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At the beginning of the 19th century, the United States of American was very much a young country with big aspirations. The Americans were still getting a feel for being an independent nation and the government was struggling to utilize its power. The dreams of this new nation and its awkward government were tested in 1812 when, due to British impressment of sailors and Orders of Council, the fledgling United States declared war on the leviathan that was the British Empire. Harry Coles claims that the United States from its inception wanted to maintain peace with the major European countries and, excluding the quasi-war with France, did so until Britain’s war against Napoleon. However, Reginald Horsman asserts that there was tension between …show more content…

“Poor food, hard work, and harsh discipline caused British sailors to desert by the thousands”. To regain their renegade seamen, Britain began impressing American vessels. The British would seize a ship and take back the British seamen who were hiding among the crew. While the official British stance was not to take American citizens, the British captains would occasionally operate on the adage “Once an Englishman always an Englishman” and seize Americans along with the deserting British. This infuriated many back home and caused a general outcry for war. President Madison did his best to seek out potential peace without declaring war. The other major grievance was not a physical one, but no less …show more content…

France then opened up her trade to neutral countries, and the U.S. leaped at the chance. In order to fight this, Britain invoked the Rule of 1756, which stated, “a trade closed in time of peace could not be declared open in time of war”, and ordered her captains to begin seizing ships. A war between America and Britain was avoided, but barely. As the war with France grew in intensity, Britain and France began declaring blockades of the European coast and colonies to try and cut supplies to their enemies. In a series of French decrees and British Orders of Council, the two nations began to severely limit the commerce allowed to trade with them. This caused tremendous tension in the United States, who was trying to maintain neutrality but relied on the trade economy with both nations, their allies, and their colonies. President Jefferson tried to force the European powers to reconsider by convincing Congress to enact the Embargo Act, “which forbade any ship of the United States to sail from a U.S. port for any foreign port.” Jefferson hoped that by denying them of U.S. made goods they would be open to negotiation since the U.S. was the “largest consumer of British manufactures” and “the world’s largest neutral carrier”. The major drawback was that this starved the American economy, which thrived on foreign trade. This brought the threat

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