Britain and France were at war for most of the years after 1803, and both seized American ships. Jefferson tried to stay out with the Embargo Act (1807), which stopped American ships from sailing to foreign ports; it hurt American merchants more than Europe. Under the next President, James Madison, the quarrel with Britain became a war.
Key idea
The U.S. declared war on Britain on June 18, 1812, over impressment (the Royal Navy forcing sailors off American ships), British limits on American trade, and British support for Native resistance in the West. The British burned Washington (August 1814), but Fort McHenry in Baltimore held (September 1814). The Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814) restored the prewar borders.
Why it works
Why fight a world power with a tiny navy? Many Americans saw impressment and the trade rules as an insult to their independence. Western "War Hawks" in Congress, such as Henry Clay, also blamed Britain for arming the confederacy of Native nations led by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh, who was trying to stop settlers from taking more land. New England merchants, who lived by trade, mostly opposed the war.
Worked example: A battle after the peace
Andrew Jackson's army defeated a British attack at New Orleans on January 8, 1815. The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814. How can both be true?
- The treaty was signed in Ghent, in Europe. News crossed the Atlantic by sailing ship, which took weeks.
- Neither army at New Orleans knew the treaty had been signed.
- The war ended legally when the Senate approved the treaty in February 1815.
- So New Orleans did not decide the war, but it made Jackson a national hero.
Answer: News of the treaty had not yet arrived; the battle came after the signing but before the war officially ended.
Common mistake
Many think the Battle of New Orleans won the war. It came in January 1815, after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed (December 1814), and the treaty changed no borders. Check the dates: a battle after the signing cannot have shaped the treaty.
The war had lasting effects. Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" after watching Fort McHenry hold. New England Federalists met at the Hartford Convention (December 1814 to January 1815) to protest the war; news of peace made them look disloyal, and their party faded. And with Tecumseh dead and Britain gone, Native nations in the Old Northwest lost their strongest ally.