An Analysis of the Topic of the War of 1812 and the Nationalism and Sectionalism
War of 1812 Brought about Nationalism and Sectionalism The War of 1812 set the stage for Nationalism and Sectionalism because although thebattles where few and far apart, the battles, except those in the beginning gave the people of the United States something to be proud of because they where able to go head to head with a wellestablished world power and hold its own, while protecting our people. At the same time the USwas divided among going to war, and avoiding all war. At the beginning of the war the US was greatly undermanned with less than 7000 fulltime soldiers and only a handful of ships. We made do with what we had and managed to putup a fight.
One of the first victories came when the Battleship USS Constitution sank the Britishfighter Guerriere. This victory made Americans turn around and say hey, we might have a chanceif we have some confidence in ourselves. Some more confidence builders came along when Macdonough defeated 16 ships on lake Champlain just 10 ships of his own, which he turned outin a mere 30 days. This show of dedication to the American cause gave people a reason tobelieve. Some Battles that where fought on land brought about some of the most impressivevictories for the undermanned and under powered American Army. The British army came inthrough Chesapeake Bay and marched towards Washington DC, but it was a force of volunteers, not even a real trained army, but volunteers that was able to hold Baltimore after 3 days ofbombardment by the British, instilling pride and a feeling of accomplishment within Americans.All this inspired led Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner after the American flag remained after the 3 day bombardment by the British, this was a symbol of American strengthand undying will to succeed. Then Andrew Jackson killed over 2000 British soldiers while losingonly 21 of his own.
Although the war was fought, it met great opposition from the people of New England, while it received encouragement from people in the west. New Englanders objected to the warbecause New England s whole economy was based on trade and ship building. War with Britainwould shut down trade with not only Britain but all of Europe because of the British blockade ofthe Atlantic Sea. With a blockade and no way to trade there was no need for shipbuilding and thewhole New England economy suffered greatly. It went so far as to create the threat of successionfrom the US by the New England States. The people of the west clamored for war on the otherhand. They wanted war because they saw it as an opportunity to expand our borders into Canadaand remove Great Britain from North America for good.
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These two points of view from two different parts of the country effectively split the US down the middle. American victories over Britain created a great deal of pride among Americans. Theywhere the underdog, yet they went up against a major world power, took there lumps, and grewfrom them. Although the East and West had two different opinions on war they each had validreasons for being for or against war. The total disruption of your lively hood would be a reason toavoid war, while the lure of massive amounts of land and total control of a continent is another.
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