Overview

In 1811 and 1812, Congress engaged in a heated and regionally divided debate over whether to declare war on Great Britain for the first time under the Constitution. President James Madison’s war message of June 1, 1812, and the subsequent votes in the House and Senate resulted from months of oratory that centered on impressment, the Orders in Council, frontier conflicts, and the question of territorial expansion into Canada. The debates revealed deep partisan and sectional divisions, leading critics to call the conflict ‘Mr. Madison’s War.’

The Non-Intercourse Act of March 1809 replaced Jefferson’s Embargo Act, prohibiting American trade with Britain and France. It failed to coerce the belligerents, destabilized Anglo-American relations through the disavowed Erskine Agreement, and contributed directly to the coming of the War of 1812.

The War of 1812 (1812–1815) was a direct outgrowth of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), as Britain’s maritime policies designed to defeat France—impressment and the Orders-in-Council—provoked American grievances. While not a formal coalition war, it was a byproduct of the larger European conflict and ended concurrently with Napoleon’s final defeat.