War Of 1812 Dbq Essay

29 years after America won its freedom from Britain, they declared war on Britain once again in 1812. Conflict between the two countries have threatened the peace in past years, but when tensions rose too high despite the attempts for peaceful negotiations, President Madison drafted a declaration of war and sent it to Congress, where it was voted for. In the declaration, it talked about protecting the U.S. sailors from the British, who were impressing them and taking their cargo, but really, the declaration was speaking of a bigger picture; earning respect from the world as a country. However, there was also an unwritten reason on Madison’s declaration of war. The people of America wanted more land, and with Canada just above them, they believed

Evidence of this can be seen from a report written in November 1811 by the Committee of Foreign Relations of the U.S. House of Representatives (Doc. 1). Written on the report was claims that the ocean is the “highway of nations”, that every country had the right to use the ocean for transportation of their good and themselves, and Great Britain had captured American ships and forced the sailors into servitude in spite of this universally known right. The Americans had made multiple complaints against Britain, but the British just continued doing what they’re doing. In other words, Britain violated the maritime right that America has on multiple occasions, completely ignoring the Americans’ complaints. As it can be seen, the British didn’t really respect America as a nation due to their regard of America’s rights and objections. In addition to the U. S. House of Representative’s report, a speech made by Congressman John C. Calhoun, member of the House of Representative, announced that war is the only solution to protecting American’s rights and interests, and if the British maintain their violation of maritime rights, America with be “bound in honor and interest to resist.” (Doc 2). To clarify, America can and will attack in an act of self-defense if the British continue oppress U.S. sailors. When analyzed, the British didn’t really take the Americans’ threat of war seriously, as it is known that a war still happened from the fact that the British didn’t stop. However, to tie it all together, a letter written by Congressman Hugh Nelson in July 1812 states “… to demonstrate to the world… that our republican government was competent to assert its rights, to maintain the interests of the people, and to repel all foreign aggression…” (Doc. 7). To put it in