War of 1812 Causes

War of 1812 Causes The War of 1812 is generally thought to have been provoked by American outrage over the impressment of American sailors by the Britains Royal Navy. And while impressment was a major factor behind the declaration of war by the United States against Britain, there were other significant issues fueling the American march toward war. During the first three decades of American independence there was a general feeling that the British government had very little respect for the young United States. And during the Napoleonic Wars the British government actively sought to meddle with - or completely suppress - American trade with European nations. British arrogance and hostility went so far as to include a deadly attack by the British frigate HMS Leopard upon USS Chesapeake in 1807. The Chesapeake and Leopard affair, which began when the British officer boarded the American ship demanding to seize sailors believed to be deserters from British ships, nearly triggered a war. In late 1807, President Thomas Jefferson, seeking to avoid war while calming public outcry against British insults to American sovereignty, had enacted the Embargo Act of 1807. The law succeeded in avoiding a war with Britain at the time. However, the Embargo Act was generally seen as a failed policy, as turned out to be more harmful to the United States than to its intended targets, Britain and France. When James Madison became president in early 1809 he also sought to avoid war with Britain. But British actions, and a continuing drumbeat for war in the U.S. Congress, seemed destined to make make a new war with Britain unavoidable. The slogan Free Trade and Sailors Rights became a rallying cry. Madison, Congress, and the Move Toward War In early June 1812 President James Madison sent a message to Congress in which he listed complaints about British behavior toward America. Madison raised several issues: ImpressmentContinual harassment of American commerce by British warshipsBritish laws, known as Orders in Council, declaring blockades against American ships bound for European portsAttacks by savages on one of our extensive frontiers believed to be instigated by British troops in Canada The U.S. Congress was being steered at the time by an aggressive faction of young legislators in the House of Representatives known as the War Hawks. Henry Clay, a leader of the War Hawks, was a young member of Congress from Kentucky. Representing the views of Americans living in the West, Clay believed that war with Britain would not only restore American prestige, it would also provide a great benefit in territory. An openly stated goal of the western War Hawks was for the United States to invade and seize Canada. And there was a common, though deeply misguided, belief that it would be easy to achieve. (Once the war began, American actions along the Canadian border tended to be frustrating at best, and Americans never came close to conquering the British territory.) The War of 1812 has often been called Americas Second War for Independence, and that title is appropriate. The young United States government was determined to make Britain respect it. The United States Declared War In June 1812 Following the message sent by President Madison, the United States Senate and the House of Representatives held votes on whether to go to war. The vote in the House of Representatives was held on June 4, 1812, and members voted 79 to 49 to go to war. In the House vote, the members of Congress supporting the war tended to be from the South and West, and those opposed from the Northeast. The U.S. Senate, on June 17, 1812, voted 19 to 13 to go to war. In the Senate the vote also tended to be along regional lines, with most of the votes against the war coming from the Northeast. With so many members of Congress voting against going to war, the War of 1812 was always controversial. The official Declaration of War was signed by President James Madison on June 18, 1812. It read as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That war be and is hereby declared to exist between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America and their territories; and the President of the United States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the United States, to carry the same into effect, and to issue private armed vessels of the United States commissions or letters of marque and general reprisal, in such form as he shall think proper, and under the seal of the United