The Real Causes of the War of 1812

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: War of 1812, Treaty of Paris, Thomas Jefferson, Northwestern Confederacy
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Royal Navy, Chesapeake Affair, Albert Gallatin
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Royal Navy, Tecumseh, Chesapeake Affair, Henry Clay
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Tecumseh, Isaac Brock
5. 20:00 – 21:04: War of 1812

Notable quotes from "The Real Causes of the War of 1812"

• Nothing was ever done about the underlying tensions. However, it was the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe that finally caused the tensions between England and her…

  about War of 1812 · at 0:27

• Tensions Almost Snap In retaliation for these confiscations, the British interfered with US shipping in the Caribbean. Worse, they refused to evacuate eight forts in US…

  about Northwestern Confederacy · at 3:30

• Napoleon Exists Which Makes it Worse Relations were cordial though tense during the 10 years the Jay Treaty was in force. However, President Thomas Jefferson rejected a new…

  about Thomas Jefferson · at 4:57

• Neither country recognized the other’s definition of citizenship. As far as Britain was concerned, thousands of desperately needed potential sailors were hiding in the US.…

  about Albert Gallatin · at 7:40

• The Tory government hardened its conviction that drastic action was necessary. A new set of Orders in Council extended the British blockade. London separately ordered the Royal…

  about Royal Navy · at 9:23

• Stop in British ports for inspection, regardless of their final destination, or be seized. Napoleon retaliated with the Milan Decree, stating that any ship that stopped in a…

  about David Erskine · at 11:07

• But they were also looking to annex all of Canada. This was not just for territorial expansion, but to stop the British from arming the native tribes still resisting US…

  about Tecumseh · at 13:08

• It is incontrovertible that native warriors in the Northwest Territory were receiving British arms and that Major General Issac Brock was materially supporting Tecumseh and…

  about Isaac Brock · at 15:24

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Tecumseh — Person · Referenced Indigenous leader and military-political organizer · 9 mentions · first at 13:19
  Framed as a major factor in U.S. war sentiment: his pan-tribal confederacy and perceived British support were used by War Hawks to justify conflict.
• Thomas Jefferson — Person · Referenced political leader (U.S. President) · 1 mention · first at 4:59
  Presented as a key driver of deteriorating U.S.–British relations via treaty rejection and economic coercion policies that helped set conditions for war.
• Henry Clay — Person · Referenced U.S. political leader (War Hawks’ leader) · 1 mention · first at 12:56
  Introduced as the War Hawks’ leader whose rise to Speaker of the House intensified pro-war pressure, including calls to invade/annex Canada and confront British-Indian support.
  Worsening the sectarian split, the Democratic-Republicans from the south and west were shouting increasingly loudly for war. There had been calls to drive the British from the…
• Isaac Brock — Person · Referenced British/Canadian military commander and colonial administrator · 1 mention · first at 16:53
  Used to explain British-Indian alliance dynamics: described as materially supporting Tecumseh and other Indigenous resistance leaders while pursuing Canada’s defense strategy.
• Albert Gallatin — Person · Referenced government official (U.S. Treasury Secretary) · 1 mention · first at 7:52
  Cited as an evidentiary authority on the impressment/manpower issue by estimating the share of U.S. merchant sailors who were British subjects.
• David Erskine — Person · Referenced diplomat (British ambassador to the U.S.) · 1 mention · first at 11:18
  Appears as the negotiator who attempted to resolve the Chesapeake affair and ease trade restrictions, illustrating failed diplomacy due to recall by London.
• George Canning — Person · Referenced British government leader (Foreign Secretary) · 1 mention · first at 11:30
  Depicted as the British official who recalled Erskine and terminated negotiations, reinforcing the episode’s theme of diplomatic breakdown escalating toward war.
  Would be seized. In 1809, British ambassador David Erskine negotiated a resolution to the Chesapeake affair. He offered to make American shipping exempt from the Orders in…

Books & papers

• Treaty of Paris — Book · 2 mentions · first at 0:06
  While the 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, it did not resolve the tension between the British Empire and the new nation born of its erstwhile thirteen…

Concepts & topics

• Royal Navy — Concept · 9 mentions · first at 5:55
• Northwestern Confederacy — Concept · 1 mention · first at 3:38

