Brian Arthur. How Britain Won the War of 1812: The Royal Navy’s Blockades of the United States, 1812–1815. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2011. Pp. 328. $99.00 (cloth).

2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 752-753
Author(s):  
Kevin D. McCranie
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812

“[T]his most unnecessary, unjust, and disgraceful war”

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 82-103
Author(s):  
Juhani Rudanko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
Sedition Act ◽  
The Face ◽  
Federalist Party

This article focuses on face-threatening attacks on the Madison Administration during the War of 1812. The discussion is framed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, with the language of the Amendment protecting freedom of speech, and also by the Sedition Act of 1798, which, if it had been made permanent, would have seriously curtailed freedom of speech. The War of 1812 was intensely unpopular among members of the Federalist Party, and their newspapers did not shy away from criticising it. This article investigates writings published in the Boston Gazette and the Connecticut Mirror during the war. It is shown that the criticism took different forms, ranging from accusing President Madison of “untruths” to painting a picture of what was claimed to be the unmitigated hopelessness of his position, both nationally and internationally, and that the criticism also included harsh personal attacks on his character and motives. It is suggested that some of the attacks may be characterised as exhibiting aggravated impoliteness. The article also considers President Madison’s attitude in the face of the attacks.

Widening The Scope on the Indians’ Old Northwest

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Todd Hancock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Old Northwest ◽  
Full Relief ◽  
Tribal Politics

The northwestern theater of the War of 1812 brought the complex nature of tribal politics and diplomacy into full relief. While the militant, inter-tribal coalition led by Shawnee brothers Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa was one Indian strategy for reckoning with U.S. territorial expansion, the historiographical focus on the Shawnee brothers and their movement has obscured a range of shifting Indian objectives and strategies for negotiating the wartime upheaval. By closely examining inter-tribal rivalries and coalitions, as well as tensions within Indian polities, we see a broader spectrum of Indian agendas in action during the War of 1812. Those agendas included neutrality, spying for or outright alliance with the United States, and situational Indian participation in the conflict when the British made gains early in the war. Well after Tecumseh’s death, we also see the geopolitical influence of western Indian forces, particularly the Potawatomis, Sauks, and the Sioux, on the conflict. For an era so closely associated with Indian prophecy and millenarianism, pragmatism most often reigned.

The Royal Navy and Economic Warfare against the United States during the War of 1812

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
John B. Hattendorf
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
Napoleonic Wars ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Economic Warfare ◽  
American Economy ◽  
The U.S

This chapter provides an overview of recent scholarship on the Royal Navy’s economic blockade of the United States between 1812 and 1815. The article shows how the combination of British naval forces and privateers slowly strangled the American economy and nearly immobilized the U.S. Navy. Despite the Royal Navy’s very successful application of economic warfare, it was not decisive. Due to financial exhaustion following the Napoleonic wars, Parliament would not support the naval and military funding necessary to impose the harsh peace terms for which economic warfare had laid the foundation.

Wilkinson

2019 ◽  
pp. 136-149
Author(s):  
Gwynne Tuell Potts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
American History ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
The West ◽  
Independent Entity ◽  
Do So ◽  
The Revolution

Casual readers of American history may assume the United States enjoyed relative peace between the end of the Revolution and the War of 1812, but in fact, the West remained in turmoil and Kentucky lay at the center of British, French, and Spanish intrigue. Kentuckians struggled with significant decisions leading to statehood: should they remain part of Virginia, join the United States, or become an independent entity aligned with another nation? Navigation rights on the Mississippi River were at the heart of Kentuckians’ concerns, and as long as the federal government refused to negotiate the matter with Spain, most farmers initially were reluctant to commit themselves and their children to land-locked futures. George Rogers Clark, with the encouragement of his former soldiers, agreed to lead a contingent of settlers to form a colony on the Mississippi. Going so far as to ask Spain for permission to do so (as did Sevier, Steuben, and others), Clark unnerved the federal government.

scholarly journals Speaking about the War of 1812: Reinterpreting History in the Rhetoric Surrounding Canada’s Inter-War Diplomacy (1919–1939)

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hector Mackenzie
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New World ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
International Forum ◽  
Remarkable Feature ◽  
External Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
Development Application

A remarkable feature of Canada’s external relations in the years between the two world wars of the twentieth century is the extent to which Canada’s conduct and speeches by its representatives on international affairs were dominated by imagery of North American harmony. Past clashes, most notably the War of 1812, or simply differences of views were forgotten or overlooked in the construction of a myth that served to justify inaction and the denial of commitments in imperial and world affairs. An aloof, unhelpful stance internationally was depicted more positively as a worthy example of peaceful attitudes and conduct. Thus, the inter-war period was dominated by rhetoric about ‘the longest undefended border in the world,’ ‘[more than a] century of peace in North America,’ and the contrast between the ‘New World’ and the ‘Old World’ in world affairs. No Canadian speech in an international forum seemed complete without some variation on these themes and without an admonition to Europeans and other miscreants to settle disputes by conciliation, negotiation and arbitration – rather than resort to war – as was the tradition in relations between Canada and the United States. This paper deals with the development, application and effect in the inter-war period of the lessons supposedly drawn from the experience and especially the aftermath of the War of 1812.

The Parvin-Brigham Mission to Spanish America, 1823–1826

1945 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-103
Author(s):  
J. Orin Oliphant
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

Slowly during the years just preceding our War of 1812, and rapidly during the decade that followed the Peace of Ghent, the vast reaches of Latin America swam within the ken of the people of the United States. Of this “discovery” of our southern neighbors and of our relations with Latin America before 1830, we have learned much from a volume recently brought out by a distinguished historian of the United States, Professor Arthur P. Whitaker. Professor Whitaker's informing study was intended to be nothing less than a well-rounded history of the impact of Latin America upon the United States to 1830; and such it has proved to be—with one exception. Professor Whitaker completely overlooked the religious phase of the subject he otherwise treated so skillfully. Upon this neglected part of the history of our early relations with Latin America this paper will endeavor to throw some light.

scholarly journals The Legacy of 1812: How a Little War Shaped the Transatlantic World

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald R. Hickey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
American Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
War Of 1812 ◽  
Andrew Jackson ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
American Union

The War of 1812 may have been a small and inconclusive war, but it had a profound and lasting impact of all the belligerents. The war may be largely forgotten, but it left a huge legacy that is still evident today. Wars can best be measured by their consequences, and the legacy of this war was both multifaceted and lasting. The conflict shaped both the United States and Canada as well as their relationship with Great Britain for nearly a century thereafter. It helps to explain how the Anglo-American alliance originated and why the British welcomed the Pax Americana in the twentieth century, as well as why Canada never joined the American Union and why American expansion after 1815 aimed south and west rather than north. It was during the War of 1812 that the great Shawnee leader Tecumseh earned his reputation, Laura Secord became famous, and Andrew Jackson began his rise to the presidency. Its impact on American culture was also far reaching and produced ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, Uncle Sam and ‘Old Ironsides’, amongst other symbols of United States nationhood.

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