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The War of 1812 and its Effect

Since the beginning of the 19* century, the United States suffered from the consequences of Napoleonic Wars in Europe. While Great Britain was fighting against France, the USA remained neutral, and continued trading with both countries.

As both warring countries tried to stop American aid to its rivals, they attacked American fleet – between 1804 and 1807, the USA lost more than 700 merchant ships because of British attacks and about 200 – to the French. Jefferson's government passed the Embargo Act forbidding all exports from the United States to any country, but it didn't work.

The relations between Britain and the USA grew worse, the war seemed inevitable. In addition, many Americans favored the conquest of British Canada, which could eliminate British influence among the Indians and open new lands for colonization.

In 1812, President James Madison asked the Congress to declare war against Great Britain and the USA went to war. The war brought no success for Americans – they began with invasion of Canada, but the British won and soon occupied Detroit. The other battles of the war proceeded on the Great Lakes and in the nearby territories. The British fleet was defeated and the northwest territory remained American.

The other British attacks were from the south – they attacked New Orleans hoping to gain control of the Mississippi River. Americans, led by General Andrew Jackson, got the greatest victory of the war, but they didn't know that a peace treaty (the Treaty of Ghent) had been signed already. It was negotiated to restore the prewar status quo.

The War of 1812, though bringing no resolute victory, had certain consequences for American international policy – till the end of the century the nation avoided European conflicts (as it was the British-French conflict that had drawn the USA into war). For a long period after the war Americans also tried to prevent European intrusion into the Western Hemisphere – this idea was expressed in the Monroe Doctrine – the message of President Monroe to Congress on December 2, 1823. The Doctrine called for.

1) noncolonization of the Western Hemisphere by European nations;

2) nonintention by Europe in the affairs of independent New World nations;

3) noninterference by the United States in European affairs including those of Europe's existing New World Colonies.

The Monroe Doctrine became the foundation of American policy in the Western Hemisphere.

The War of 1812 also had disastrous results for most Indian tribes – they lost Tucemseh, the most powerful Indian leader, and they lost their strongest ally – the British, so many midwestern tribes had no resources with which they could resist American expansion.

For Americans the war revealed their weaknesses in defense and transportation, which were vital for westward expansion (in 1815, Congress voted for a standing army of 10,000 men – three times bigger as before). The problems with transportation made the government think of better roads – by the middle of the 19^th century, the Appalachian Mountain barrier was pierced by five railway lines that linked the east with the midwest. New roads were constructed to promote connections with frontier lands. All these measures encouraged westward expansion.

Cultural Focus: Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States going back to the War of 1812. During the war Sam Wilson, a merchant from Troy, New York, received a contract to supply meat to the American army. He stamped the supplies with "US" and soon the soldiers jokingly referred to it as the initials of the meat supplier – "Uncle Sam", Uncle Samuel Wilson.

By 1820, illustrations of "Uncle Sam" as a national symbol were appearing in the newspapers and soon it became one of the most recognizable in the USA. The claim of Samuel Wilson to be recognized as the original Uncle Sam and the prototyte of the name was finally set by the 87^th United States Congres when it adopted the following resolution on September 15, 1961: "Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America's National symbol of Uncle Sam".

Uncle Sam is usually drawn as a tall, elderly man with a stars and stripes top hat, a red, white, and blue morning coat, and striped pants. This style was originally popularized by cartoonist Thomas Nast and is now the universal image of the character. In recent years some cartoonists have drawn a more modernized and youthful version of Uncle Sam, although the distinctive top hat always remains.