Places & events

• War of 1812 — Event · 3 mentions · first at 0:36
• Chesapeake Affair — Event · 2 mentions · first at 9:09
  The Chesapeake Affair and Additional Orders in Council The situation escalated in 1807. Napoleon had defeated two more coalitions and instituted his Continental System, which…
• Battle of Tippecanoe — Event · 1 mention · first at 13:36
  A new charismatic native chieftain named Tecumseh had arisen among the Shawnee people and was creating a new grand alliance of native tribes. This added urgency to the American…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:06 While the 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolution, it did not resolve the tension between the British Empire and the new nation born of its erstwhile thirteen colonies. Numerous disputes between Britain and the United States remained unresolved, and vagueness in the treaty itself created new problems. While efforts were made to solve the substantive issues, nothing was ever done about the underlying tensions. However, it was the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe that finally caused the tensions between England and her prodigal son to boil over in the New World. Welcome to the start of our series on the War of 1812, an often-overlooked chapter in American military history, yet one that nonetheless played a fundamental role in shaping the identities of both the modern American and Canadian nations.

0:53 In this first episode, we will explain the factors that led to the outbreak of war between a young, scrappy republic and the world's largest colonial juggernaut. Unresolved Problems Cause Tension The road to the War of 1812 began with flaws in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which had formally introduced the independent United States of America into the international community. The treaty did a poor job of establishing the new border between the United States and British North America. It also failed to define cross-border commercial rights, leading to constant trade disputes. Additionally, West Florida remained in administrative limbo, as ambiguities in treaty language and British administrative practices led to its being ceded to both Spain and the United States. Britain refused to clarify the discrepancies, which led to friction between the US and Spain that was not resolved until 1795.

2:45 Additionally, neither side fully upheld their treaty obligations. Both the United States and the United Kingdom were required to pay all debts owed to each other’s citizens and allow civil lawsuits to recover war-related damages. However, neither was enthusiastic about actually doing so and were deliberately dragging out the court cases. The Confederation Congress had additionally agreed to prevent further expulsion of British Loyalists and confiscation of their property while “earnestly recommending” the state legislatures recognize Loyalist property rights and provide compensation and restitution for seized property. Congress had done the latter, but the states ignored these measures and continued to confiscate the property of loyal colonials to pay war debts.

3:30 Tensions Almost Snap In retaliation for these confiscations, the British interfered with US shipping in the Caribbean. Worse, they refused to evacuate eight forts in US territory along the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, and increased support for the Northwestern Confederacy, an alliance of indigenous tribes which provided a major barrier against American inland expansion. The Articles of Confederation left Congress too weak to respond effectively to these provocative acts, and the British ignored their protests. When the Northwest Indian War broke out, the British not only sent overt materiel and diplomatic support to the native tribes but also, semi-covertly, deployed British and Canadian militias to fight alongside them. When it seemed the Americans would lose the Northwest Territory, the British built Fort Miami outside modern Toledo to reclaim the region. However, when “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s Legion of the

4:23 United States decisively defeated the Native Confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the British refused to open Fort Miami’s gates to fleeing warriors. London couldn’t risk another war by openly supporting their “allies”, even though it cost the Confederacy the war and Britain a chance to reclaim the Northwest Territory. Cornered and humiliated, London finally agreed to resolve the commercial issues and some border disputes via the Jay Treaty and withdrew from all nine forts and stopped supporting the tribes in American territory.

4:57 Napoleon Exists Which Makes it Worse Relations were cordial though tense during the 10 years the Jay Treaty was in force. However, President Thomas Jefferson rejected a new treaty in 1806. This was primarily because he personally hated the British and wanted an antagonistic relationship with them and an amicable one with France. His Democratic-Republican party was fervently anti-British, not only because of old grievances but also because its rival, the Federalist party, was dedicatedly pro-British. His secondary reason was that the treaty didn’t address British policies that were harming American commerce. At the time, neutral nations had an absolute right to trade with belligerent nations, and their ships and cargo were inviolable unless trying to bypass a blockade. The United States had been doing brisk business with all sides of the French Revolutionary Wars and expected to keep doing so when the Napoleonic Wars broke out,

