Two main grievances lay at the heart of American animosity toward Great Britain. The young United States was already outgrowing its coastal boundaries and expanding westward. The Lewis and Clark expedition encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 had ventured into the continent beyond the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.
Britain, too, had seen the possibilities of this vast land and already controlled a huge amount of territory in its Canadian provinces. Rather than leave well enough alone, the British encouraged American Indians in their fight against white settlers moving westward from the original United States. Those who had lost their farms or loved ones to Indian raids were no friends of the British.
Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the British were restricting American trade in a way that completely ignored the fact that the United States was a sovereign nation. As far as the British were concerned, it was as if the United States of America did not exist, and if it did, it was only an upstart nation and a minor nuisance.
On the high seas, the British stopped American vessels, boarded them, and took away sailors to work their own Royal Navy ships. The British claimed the American sailors were actually deserters from His Majesty’s vessels. On occasion there were deserters, but usually the sailors the British scooped up were American citizens. The British also refused to recognize the fact that a man born in Ireland or England or Scotland could become an American citizen. The British view was that once a subject of the king, always a subject of the king. The Royal Navy was running roughshod over American ships in a perfect case of “might makes right” and there was little the American government could do about it.
No amount of complaining through diplomatic channels seemed to do any good. The United States invoked a reverse trade embargo intended to punish the British, but which only bankrupted American merchants. The British were too preoccupied with fighting Napoleon to pay much attention. In any case, there wasn’t any reason to worry about what Americans thought. Britain had nothing to fear from a young United States that lacked any real economic or military clout.
Nonetheless, the United States at the urging of President James Madison declared war on June 18, 1812. The first real military action was to invade Canada, which turned out to be a disastrous mistake for the Americans.
Understand the War of 1812, and you understand American Liberty.