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War Of 1812 Dbq Outline

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The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain and started on June 18, 1812, lasting until February 17, 1815. This was the first time the young nation declared war. The US declared war because they felt that they had no other option to put an end to the poor and oppressive treatment by the British. The final victory at New Orleans will establish America and their dominance in the western hemisphere and gain respect from Britain putting an end to their oppressive treatment and set the two on a better path in the future. Britain did not want or expect a war with America as it was occupied with the French. Britain was in conflict with France starting with the French revolution and carrying into the Napoleonic War. This …show more content…

The Chesapeake Bay campaign started out successfully for the British. The US was not strong enough to protect the coast against the far superior Royal Navy of Britain. The British took advantage of the situation and raided the coast and captured merchant ships. Without much resistance from America, the British landed some 4,000 troops in Maryland, leading to the battle at Bladensburg. At Bladensburg, the British caused the American troops to retreat and on August 24, they burned down Washington D.C. for revenge of the US burning down York, the British capital in Canada. This had an important effect on the people’s trust in the military and the government. Britain continued to advance to try to destroy the city of Baltimore. However, the Americans stopped the British and their advance on the city with the protection from Fort McHenry. This engagement produced the famous song, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” by lawyer Francis Scott Key. (WC 199) This eventually became the national anthem and a celebrated part of the war. The Canadian campaign occurred in the Lake Champlain and the Hudson Valley. President Madison devised a three-pronged invasion of Canada. The invasion called for US troops by way of New York to take Montreal, the Niagara River to upper Canada, and from Detroit into Canada. However, the invasion was not successful and the US had little success for the rest of the war against the British in Canada. The final campaign …show more content…

They started to negotiate terms of peace and leading to the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24th. This was signed before the battle of New Orleans, with its main engagement on January 8th. The news of peace took another six weeks to reach the United States. The terms ended the war between the two sides and included the returning of prisoners back and the restoring of the previous boundaries. The British stopped supporting the Native Americans and their attacks against the US. The terms of peace were desirable to America as the British had the upper hand in the war. Some view this conflict as the Second War of Independence. The victory at New Orleans, although after the treaty, affirmed the terms of peace and put America on a new path of expansion and development. This victory created along with other “Selective accounts of campaign a major role in creating a national identity when in reality the war had been very different. There was emphasis on the need for unity and a degree of optimism about the future: France had fallen but not America.” (WA

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