panashore.blogg.se - War of 1812 and the navy

“Even though the American ships were new and modern, they couldn’t stand up against the sheer power of the British fleet,” says Suthren.īut the Royal Navy’s sights were set primarily on Napoleon. navy had just 16 ships to the Royal Navy’s 400. The forces available to the two powers were extremely lopsided.

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This last chapter demonstrates the ways in which the men aboard these ships viewed their actions as patriotic, as well the way writers and newspaper editors viewed the actions at home. Finally, the third chapter focuses on the social aspect of privateering. The second chapter focuses on the ways in which privateers were able to provide economic support to the United States, while simultaneously hurting the British economy.

The first chapter will look at the ways in which privateers negatively affected British shipping and the British Royal Navy. This thesis looks at the contributions of American privateers during the War of 1812. While this was their primary objective, privateers provided much more through their involvement in the War of 1812.

These ships worked to supplement the United States Navy, while working primarily to disrupt the British shipping industry. Luckily for the United States, Congress in conjunction with President James Madison authorized privately owned ships to participate in the war effort. Militaristically, the United States Navy was too small to offer the protection that was needed from Britain, who possessed the world’s strongest navy at the time. To make matters worse, the government’s primary source of income was through import duties, which they expected to decrease drastically as the war progressed. Economically, the government was not prepared to fund a war with multiple fronts. The declaration of war in June of 1812 brought more questions than it did answers for the United States.