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War Of 1812 Dbq Essay

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The War of 1812 is not easily remembered to the United States and the British. The people that were mostly affected were the Canadians and the Indians. To them, the War of 1812 was a symbol of freedom or a symbol of no freedom. The United States was a new, developing nation after the American Revolution. Since America was developing as a new nation, it was neutral. Great Britain cut off America’s trading because they thought it would interfere with their war against France. They also restricted trading because they wanted to set up an Indian population in the Midwest in order to still maintain their influence. The trade restriction was the first major cause of the War of 1812. During America’s neutral status, the British began to impress Americans, taking about 6,000 mariners and making them serve on the British ships. The impressments were the second major cause of the War of …show more content…

The British lost about 8,600 soldiers, while the Americans lost about 11,300 soldiers. According to historians, there are probably more losses on either side since records weren’t always correct back in that time. Both Britain and the U.S. decided to stop fighting because both the British and the Americans didn’t expect to win easily. Another reason was that the war was from the Napoleonic Wars (i.e. trade restrictions, impressments of the U.S. soldiers). After Napoleon was defeated, the fighting began to disappear. The treaty that ended the War of 1812 was the Treaty of Ghent. This was the peace treaty between the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland. This helped restore peace to both countries. The Treaty of Ghent was approved on December 30, 1814. For an American, the War of 1812 “was a war that didn’t need to be fought” (Donald Hickey, PBS). There are only a few times in the war where Americans remember, such as the writing of the Star Spangled

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