States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the government of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the subjects thereof. American Preparations While the war not declared until late June 1812, the United States government had been actively making preparations for the outbreak of war. In early 1812 the Congress had passed a law actively calling for volunteers for the U.S. Army, which had remained fairly small in the years following independence. American forces under the command of General William Hull had started marching from Ohio toward Fort Detroit (site of present day Detroit, Michigan) in late May 1812. The plan was for Hulls forces to invade Canada, and the proposed invasion force was already in position by the time war was declared. (The invasion proved to be a disaster, however, when Hull surrendered Fort Detroit to the British that summer.) American naval forces had also been prepared for the outbreak of war. And given the slowness of communication, some American ships in the early summer of 1812 attacked British ships whose commanders had not yet learned of the official outbreak of the war. Widespread Opposition to the War The fact that the war was not universally popular proved to be a problem, especially when the early phases of the war, such as the military fiasco at Fort Detroit, went badly. Even before the fighting began, opposition to the war caused major problems. In Baltimore a riot broke out when a vocal anti-war faction was attacked. In other cities speeches against the war were popular. A young lawyer in New England, Daniel Webster, delivered an eloquent address about the war on July 4, 1812. Webster noted that he opposed the war, but as it was now national policy, he was obligated to support it. Though patriotism often ran high, and was boosted by some of the successes of the underdog U.S. Navy, the general feeling in some parts of the country, particularly New England, was that the war had been a bad idea. As it became obvious that the war would be costly and may prove to be impossible to win militarily, the desire to find a peaceful end to the conflict intensified. American officials were eventually dispatched to Europe to work toward a negotiated settlement, the result of which was the Treaty of Ghent. When the war officially ended with the signing of the treaty, there was no clear winner. And, on paper, both sides admitted that things would return to how they had been before hostilities began. However, in a realistic sense, the United States had proven itself to be an independent nation capable of defending itself. And Britain, perhaps from having noticed that the American forces seemed to become stronger as the war went on, made no further attempts to undermine American sovereignty. And one result of the war, which was noted by Albert Gallatin, the secretary of the treasury, was that the controversy around it, and the way the nation came together, had essentially united the nation.

A List of 100 Examples of Sweet Similes

A List of 100 Examples of Sweet Similes This list of 100 sweet similes (that is, figurative comparisons concerned with the quality of sweetness) has been adapted from an even larger collection in A Dictionary of Similes by Frank J. Wilstach, first published by Little, Brown, and Company in 1916. Although students should have no trouble understanding most of these similes, they may find them a bit old-fashioned or too poetic. If so, encourage them to create some of their own using more contemporary subjects for comparison. Sweet as odorous white lilies are. (Oscar Fay Adams)Sweet as a nut. (Anonymous)Sweet as a rose. (Anonymous)Sweet as a sugar plum. (Anonymous)Sweet as a vial of rose oil. (Anonymous)Kiss as sweet, as cool fresh stream to bruised and weary feet.  (Anonymous)Sweet as a honey bee.  (Anonymous)Sweet as honeysuckle.  (Anonymous)Sweet as lilies in May.  (Anonymous)As sweet as springs first song heard in the groves retreat. (Anonymous)Sweet as sugar.  (Anonymous)Sweet as the harmonies of spring.  (Anonymous)Sweet as the perfume of roses.  (Anonymous)Sweet as the solemn sounds of cherubs, when they strike their golden harps.  (Anonymous)Sweet as that which is forbidden.  (Arabic)Sweet as the last smile of sunset. (Edwin Arnold)Sweet as the honeyed dews that drip from the budding lotus-flower. (George Arnold)Sweet and calm as is a sisters kiss. (P. J. Bailey)Sweet as the infant spring. (Scottish ballad)Sweet as the joy which sorrow hushes. (Honorà © de Balzac)Sweet as new wi ne. (John Baret)Sweet as applause to the actor. (Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher) As sweet as April. (Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher)Sweet as the moonlight sleeping on the hills. (Sir William S. Bennett)Sweet as the light of the stars. (Robert Hugh Benson)Sweet as the look of a lover saluting the eyes of a maid. (Ambrose Bierce)Sweet, as when winter storms have ceased to chide. (William Cullen Bryant)Sweet as the dewy milk-white thorn. (Robert Burns)Sweet as matrimony. (Robert Burton)Sounds sweet as if a sisters voice reproved. (Lord Byron)​Sweet as May. (Thomas Carew)Sweet as the song of the wind in the rippling wheat. (Madison Cawein)Sweet as pity. (Hartley Coleridge)Sweet as the whispered breeze of evening. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)Sweet as the hopes on which starvd lovers feed. (Sir William Davenant)Sweet as some immeasurable rose, expanding leaf on leaf. (Aubrey de Vere)Sweet as are the orchards, when the fruit is hanging ripe. (Paul Laurence Dunbar)Sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)Sweet as the rosy morn in May. (George Granville) Sweet as a youthful poets dream. (Charles Gray)Sweet as the harps that hung by Babels stream. (Judah Halevi)Sweet as summer days that die when the months are in the bloom. (Will Wallace Harney)Sweet as tropic winds at night. (Paul Hamilton Hayne)Sweet as the blossoms of the vine. (Robert Herrick)As sweet as dewy turf to wayworn feet. (Emily H. Hickey)Sweet as a meadow at noon. (Katherine Tynan Hinkson)Sweet as the dawn star. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)Sweet as the first snow-drop, which the sunbeams greet. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)Sweet as honey. (Homer)Sweet as scarlet strawberry under wet leaves hidden. (Nora Hopper)Sweet as the hills. (Richard Hovey)Sweet as a rosebud crowned with moss. (Victor Hugo)Sweet as music. (Victor Hugo)Sweet as the twilight notes of the thrush. (Helen H. Jackson)Sweet as jasmine. (Jami)Sweet as blue heavens oer enchanted isles. (John Keats)Sweet as love. (John Keats)Sweet as a cat with syrup in its paws. (Vaughan Kester)Sweet as mountain honey. (Charles Kingsle y) Sweet as the sigh of the spring gale. (Letitia Elizabeth Landon)Sweet . . . as the sad spirit of the evening breezes. (Emma Lazarus)Sweet as the sound of bells at evening. (Richard Le Gallienne)Sweet as a bell in the woods. (Amy Leslie)Sweet as morning dew upon a rose. (Thomas Lodge)Sweet as the cadence of a poets song. (John Logan)Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)Sweet as heavens image in an unrippled lake. (George W. Lovell)Sweet as summers showers. (George MacHenry)Sweet as first love. (Gerald Massey)Sweet as first spring violets. (Gerald Massey)Sweet as Eden. (George Meredith)A secret sweet as songs of dawn / That linnets sing when mists are gone. (Richard Monckton Milnes)Sweet as the sweetest song of bird on summers eve. (D.M. Hervey)Sweet as Angel accents. (James Montgomery)Sweet as every-day sunshine. (John Muir)Sweet, like an angels sigh. (Mary R. Murphy)Sweet, like a silver whistle. (Ouida [Marie Louise Ramà ©] ) Sweet as violet-borders growing over fountains over-flowing. (Ambrose Philips)Music sweeter than the sweetest chime of magic bells by fairies set a-swinging. (Thomas Buchanan Read)Sweet as smiles to the lips that are pale. (Abram Joseph  Ryan)Sweet as the dew-drops that fall on the roses in May. (Abram Joseph Ryan)Sweet as the dreamings of the nightingales. (Charles Sangster)Sweet as damask roses. (William Shakespeare)Sweet as a summer night without a breath. (Percy Bysshe Shelley)Sweet as if angels sang. (Percy Bysshe Shelley)Sweet as a childs heart-lightening laugh to hear. (Algernon Charles Swinburne)Sweet as rest. (Algernon Charles Swinburne)Sweet as running streams to mens way-wearied feet. (Algernon Charles Swinburne)Sweet as forgiveness. (Algernon Charles Swinburne)Sweet as when earth was new. (Algernon Charles Swinburne)Sweet as the voice of a mountain brook. (Arthur Symons)Sweet as childrens prattle. (Pamela Tennant)Sweet as new buds in spring. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)Sweet as the apple-blossoms. (Celia Thaxter) Sweet as the music of Apollos lyre. (Celia Thaxter)Sweet as the early pipe along the dale. (William Thomson)Sweet as the dawn star. (Wilbur Underwood)Wild and sweet as regret. (Marie Van Vorst)Sweet as the faint, far-off, celestial tone of angel whispers, fluttering from on high. (William Winter)Sweet as the lips that once you pressed. (William Winter)