The War of 1812 In 4 Minutes
A bite sized breakdown of America’s least favorite major war
The War of 1812 gave the United States her national anthem, it made Andrew Jackson a war hero and saw the demise of the Federalist Party as a political force. Despite all of that, it is a relatively unknown conflict that shaped the future of the United States for decades to come. While it resides as a footnote of the British’s long and arduous campaigns throughout the 19th century, the impacts of the War of 1812 were far reaching for Americans.
Causes
In the years preceding an outbreak in hostilities, England and France were once again locked into a contentious conflict that was threatening to engulf the world. Both sides had large empires that relied heavily on maritime trade and so both England and France began to put ridiculous restrictions on oceangoing commerce. This included the hugely unpopular practice of impressment which forced American merchant sailors to serve the British on the high seas.
Both England and France began to tell their trading partners that if they traded with one, they could not trade with the other in an effort to try…
