The start of the 19th century saw Britain and France engaged in the bitter Napoleonic Wars that had a devastating effect on American shipping to the two nations. Both countries had enacted laws that sought to stop neutral nations from trading with the enemy. This economic pressure, combined with the Royal Navy’s use of impressment to seize sailors from U.S. ships and force them to serve the British, deeply angered Americans. Even on land relations between the two countries were poor, as Britain was lending support to the native tribes in the Northwest Territory.
In Congress a faction known as the ‘War Hawks’ had been pressuring the President to declare war and, on 1 June 1812, he outlined American grievances against the British. Two weeks later, and bitterly divided over the issue, both the House and the Senate voted in favor of declaring war by a margin of 79 to 49 and 19 to 13 respectively. On 18 June Madison signed the declaration of war against Great Britain, marking the first time that the United States declared war on another nation.
Since Britain’s land forces were fighting against Napoleon’s France, the initial response was to use the sizeable Royal Navy to blockade American ports. Despite some notable early victories the United States was ultimately outgunned at sea, and in 1814 the British army successfully entered Washington, D.C. where they burned the White House and the Capitol. Nevertheless, by the end of the summer the two sides had begun peace negotiations. The Treaty of Ghent was signed on 24 December 1814, returning to the pre-war status quo.
