Thursday, November 24, 2011

The causes of the war of 1812


The War of 1812 has long been a subject for debate since it had began in 1812. History is always written by the conquerer, but the conquerer of this war is un-clear. Both Great Britain and the United States of America had different motives for being implicated in the war. In short, the US was interested in expansionism and waged war on Canada in several areas in order to turn Canada into an american territory. The reason for this was the oppresion commited by Great Britain on the seas. The US was implicated in commerce with France in order to support Napoleon's war, and therefore was not respected by Great Britain (who at the time was fighting Napoleon's war). James Madison (US president) urged congress to wage war against G-B and seize one of it's colonnies (Canada). On the other side Great Britain went to war with the US in order to protect Canada from expansionism.

Having said that now, there is a controvesy on who was right and wrong on going to war. In the defence of the US, Great Britain showed a lack of respect, a sense of superiority as well as kidnapping of american sailors to fight Napoleon's war.

However in my opinion Great Britain had good reasons behind every one of the arguments I previously stated. G-B was at war with Napoleon's army (the strongest at the time) and therefore needed to stop him by any means possible including the oppresion of US ships used for commerce. I believe it makes complete sense that G-B would stop American ships and make them pay taxes so that it became unaffordable for American's to support Napoleon. G-B needed to fight Napoleon in any way possible in order to defeat his army!

I now leave it up to my followers to defend any side they feel was right and had the best intentions behind their actions. The video bellow provides additional detail in the matters I have discussed. I look forward to your opinion!