Causes
The British impressment of American seamen was one cause of the war of 1812. Impressment is the act in which men are captured and forced into Naval service. Another main cause of this war was America’s desire to expand its territory. They wanted to expand it into Canada, which was British land, as well as further west, where the Natives Americans inhabited. Finally, there were trade issues. America was trading with both Britain and France, who were enemies. Those two countries weren't fond of this, so America had to choose only one country to trade with. They chose France and cut off trade with Britain. Congress had passed the Embargo Act, which banned trade with any other country. Its goal was to force Britain to respect American rights. A couple years later that Act was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act, which lifted all embargoes except those to ports in England or France. The war had officially begun on June 18, 1812.
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Results
The War of 1812 lasted a little longer than two and half years. On February 17, 1815, the Treaty of Ghent was ratified, officially ending the war. This treaty didn’t solve any of the problems that caused the war; it simply put the two sides at peace and returned everything back to its original order. However, both sides agreed to address the problems after they were at peace. They returned the land to the original owner and resumed friendly trade relations. The Indians, on the other hand, surely lost because they lost more land and suffered many casualties. For America, standing up to the British opponent gave many of its citizens pride. This war was like a second war of independence, in which America succeeded in protecting itself against Britain, one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time.
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