War Of 1812 Dbq Analysis

In 1783, America won the American Revolution; this war gave them freedom from England. Twenty-nine years later, America still had many problems with Great Britain even after winning the revolution. Presidents Washington, Adams, and Jefferson tried very hard to avoid a war with Great Britain. When James Madison became President, he felt that Great Britain was being aggressive. America was not declaring war, but defending itself from a war declared by Great Britain. The main forces that led America to officially declare war on Britain on June 18, 1812, were Britain’s kidnapping or impressments of American sailors, Britain’s efforts to restrict the United States’ sea trade or maritime rights, and unofficially, the American wish to get more land in the west and from Canada.
When James Madison and The House of Representatives decided to vote for a war, almost all of America felt that they did not have a choice to disagree. Madison said in his declaration of war, “We behold, in fine, on the side of Great Britain a state of war against the United States.” [Doc 4] Great Britain was kidnapping American sailors and forcing them to work for the British navy. The British navy had many deserters, so they stopped American ships to search for those deserters and captured everyone on
Trouble on the seas with enslaving and killing American seamen, impressments, restricting overseas trading, and the desire to expand across the continent were just a few of the reasons. After winning independence in 1783, America did not want to feel as if it was still being controlled and oppressed by Britain. The War of 1812 was considered the only option. America stood against Britain and proved that it was a strong enough country to fight for what it thought was important. In the end, Britain became tired of fighting. Even though the War of 1812 was for different reasons, when it was over, it made America feel