"Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights in the War of 1812" Topic

"Paul A. Gilje, Professor of United States History at the University of Oklahoma and renowned expert on the history of common people on the waterfront in early America (1), argues in his recently published book on the War of 1812 that the U.S. declared war against Great Britain in 1812 in defense of neutral rights and the safety of American sailors. American foreign trade was threatened by the British orders-in-council, which established a naval blockade of Napoleonic France and its allies in Europe, and the British Rule of 1756, which prohibited Americans from transporting goods from the French West Indies to France and back. Republicans in the United States who championed the principle that ‘free ships make free goods' argued instead that the United States should be allowed to take over the carrying trade between France and her colonies after the Royal Navy had swept the French merchant marine from the oceans, and took exception to British blockades, which prevented the United States from selling its goods to most of continental Europe. Impressment – the forced recruitment of sailors into the service of the Royal Navy – was the second issue that led the United States and Great Britain down the path of war. Since the Royal Navy depended on a steady supply of able-bodied seamen to keep up naval superiority in the fight against Napoleonic France, the British government considered it vital to impress British sailors who had deserted to enlist in the growing American merchant marine. British warships therefore frequently stopped American merchant vessels on the high seas to look for British subjects and – given that it was difficult to distinguish between Americans and Britons – would occasionally also impress American sailors by mistake.

While discussing Anglo-American disputes over neutral rights and impressment in detail, Gilje's monograph is more than a recount of diplomatic relations between both English-speaking peoples. The book's primary purpose is an examination of the larger cultural meaning of the phrase ‘free trade and sailors' rights' in the early national period – a political slogan that captured both the war aims of the Republican elite leadership and the democratic aspirations of the common people and thus gave the war an importance for American history that transcended the immediate issues at hand.(2) ‘Free trade' and ‘sailors' rights' ‘represented important aspects of the Revolutionary heritage from the 18th century and reflected the melding of both high and low cultures in a unique way that rejected the traditional order of the Old World. In short, by joining these two different strains in one phrase Americans demonstrated the success of their revolution'…"
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