War of 1812
The war of 1812, supposedly fought over neutral trading rights, was a very peculiar conflict indeed. Britain's trade restrictions, one of the main causes, were removed two days before the war started; the New Englanders, for whom the war was supposedly fought, opposed it; the most decisive battle, at New Orleans, was fought after the war ended. During the Napoleonic wars, Britain and France had disrupted US shipping, confiscated American goods, taking US seamen into the British navy, and both sides had blockaded each other's ports. This caused great annoyance to American traders, and Britain's abduction of American sailors especially caused great uproar and indignation at home
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the war was to highlight the inherent weakness of both state militia and certain Republican ideas. No gains were made in Canada, nor Florida. Two and a half years of fighting commenced, and when the peace treaty was eventually signed in Ghent, there was no mention whatsoever of neutral rights. She suffered humiliation when a feeble and cowardly militia fled, abandoning Washington for the British to ransack. Some historians attribute this to their desire to take British Canada and Spanish Florida in the process of war. America held New Orleans, but her capital was ransacked. Trade with Europe was severely disrupted during the war, when the end of the Napoleonic wars would have allowed American trade back into Europe more profitably than ever. The war of 1812 was both unnecessary and dangerous. Development of industry and an army did not need the 1812 war; it merely needed people to recognize that Hamilton was right all along. The Republican administration, traditionally supportive of France, finally declared war on Britain in 1812, ironically two days after Britain had lifted their trade embargo. The course of the war had led America to build up her industry as she could not trade at the time. She had strengthened her army, healed old Republican/Federalist splits, and showed Europe that fighting with America was not worthwhile. Bloodshed and destruction were totally unnecessary, and America was lucky that Britain was still recovering from the Napoleonic wars.
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