5:50 but Britain disagreed. Britain’s only means of fighting Napoleon was commercial warfare via the Royal Navy. As the United States conducted only maritime trade with Europe, blockades and seizures would affect it far more than anyone else, but that was an acceptable risk. London didn’t want conflict with the United States, but if that’s what it took to defeat Napoleon, then so be it. It began in the 1790s with inconsistent enforcement of the Rule of 1756, which stated that cargo bound for British-controlled ports that wasn’t traded in wartime couldn’t be traded in peacetime. London’s merchants had been relentlessly complaining about American merchants outcompeting them and wanted the Royal Navy to drive the Americans off and to restore Britain to commercial primacy. Parliament preferred not to intervene, as the free trade with the United States was both incredibly profitable and a critical source of war materiel. However,

6:46 the merchant’s political lobbying was ultimately unignorable. Reimplementing the 1756 rule quieted the merchants, while the Americans weren’t annoyed enough to stop trading with Britain, as the Royal Navy and port officials only occasionally enforced it. Impressment Exacerbates Everything However, harassment soon turned into impressment or forced naval enlistment. As detailed in our series on Thomas Cochrane, conditions in the Royal Navy were terrible, and the fleet’s rapid wartime expansion left most ships severely undercrewed. According to British law, any British seafarer could be pressed into naval service during wartime. Moreover, another law stated that anyone born under British jurisdiction was a British citizen, regardless of where they currently lived. However, American law stated that anyone who lived in the US long enough would gain American citizenship, with the specifics left to the individual states.

7:40 Neither country recognized the other’s definition of citizenship. As far as Britain was concerned, thousands of desperately needed potential sailors were hiding in the US. Britain was correct; US Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin estimated that half of US merchant sailors were British subjects, with Royal Navy deserters serving in both the merchant service and the United States Navy. Britain Gets to Impressing The desperate situation in the Royal Navy led the British to take drastic action. It started with British deserters being hauled off during the Rule of 1756 inspections, but soon entire crews were being impressed off American merchant ships. The Royal Navy has always maintained that it only impressed British citizens, but historians have found plenty of reason to doubt the claim. Regardless, those men kidnapped into service were considered American citizens by the US and British citizens by the British. Washington could only protest these press-gangings weakly,

8:38 partly because London was just ignoring them anyway and partly due to internal politics. Despite being most affected by Britain’s commercial warfare with France, New England didn’t want to jeopardize the extremely profitable wartime trade it had with Britain. Losing sailors and cargo to the Royal Navy was annoying, but not enough to threaten their profits. However, impressment became so common that British and American ships began fleeing at the sight of Royal Navy warships and beaching themselves to avoid Royal Navy press gangs.

9:09 The Chesapeake Affair and Additional Orders in Council The situation escalated in 1807. Napoleon had defeated two more coalitions and instituted his Continental System, which embargoed British trade and worsened the Royal Navy’s manpower crisis. The Tory government hardened its conviction that drastic action was necessary. A new set of Orders in Council extended the British blockade. London separately ordered the Royal Navy to locate and retrieve deserters, no matter the consequences. Consequently, a squadron of British warships stationed in Chesapeake Bay blockaded several French warships in the American harbour of Baltimore. The squadron had already lost dozens of sailors to desertion, and the local British consul had been badgering US officials about returning them. However, most of the known ones were US residents, if not full citizens, and there were standing orders to protect them. British citizens were not turned over out of spite.

10:05 On June 22nd, USS Chesapeake put to sea. On board were four Royal Navy deserters, three of whom were US residents. The British consul alerted the RN squadron, and HMS Leopard was dispatched to recover the deserters. When confronted, Commodore James Barron answered noncommittally per standing orders. Incensed by the dismissal, Leopard fired on Chesapeake, which was not at battle stations, killing three and wounding 18. Leopard then boarded, and the four targeted deserters were hauled off in chains. This incident sparked fury among the American public. This was a clear violation of US sovereignty and a clear sign that the British still thought that America was a colony to be pushed around. Mobs attacked Royal Navy personnel in several ports, while Jefferson sent his strongest protests to London and expelled several Royal Navy warships from American waters. Rather than apologize, London doubled down. Additional Orders in Council were issued, requiring all merchant shipping to

