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When we hear the phase, "the forgotten war", most of us think of the military conflict on the Korean Peninsula from June 1950 to July 1953. The most famous incident of this "forgotten war" occurred in 1951, when President Truman relieved General MacArthur of his command. MacArthur returned to America, where he was hailed as a hero and urged to run for president. He chose instead to retire to private life after a farewell address to a joint session of Congress in which he quoted a World War I British Army song: "Old soldiers never die; they simply fade away" ("1951", 1995, 1996). However, the US has an earlier, more important, and more completely forgotten war. This is the War of 1812, in which the young nation won its independence from Great Britain for the second time in less than fifty years. Few people today are aware that the United States had to fight the War of Independence twice, or that the US ever had a war with Canada. The War of 1812 placed the US against its former colonial ruler, Great Britain, and lasted two and a half years. The war reached its high point with the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, and thereafter, Britain finally came to recognize the US as an independ
"XYZ Affair." (1996-97). Encarta 98 Desk Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. nch. Actually, the incident arose from the American refusal to come to the aid of France in the war with Britain, as promised in the Franco-American treaty of 1778. The Federalist party, led by President John Adams, renounced the treaties it had made with France during the American Revolution and ordered an expansion of military forces ("XYZ Affair", 1996-97). When he was inaugurated as President in 1801, Jefferson continued the Republican party's policy of favoritism toward the French, but he also refused to come to the aid of the French against the British. In his first inaugural address, on March 4, 1801, Jefferson said, "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none" (quoted in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, 1993-95). Thus, he did not come to the aid of the French, but neither did he make any strong objection to their seizure of American ships, as he did in the case of the British. This was due, in part, to the fact that France was not committing acts of war on American soil. Even though the British military was not directly involved in attacks on the US, Britain was encouraging the Native Americans to fight. A major incident which no doubt sparked additional anti-British feeling was the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe, in which Tecumseh's brother (the Prophet) led an attack on Ge! r Incident added fuel to the burning debate over declaring war against Britain. In 1806 the British ship HMS Leander detained at least twelve American ships off the coast of New York, and an American sailor was killed accidentally when the Leander fired a warning shot across the bow of an America vessel. In response to this incident, Jefferson banned the Leander and its companion ship HMS Cambrian from US ports. This was followed by the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair in June 1807. The British frigate Leopard stopped the US frigate Chesapeake ten miles off the coast of Virginia, claiming that four men on the American ship were British deserters and demanding their surrender. When the US commander Commodore James Barron refused, a battle followed which resulted in American casualties of three killed and eighteen wounded, and which damaged the American ship before the deserters were forcibly removed. The US was not prepared to fight, and the weakness of the military forced the P! 0, and which met in November 1811, included a group known as the War Hawks; they were all Democratic-Republicans, primarily from the West and the South, so they did not represent the maritime interests of the eastern seaboard or the unfortunate seamen who were being kidnapped by the British Navy. Their leaders included John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Felix Grundy of Tennessee. These men argued that Americans could save their honor and change the British policies by invading Canada. The Federalist Party, which represented New England shippers, opposed the war. In 1810, when Napoleon announced the revocation of his decrees, and the British still refused to repeal their orders, the pressure for war increased. On June 18, 1812, President Madison signed a declaration of war that Congress had passed at his request, over substantial opposition. Americans did not know at this point that Britain had announced two days earlier that it would repeal it! While Britain and France battled for supremacy in Europe, the US tried to foster the growth of trade and of the shipping industry of its eastern seaboard. At first the US tried to change the policies of the European powers through peaceful economic measures. Madison reported the British infringement on US neutral commerce rights, and a Senate resolution condemned the British actions, but Britain ignored it. Then the US Congress passed the Non-importation Act of 1806, prohibiting the importation from Britain of several items which could be produced in
Some common words found in the essay are:
British Navy, Ordinary Americans, Britain France, Americans Britain, Affair Anti-French, James Barron, World War, Jefferson's Administrations, British French, Dictionary Quotations, war 1812, american ships, war britain, declaration war, british navy, causes war 1812, congress passed, causes war, seizing american, administrations 1997, xyz affair, jefferson's administrations 1997, seizing american ships, american ships british, war 1812 1998,
Approximate Word count = 2808
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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