War of 1812--Impressments

Essay by clevedan2000High School, 10th grade November 2002

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World Studies 1 Honors

28 May 2002

Catalyzed Aggression by Impressments

In the nineteenth century the world was in turmoil. Civil unrest was common throughout the globe. The English were incessantly involved in war with the French. The Americans were in a feud with the Native Americans. The real trouble happened when two of these wars in essence combined against the unfortunate Americans. There were many causes which led up to the War of 1812. This included, tax hikes from the British, the seizure of American and French merchant ships, American goods being sold for less money than the English Products, British impressments (the forcing of American sailors to join the British Royal Fleet), stealing of American goods, confiscating of French goods, and the issue of the Americans taking over the land of the Native Americans. The combination of these factors led to the start of the War of 1812.

British impressments catalyzed the War of 1812.

The British outlawed American trade with the French. This was because the British did not want the French receiving income from the Americans, but they realized that they needed the income from the American trade to maintain power. The British blockaded the Mediterranean Sea in 1808, so no French merchant ships could reach America, and no American ships could reach France (Nardo 15). The blockade was stopped by the English in 1809. Over 250 French and American merchant ships were seized in the blockade. If the American merchant ships were found with French goods, the goods were seized and quarantined in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Nardo 16). Eventually this led to the Americans creating an embargo against trade with other nations. The French retaliated by seizing the American Merchant ships and dividing the spoils. This greatly hurt the American economy and was repealed two...