11:07 stop in British ports for inspection, regardless of their final destination, or be seized. Napoleon retaliated with the Milan Decree, stating that any ship that stopped in a British port would be seized. In 1809, British ambassador David Erskine negotiated a resolution to the Chesapeake affair. He offered to make American shipping exempt from the Orders in Council, but Foreign Secretary George Canning recalled him and ended all negotiations with the US. The Ineffective US Response The US did not effectively respond, and tensions continued to rise. Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican Party strongly disliked standing militaries and refused to expand the tiny US army. The navy was allowed to grow slightly, but Jefferson became enamoured by the idea of fleets of small gunboats using fire and maneuver tactics to overwhelm larger ships and put most of the money into this Mosquito Fleet.

12:02 Unable to respond militarily, Jefferson and then James Madison attempted to use economic coercion against Britain and France. Both presidents believed that the combatants needed American trade far more than they actually did, and consequently withheld that trade. It completely backfired. Neither Britain's nor France’s economies were appreciably disrupted, while the US suffered an economic depression. New England howled that none of the acts were intended to solve the crisis but were just political reprisals against the Federalists.

12:34 The British and French made trade difficult, but it was still possible and profitable. Jefferson and Madison had made it impossible and completely shut down their commercial economies. Worsening the sectarian split, the Democratic-Republicans from the south and west were shouting increasingly loudly for war. There had been calls to drive the British from the Continent since the Revolution, but the 1810 midterm elections made Henry Clay, the War Hawks’ leader, Speaker of the House. The War Hawks wanted war primarily to defend America’s honour, but they were also looking to annex all of Canada. This was not just for territorial expansion, but to stop the British from arming the native tribes still resisting US expansion. Around this time, a new charismatic native chieftain named Tecumseh had arisen among the Shawnee people and was creating a new grand alliance of native tribes. This added urgency to the American War Hawks’

13:30 cries for war with Britain, even after a US Army led by Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison had won a major victory against Tecumseh’s tribal alliance at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Questionable Motivations The debate over just how much of a priority the US Annexation of Canada was is not yet settled. There were numerous American politicians openly calling to invade and annex Canada, but it isn’t clear that it was an actual American war goal. Historians like JCA Stagg and Alfred Leroy Burt have argued that America never intended to keep any Canadian land. In contrast, others like Louis M. Hacker and Alan Taylor think territorial acquisition was the primary motivation. The controversy stems from the fact that invading British North America was the only way for the US to prosecute its war against Britain. If Napoleonic France couldn’t invade the island of Britain proper, America had

14:25 no chance. Thus, their only option was to invade and conquer Britain’s remaining North American colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, even if it didn’t intend to keep them. Additionally, numerous statements by President Madison and others in his government indicated that they believed Canada was the key to feeding Britain’s far more valuable Caribbean colonies. Madison, therefore, believed that starving the Caribbean would force Britain to the peace table faster than actually conquering Canada. However, he was also on record stating that if the invasion went particularly well, the US would try to acquire territory to weaken the British and stop them from arming enemy tribes.

15:03 Territorial acquisition was likely seen as a benefit of war, but not a reason for war. The Tecumseh Conundrum Meanwhile, it’s not clear what effect America's conquering all of British North America would have had on Tecumseh’s military power. There’s also considerable ambiguity about what London’s policy for Tecumseh’s Confederacy actually was. It is incontrovertible that native warriors in the Northwest Territory were receiving British arms and that Major General Issac Brock was materially supporting Tecumseh and making alliances with other native resistance leaders. However, native factions in the old Northwest were receiving arms from the Americans as well, while Tecumseh never fully trusted the British, having been doublecrossed by them before at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Firstly, while British military officials gave thousands of weapons, tools, and other military supplies to native tribes fighting the Americans pre-1812, the numbers paled in comparison

15:59 to what the tribes acquired via the fur trade. The tribes knew the value Europeans put on furs and often played American and Canadian fur traders off each other to get the best prices. Weapons were the most desirable trade goods, and tribal traders were raising their prices to ensure that trading guns and gunpowder was the only option to acquire valuable furs. While the records are sparse and the impact controversial, it appears that British direct weapons transfers did enough to buy Indian goodwill but did not actually make them war-ready. Secondly, Tecumseh never forgot nor forgave Britain’s betrayal at Fallen Timbers, and he expected them to betray him in turn. If another European power had been available, Tecumseh would have chosen them over the British. However, the only other option was distant and weak Spain, and his hope for a unified Indian nation required a strong European ally. He had to work with the British,

