Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews December 18, 2023 December 11, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Coming out of the American Revolution, the US and Britain still faced many unresolved tensions. The British practice impressment had gone on for hundreds of years, and the independence-minded Americans were no longer willing to tolerate such an affront to their sovereignty. Further, thanks to memories of the Revolutionary War, deep enmity remained between the two nations: Britian had a score to settle, and the US felt deeply that it had to stand its ground. Many at the time of the War of 1812 considered it a "Second War for American Independence," linkages with the first stood strongly in many minds.
While pressure for war with England built during his presidency, Thomas Jefferson looked back to the painful struggle of the Revolutionary years and did all he could to search for more peaceful alternatives, such as an embargo. The legacy of the Revolutionary War, however, had a double impact. While it discouraged the desire for war in the generation that fought it, its successes made the men of the next generation seek a war of their own. It was a desire to mathc and surpass their father's tales of the Revolutionary War that made the young War Hawks in Congress so pro-war by 1812.
Most clearly, the War of 1812 was an outgrowth of the Napoleonic Wars, a series of conflicts in Europe from around 1800 to 1815. Napoleon was trying to hurt Britain's economy with his Continental System; Britain retaliated with economic sanctions of its own, preventing imports from the rest of the world into European ports. Fledgling America felt the pinch in this titanic battle between France and Britain, and it made an attempt to play the great powers against each other with Macon's Bill No. 2, which promised US support for whichever nation stopped the embargo on American ships. These attempts backfired, as Napoleon tricked Madison by agreeing to abide by Macon's bill without actually doing so. The US had taken a powerfully antagonistic position toward Britain with little to show for it. The situation fell quickly into war.
The War of 1812 had several important long-term results for the US. First, because it involved a necessary ban on British manufactures, the war sheltered New England factory owners. Without having to compete with cheap British goods, American industry jump-started during the war years, accelerating the pace of industrialization in the North, a process that would continue for the next hundred years with few interruptions. Also, at the end of the War of 1812, Henry Clay proposed an "American System," including the building of a national railroad network. The project of building a national railroad would continue on through the 19th century, transforming the nation in the process.
Second, at the end of the war, Federalists upset with the war met at the Hartford Convention. The meeting appeared to the country as unpatriotic at best, and treasonous at worst. As a result, Federalist power declined rapidly, and the Federalists ceased to be players on the national stage. At the same time, the mild Federalist talk of secession at the Convention helped provide a foudnation for theories of States' Rights and secession that exploded in the Civil War.
Finally, the War of 1812 produced many heroes. In terms of future American politics, eventual presidents Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison rose to national prominence by battling Indians and Redcoats during the war. America's conception of itself also gained a defining gem duyring the war: Francis Scott Key composed the words to the "Star Spangled Banner" at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. Further, this second war against Britain boosted American nationalism, and paved the way for a primarily isolationist 19th century America. And though it would be another century before the US would emerge as a world power, after going once again facing the British and emerging intact, US sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere would never again be legitimately challenged.
Please wait while we process your payment