A Republic in an Age of Empires

The War of 1812 was part of a broad conflict between Great Britain and France that embroiled many nations, both European and Native, over the course of a century. From the American perspective, the conflict was the final act of the American Revolution. American aspirations to sustain the new republic on a continental scale ultimately brought them into conflict with their former colonizer, and also with the Native nations whose lives, lands, and liberties were threatened in the North American contest between the British Empire and the United States. How would the radical gamble of an American republic premised on the sovereignty of the collective people resist and exploit the challenges of Europe's far-flung empires, and negotiate competing claims for liberty and sovereignty among its neighbors in the "New World?"

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