The War of 1812 between England and America was a war that would not have happened if modern communications had been in invented. America declared war on England not knowing that England had publicly announced that it had agreed to do away with the laws restricting American trade. The causes of the War of 1812 went back to the Revolutionary War and the fact that both England and America did not live up to the agreements made that were to end that war. Napoleon Bonaparte had hoped to invade and conquer England, but in 1805 his navy was severely defeated. He then had to rethink his plans and decided to hurt England, by destroying England's trade. Napoleon, in 1806, adopted a strategy called the "Continental System" which sought to prevent England from trading from the rest of Europe. The Berlin and Milan decrees were an attempt to shut off England from all trade with Europe. Soon he extended it to all neutral ships that intended to stop in England. In retaliation, England passed laws which blockaded ships from entering French ports without first stopping in England. England having the strongest navy was able to enforce this policy. These laws had a bad impact on the United States who had been benefiting, for almost thirteen years, from all the trade it was doing with both England and France, as they fought each other. Lots of money had been made by the United Sates and trade had grown by 400 per cent. Now American ships could no longer trade with France, without first having to stop at an English ports for inspection and payment of a fee in order to go on to France. Napoleon ordered all neutral ships not to stop in England and threatened to grab any ship that stopped in England. These acts soon had bad effects on the trade the United States had enjoyed. Because England had the stronger navy and controlled the seas, the United Sates found it easier to trade with England. The United States complained to both the British and the French th...
