War of 1812

5. Explain the complex causes of the War of 1812.

When James Madison was instated as President there was a continuation of the Non-Intercourse Act called Macon’s Bill no. 2 that allowed the president to cut off trade with Britain or France if they did not repealed commercial restrictions and for the country that did not repealed the Embargo Act was reinstated (seen as a sign of US weakness to Madison). France saw their opportunity and repealed leaving England as the country with no trade relation to America anymore but England would only repeal if French decrees vanished and French agreed to do so if England repealed. In the end the Embargo Act was reinstated against England (only) thus ending US neutrality. Then in 1812 War Hawks (members of government from the South and West) sought to annihilate the threat the Native Americans posed to pioneer settlers and push Natives off their land. Then two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (also called the prophet), created a confederation with all the tribes east of the Mississippi and led a resistance against the American settlements in the Northwest Territory (they offered to create an alliance against Britain if US gave back taken land, but US declined). The resistance encouraged the William Henry Harrison (governor of Indiana territory) to band together an army that marched down to Tecumseh’s headquarters and burn his village (Battle of Tippecanoe). The Natives went into an alliance with the British in the War of 1812. This all leads to the War of 1812 declared by President James Madison on June 1, 1812 which was a waged against Britain for impressments, blockades, encouraging the Native Americans and the need to stop Canadian support of the Natives. The war caused controversy among the people where the east did not support the war because they did not want agrarian states created from Canada and the bankers in the east loaned money to the British (supported them) and the states refused to send their...