War of 1812

The War of 1812 outlined the extreme political and regional divisions within the United States. The political disunity was demostrated with the vote to go to war within the House and Senate because it was so incredibly close. The West and the Southwest, having a lot of war hawks, regions were the main advocates for war, whereas the federalist nothern states were largely against the hostilities. The opposition to war by New England was taken to new extremes once the war was underway. New Englanders believed that impressment was a past, extremly over exaggerated wrong. They also condemed sympathy towards Napoleon who they viewed very negatively. Another one of the main reasons for the resentment towards the war felt by New Englanders was the acquisition of Canada, which they felt would increase the voting power of their rival political party, the Democratic Republicans. Because of all of these negative feelings towards the war the people of New England felt no need to aid their country, it even got to the point of hurting the chances of an American victory. New England governors would not allow the states militia to fight outside of their state, and farmers sent supplies to the British by way of Canada. All of these actions show how this war brought political disunity among the States to an all new high. There were so many internal conflicts that there was virtually no chance of an American victory. This war also brought fourth ideas of secession, this was manifested in the Hartford Convention. Overall this war, which should have been a time for unity, really outlined the extremes that the opposing political views would go to in order to benefit themselves.