USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The impressment or forcible seizure of American seamen by the British Royal Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries has traditionally been viewed as a primary cause of the War of 1812.

Detailed explanation-2: -The War of 1812 came about because the British navy was violating American neutral trading rights and impressing American seamen. During the Napoleonic Wars, neither Great Britain nor France seemed concerned about the United States. What was unclear was the point at which the U.S. would fight to assert its rights.

Detailed explanation-3: -Since 1803 the British navy had forcibly drafted approximately 6, 000 American merchant sailors into its service. This practice of “impressment” violated America’s neutrality and the rights of its citizens.

Detailed explanation-4: -Between 1793 and 1812, the British impressed more than 15, 000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars with France. By 1812 the United States Government had had enough. On 18 June, the United States declared war on Great Britain, citing, in part, impressment.

Detailed explanation-5: -Historians point to impressment as one of the chief causes of the War of 1812. The British Royal Navy resorted to impressment during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in particular because of the chronic state of warfare Britain found itself in and the shortage of sailors that resulted from it.