Causes
The War of 1812 was important because the young United States was able to stand up against the strong British Empire. At the time, Britain was involved in the Napoleonic Wars, so they did not fully concentrate on the war with America until 1814, when Napoleon was defeated. The first main cause of the war was British impressment. British Impressment was when the British kidnapped American seamen from their merchant ships and forced them to fight against France in the British Army. This relates to another cause of the war, which was Britain restricting trade between America and other European nations. America was trading with both France and Britain, so in order to have an advantage over France, Britain passed the Orders in Council (1807), which required neutral countries to obtain a license from its authorities before trading with the French. Americans were angered by of this because they were not trading as much and were not making as much money. The third main cause of the war was the Native American resistance. In 1811, William Henry Harrison, Indiana’s Territorial Governor, led American troops into victory in the Battle of Tippecanoe against the Native Americans. This defeat convinced the natives that they needed British support to help their resistance against American westward expansion. Together, these three acts triggered the official start of the war as President James Madison signed the declaration for war against Britain on June 18th, 1812.
Effects
The war was also important because of it's lasting effects. One large effect of the war was about the Native Americans and Canada. While the war was a relatively minor conflict for the U.S. and Britain, it was more significant for Canada and the natives, who saw it as an important turning point in their struggle to govern themselves. Another effect was that it brought an end to the federalist party, who were viewed as unpatriotic in their “anti-war” stance (“War of 1812”). Finally, it boosted American confidence and encouraged American expansionism, for they had just “defeated” the largest empire in the world… twice. This war had a quite large impact on America (and the world for that matter) because it showed that the United States was its own country independent of Britain and a large player on the international stage.