Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- MAP 1 The American Eastern Seaboard, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea
- MAP 2 Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River
- Abbreviations
- Note on US Dollar/Pound Sterling Conversion Rates
- Foreword
- Preface
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 CONVOYS AND BLOCKADES: The Evolution of Maritime Economic Warfare
- 2 WAR AT A DISTANCE: Constraints and Solutions
- 3 FROM BUSINESS PARTNERS TO ENEMIES: Britain and the United States before 1812
- 4 THE UNITED STATES BLOCKADED: Admiral Warren's ‘United Command’, August 1812–April 1814
- 5 BLOCKADES AND BLUNDERS: Vice-Admiral Cochrane's Command, April 1814–February 1815
- 6 TRADE AND WAR: The Effects of Warren's Blockades, August 1812–April 1814
- 7 CAPITAL AND CREDIT: The Impact of the Final Phase
- 8 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
- EPILOGUE
- Appendix A: Maritime Tables
- Appendix B: Economic History Tables
- Notes to the Chapters
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - TRADE AND WAR: The Effects of Warren's Blockades, August 1812–April 1814
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- MAP 1 The American Eastern Seaboard, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea
- MAP 2 Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River
- Abbreviations
- Note on US Dollar/Pound Sterling Conversion Rates
- Foreword
- Preface
- INTRODUCTION
- 1 CONVOYS AND BLOCKADES: The Evolution of Maritime Economic Warfare
- 2 WAR AT A DISTANCE: Constraints and Solutions
- 3 FROM BUSINESS PARTNERS TO ENEMIES: Britain and the United States before 1812
- 4 THE UNITED STATES BLOCKADED: Admiral Warren's ‘United Command’, August 1812–April 1814
- 5 BLOCKADES AND BLUNDERS: Vice-Admiral Cochrane's Command, April 1814–February 1815
- 6 TRADE AND WAR: The Effects of Warren's Blockades, August 1812–April 1814
- 7 CAPITAL AND CREDIT: The Impact of the Final Phase
- 8 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
- EPILOGUE
- Appendix A: Maritime Tables
- Appendix B: Economic History Tables
- Notes to the Chapters
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
For war is quite changed from what it was in the time of our forefathers; when … the matter was decided by courage; but now the whole art of war is in a manner reduced to money.
BOTH AT THE TIME AND SINCE, events seem to have conspired to disguise the impact of the British commercial and naval blockades of the United States, implemented after its declaration of war on Britain in June 1812. Yet, in thirty two months of war, a British naval blockade was to contain most of the American navy such that it was unable to prevent a British maritime commercial blockade. This, in turn, bankrupted a United States government heavily dependent on customs revenue and credit, and led to the abandonment of its original war aims in peace negotiations.
When news of Madison's declaration of war was finally confirmed in London on 30 July 1812 the British Cabinet's priority was to use the occasion of Warren's arrival in North America to find a diplomatic solution to this additional problem while still at war with France. It was posed by an American refusal to accept the restraints on neutral trade made necessary by Britain's need to blockade France, which some Americans had seen as a trading opportunity. The Royal Navy's efforts to recover apparently British seamen from neutral vessels had exacerbated the problem. Should Warren's diplomatic efforts fail, naval and commercial blockades of the United States would be added to the world-wide commitments of a hugely expensive and already overstretched Royal Navy, now in the ninth year of its renewed war with Napoleon.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- How Britain Won the War of 1812The Royal Navy's Blockades of the United States, 1812-1815, pp. 131 - 160Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011