war hawks is westerners who called for war against britain in 1812

Among them were the “War Hawks,” whom one historian describes as “too young to remember the horrors of the American Revolution” and thus “willing to risk another British war to vindicate the nation’s rights and independence.” This group included men who would remain influential long after the War of 1812, such as Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C.

In 1812, the Democratic-Republicans held 75 percent of the seats in the House and 82 percent of the Senate, giving them a free hand to set national policy. The painting shows the result of the British burning of Washington, DC. George Munger painted The President’s House shortly after the War of 1812, ca. Calhoun glimpsed the real cause in his observation that the conflict was “a second struggle for our liberty,” to finish the struggle for our independence.Figure 1. Others argued that America was totally unprepared for war against the mighty British Empire. The New England states particularly feared great losses to their trade, and their representatives in Congress voted against war. They were convinced instead that self-imposed restrictions on American trade would force Britain and France, who were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, to respect American neutrality. Both viewed war and its consequences-a standing army, increase in government size, and debt-as antithetical to republicanism.

While the young members of Congress-the War Hawks-were in favor of war, the nation’s two presidents during this era, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, were not.

However, nations go to war infrequently, and a more interesting question is why the United States declared war. The United States had many reasons for going to war in 1812: Britain’s interference with its trade and impressment of its seamen Americans’ desire to expand settlement into Indian, British, and Spanish territories aspirations to conquer Canada and end British influence in North America and upholding the nation’s sovereignty and vindicating its honor.

War hawks is westerners who called for war against britain in 1812