In a second great gable, American patriots sought to sustain that new republic on a vast and unprecedented scale.
Americans remember the war as a fight for sovereignty, but it was a byproduct of a much larger conflict in Europe.
Conflicts with origins in long-standing grievances over land and the right of Indian peoples to self-determination.
It was known as Mr. Madison's War, but no one looked to the guarded fourth president for wartime leadership.
The American maritime experience in the War of 1812.
On the scale of war as waged in Europe during the age of Napoleon, the War of 1812 was a minor affair.
African Americans in the the War of 1812.
If the War of 1812 played a more important role in American public memory, it would likely have earned a less generic name.
Canadian historian Donald Graves explores this interpretation, and how the War of 1812 exists in Canadian memory.
If Native aspirations were to maintain their land and autonomy, then the war was most of all a loss for Native Americans.
Last updated: April 23, 2014
