The war of 1812 was a very unnecessary war. It broke out just as one of its chief causes (The Orders in Council) was removed and its greatest battle (New Orleans) was fought just after peace was signed. The war was unnecessary from a British point of view but for the Americans it was inescapable. The Royal Navy had kidnapped 3,800 American sailors and put them into service. The Orders In Council had deprived the United States of a profitable trade with France and can be seen as having screwed American economic interests to the political interests of the British Empire. American farmers also blamed the orders, for a fall in agricultural prices that produced a depression. On the frontier it was believed that Indian war stirred up by British agents.
America's war with Britain seemed inevitable although the Americans did everything they could do to avoid it, for example in 1807 when British ships, the leopard opened fire on an American ship the Chesapeake. The choice before America, Jefferson the former president and Madison agreed was war or submission. As John Quincy Adams put it "It was not a matter of dollars and cents, no alternative was left but war or the abandonment of our right as an independent nation" The offences committed against the United States were the major causes for the war, reasons other then vindication can be regarded as rationalization. There was an obvious anger for what British had done to America and many Americans merely wanted revenge but the war was fought for much more then that. .
The radical expansion and the belief that Canada would be annexed to the United States also has to be a major cause for America going to war. Another primary cause of the war was the rise of Tecumseh, the Indian chief, who was believed to be backed by the British. This caused Americans to get rid of the British from Canada. The War Hawks, the congress at the time of Madison's presidency, were pushing for the invasion of Canada and an attack upon the "Savages" who had been tormenting homes on the frontier.