16:53 but despite his immense personal respect for the colonial administrator Isaac Brock, whose bravery the Shawnee chieftain much admired, he only got as close to the British as necessary and was eternally looking over his shoulder. Tecumseh was not wrong to suspect the motivations of his fairweather allies. To the British, the natives were a means to an end. Defending its Canadian territories, or more accurately, defending its access to the Canadian fur trade, was Britain’s primary strategic concern. London believed that the formation of an Indian buffer state was key to defending Canada. Therefore, Tecumseh’s dream was in Britain’s strategic interest. However, London didn’t actively work toward that dream. London wouldn’t risk being caught directly helping the enemies of the US again. Still, it needed the natives to be sufficiently grateful for British help to become its satellite and buffer state. Thus,

17:46 Brock and other officials were allowed to promise anything and everything to form tribal alliances, but could only fulfill limited requests for weapons and gunpowder. Even then, the allocations were often expanded or cut seemingly at random. Confused about London’s intentions, Brock focused on strengthening the tribes on his side of the border, intending to use them as his first line of defence. Helping Tecumseh was a secondary concern. It is likely that the material support Tecumseh and other resistance leaders received from the British before 1812 didn’t affect the outcome of their wars. However, the fact that Britain was still undeniably supporting active enemies of the United States was widely known. The War Hawks magnified, dramatized, and hyperbolized this limited British support for Tecumseh to successfully whip up a public frenzy for war.

18:37 War is Declared The internal pressure was finally too much to ignore. With Britain still refusing to address US grievances or to curtail impressment, President James Madison delivered a special address to Congress on June 1st, 1812. Without actually calling for war, Madison recounted the impacts of the Orders in Council, the impressment of US citizens, and British involvement with Tecumseh on the American economy and national honour, before noting that, under similar circumstances, Britain would have already declared war. Congress responded, and on June 18th, the United States issued its first-ever Declaration of War against Great Britain. Ironically, America’s grievances were already being addressed without its knowledge. The Orders in Council were causing an economic depression in England almost as severe as the one the Americans had experienced. Thousands of unemployed manufacturers had rioted against

19:28 them in the Midlands and the North, and Perceval’s government finally began discussing their repeal. Then Perceval was assassinated over an unrelated and somewhat delusional personal grievance on May 11th. Fearing that an uprising might be fomenting and wanting to moderate its foreign policy, the new government abandoned Perceval’s hardline approach and suspended the Orders in Council on June 16th, pending full repeal. To further repair relations with the United States, London released the two surviving impressed sailors from the Chesapeake and paid for damaging the ship.

20:03 It is likely the ships containing America’s Declaration of War and Britain's repeal of the Orders in Council passed each other in the Atlantic. Both governments learned of the other's moves in August and realized that the cause of the war was effectively solved. However, no orders were given as both governments were waiting to see how the other responded and whether there’d really be war or not. However, the decision was being made for them in the wilderness of the Great Lakes. In our next episode on the war of 1812, the embers of conflict will begin to spark along the frontier, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see them. Please consider liking, subscribing, commenting, and sharing - it helps immensely.

20:42 Our patrons and YouTube members can watch more than 200+ exclusive videos - join their ranks via the link in the description or by pressing the join button under the video to watch these weekly videos, learn about our schedule, get early access to our videos, access our private Discord, and much more. This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next one.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "The Real Causes of the War of 1812"?

In order: 0:00 War of 1812, Treaty of Paris, Thomas Jefferson, Northwestern Confederacy; 5:00 Royal Navy, Chesapeake Affair, Albert Gallatin; 10:00 Royal Navy, Tecumseh, Chesapeake Affair, Henry Clay; 15:00 Tecumseh, Isaac Brock; 20:00 War of 1812.

What is mentioned in this Kings and Generals episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including War of 1812, Tecumseh, Thomas Jefferson, Treaty of Paris, Royal Navy, Chesapeake Affair. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Real Causes of the War of 1812"?

The episode runs 21 min; the transcript is about 3,207 words in 25 timestamped sections.

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