many American territory all together， the fate of mankind was an attempt to make the two rivers belong to the same people."This is the voice of the US rulers.Based on this，the president of the US Group would seize Canada as imperative cause， they thought that “Only every acre of land occupied by U.S. citizens of the North American continent， was laid the foundation for the future of the Empire.”Canada would be incorporated into the US， which was an idea that took root in the mind of Franklin. “As far as they mentioned， Americans were decreed by fate to control throughout North America， South America， and perhaps the most”Another congressman Harperopenly declared：" The creator has decided our south border is on the Mexico Bay， and in the north is the eternal cold place." Before the outbreak of the war， one of the power of the American Hawk was the Canadian land. In 1811， “When the house of Representatives was debating the delicate issue of Anglo - British relations， the chairman of the board in charge of the review of the question had a frank exposure of the real cause of the war. These places are not only of great value， but also for the survival of the United Kingdom is almost indispensable.... If such a war，... The compensation we can get in a short time is bound to be ten times as much as it supports the business of our country." “The ruling group was looking for opportunities all the time，was ready to seize the north of Canada，in order to destroy the British base in North America， so that they could become the master of the whole North America. In addition to American bourgeoisie was favor for capturing Canada， stopping Canada outside the federal frontier. The peasants and freemen also advocated completely destroyedCanada， the British base in North America. Seizing Canada was another contradictory manifestation of American western development and Britain.

However， the great ambition of the US to expand the territory towards the west wasstrongly resisted by Britain. Although in 1783， the Treaty of Parishad made a cleardivision of the USborders，namely： the north to Canada and the Great Lakes， north to South Florida， east coast of the Atlantic， west to the Mississippi river.But the British had done everything possible to find an excuse not to hand over the western territory. “The UK made Canada as an basement， looking for agentsin the west to act， in an attempt to establish a protectorate of the US Defense； in north， the UK constantly instigated Indiansto harassing the border； in the Great Lakes region， the UKprohibited U.S. ships；even working with Spain forming a circle around the US， threatening the security of the US."Andrew Jackson， once served as the western Tennessee state militia commander， was the president of the USfrom 1829 to 1841. When he summarized the reasonof the War of 1812， he said： "We are going to fight... We must， through the conquest of all British territory in the North American continent， seek some kind of compensation for the losses we have suffered in the past， and the guarantee of a future invasion."

（c） The War of 1812 was a product of domestic political and ideological contradictions in the US

The intensification of domestic conflicts in the US was another important reason for the outbreak of the 1812 Anglo-American war. The contradiction between the US domestic Federal Party and the Democratic Republican Party as well as the risingvoice of domestic nationalism were all the performance of intensifying the United State domestic contradiction.

The conflict between the Federal Party and the Democratic Republican Party began at the end of eighteenth century. Because of the different classes of interest， the Federal Party and the Republican Party had many differences in politics， which even cannot be reconciled. In 1800， Democratic Republican Jefferson was elected president of the US. However， the potential power of the Federal Party still cannot be ignored，the contradiction between the two parties was stillsharp.TheEmbargo Act had been extremely opposed， because of the violation of the interests of the Federal Party， the big business owners， which further led to the contradiction between the two parties. An experienced Democratic Republican Robert. H. Brown said：”The majority （Democratic） Republicans believed that the War of 1812 was inevitable， because continuously bowing to Britain may have unbearable consequences.”

The original and most basic power to generate the American nationalism is from the hatred of Britain. Before the American Independence War， British controlled the US in politics， penetrated in the economy， trying to make the US a suzerain British protectorate， which eventually led to the American Independence War.During the war， Americans united more like a nation， they forged a profound friendship in the war and they formed a strongandinvisible national centripetal force. This kind of nationalism had been internalized into every Americansblood， and constantly stimulated Americanstomoveforward. After 1783， Britain had encroached on Canada. And Americans continued to always maintain the cohesion of the traditional nationalism； whats more， it made them believed that the contradiction between the US and Britain also continued to exist. After the independence of the US， there were still many problemsbetween Britain and the US to solve. Besides， they evenwrathfully thought that they were not over with the hereditary enemy， Britain. These strong feelings had finally made the government of the Republic decide to go to war with Britain in 1812. But， at that time， the security on America's business development of Britain had fallen. Moreover， the American domestic businessmen have also decided to bring a large number of overseas commercial capital to home， which help the US begin the national industry， enhance the strength of the U.S. economy. Thus， the American people began to realize theimportance of revitalizing a nation. “This shows that a strong voice of the new nationalism has not been influenced by the relevant time."It was the United Stateshatred ofBritainthat was the intrinsic factors of outbreaking the War of 1812. The Americanshatred eventually broke out through the war.

To sum up， the contradiction between Britain and the US was the main reason for the Second Anglo-American war.The result of outbreaking a war is the interaction of internal and external contradictions. The War of 1812 would notoutbreak without the British economic aggression of the US；also the war would not outbreak without the US trying to expend territory. So only after conducting a comprehensive analysis oftheinternal and external contradictionsof the Anglo-American war， we could have a more profound understanding of causes of the Second Anglo-American War.

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