This authoritative historical work traces the remote and immediate origins of the War of 1812, locating its roots in the commercial and maritime policies formalized by seventeenth-century British legislation. The author examines how the Navigation Acts laid the foundation for British naval supremacy by making the carrying trade a protected nursery for seamen, and how the independence of the American colonies created a formidable rival in that carrying trade. The narrative details the intricate web of trade regulations, colonial monopolies, and the systemic collision between the British claim of inalienable allegiance and the American insistence on the protection of the flag.
Particular attention is given to the economic interdependence of the British West India islands and the North American continent. The text explains how British statesmen, operating under traditional mercantile principles, sought to restrict American access to the islands in order to foster Canadian shipping and preserve domestic maritime resources. When the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars erupted, these divergent policies intensified into severe international friction. The British enforcement of the Rule of 1756, restricting neutral trade with enemy colonies, and the subsequent retaliatory measures by both Britain and France placed neutral American commerce in an impossible position.
The narrative meticulously explores the successive diplomatic missions, including those of John Jay, James Monroe, and William Pinkney, highlighting the failure of both nations to reach a stable compromise on the critical issues of neutral rights, blockades, and the impressment of seamen. The author demonstrates how the British government, engaged in a life-and-death struggle against Napoleon's Continental System, viewed the relaxation of its maritime prerogatives as an existential threat to its naval strength. Conversely, the United States viewed these measures as an intolerable re-imposition of colonial vassalage. The book sets the stage for the inevitable resort to arms by chronicling the mounting exasperation, the desultory commercial coercion attempted by American administrations, and the fundamental incompatibility of the two nations' views on sovereignty upon the high seas.
