War Of 1812 Dbq Essay

Fellow Americans, there has been a debate of weather or not the War of 1812 was a defense for our sovereignty, or a risk of our Liberty. I am here to tell you, that it was without a doubt waged in defense of our sovereignty. We the United States went to war with Great Britain in June of 1812, we did this because Britain was trampling on our sovereignty. Britain still thinks of the United States as one of their colonies that they can control, they are wrong. In 1807, the British H.M.S. Leopard forced their way onto the U.S.S. Chesapeake off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia. The British forced British-born U.S. citizens into the British navy, stating that they were deserters. We as free Americans could not let the British walk all over us, we had to fight to prove our Sovereignty.

ships. The French agreed which angered Britain, even though we offered to reopen trade with both. The British are still stopping neutral trade from American ships. Our President James Madison has finally made this issue a matter of national sovereignty; he stated that if we continue to allow this we seem weak. Madison made a great decision on June 1, 1812, when he asked Congress to approve a declaration of war against the British. Even though our war against the British seemed hopeless at first, with their attack on Washington fact that the British burned down the White House. We fought back and in 1814 when neither side was victorious, the British and the United States signed The Treaty of Ghent on December