Question

How did European powers effect the United States in the early nineteenth century? What was Jefferson's embargo policy, and why did citizens want war with Britain? What was the war of 1812 and why is it significant to American history?

Answer 1

1) Relations between the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU) are the bilateral relations between that country and the supranational organization. The USA and EU have been interacting for more than sixty years. USA-EU relations officially started in 1953 when USA ambassadors visited the European Coal and Steel Community.The two parties share a good relationship which is strengthened by cooperation on trade, military defense and shared values . They dominate global trade, they play the leading roles in international political relations, and what one says matters a great deal to much of the rest of the world .  Both the US and almost all of the member states of the EU (as well as its former member, the United Kingdom and with the exception of Austria, Cyprus, Malta, Finland, Ireland and Sweden) are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).[4][5] And yet they have regularly disagreed with each other on a wide range of specific issues, as well as having often quite different political, economic, and social agendas. Since the EU does not have a fully integrated foreign policy, relations can be more complicated when the member states do not have a common agreed position, as EU foreign policy was divided during the Iraq War. Understanding the relationship today means reviewing developments that predate the creation of the European Economic Community (precursor to today's European Union).Euro-American relations are primarily concerned with trade policy. The EU is a near-fully unified trade bloc and this, together with competition policy, are the primary matters of substance currently between the EU and the US. The two together represent 60% of global GDP, 33% of world trade in goods and 42% of world trade in services. The growth of the EU's economic power has led to a number of trade conflicts between the two powers; although both are dependent upon the other's economic market and disputes affect only 2% of trade. See below for details of trade flows

The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson on December 22, 1807. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. ... In 1806, France passed a law that prohibited trade between neutral parties, like the U.S., and Britain.Jefferson's embargo was a major failure because in his attempt to force the English to recognize the U.S. as an equal partner to the high seas by denying them American goods and remain neutral to Napoleon's wars (Jefferson was pro-French and anti-British)) by steering clear of French warships on the high seas . Embargo of 1807. The diplomatic neutrality of the United States was tested during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). ... As time went on, British harassment of American ships increased. Controversial measures included British impressment of American men and seizure of American goods.

The British had two goals: All parties were committed to the defeat of France, and this required sailors (hence the need for impressment), and it required all-out commercial war against France (hence the restrictions imposed on American merchant ships). On the question of trade with America the British parties split.

The War of 1812, a war between the United States, Great Britain, and Britain's First Nation allies, lasted from 1812 to 1815. The U.S. declared war and historians have long debated the multiple factors behind that decision

There were several causes for the U.S. declaration of war: First, a series of trade restrictions introduced by Britain to impede American trade with France, a country with which Britain was at war (the U.S. contested these restrictions as illegal under international law

second, the impressment (forced recruitment) of seamen on U.S. vessels into the Royal Navy (the British claimed they were British deserters); third, the British military support for American Indians who were offering armed resistance to the expansion of the American frontier to the Northwest; fourth, a possible desire on the part of the United States to annex Canada.

An implicit but powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honor in the face of what they considered to be British insults

American expansion into the Northwest (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin) was impeded by Indian raids. Some historians maintain that an American goal in the war was annex some or all of Canada, a view that many Canadians still share, while others argue that inducing the fear of such a seizure had merely been a U.S. tactic designed to obtain a bargaining chip.[5] Some members of the British Parliament at the time nd dissident American politicians such as John Randolph of Roanoke[7] claimed that land hunger rather than maritime disputes was the main motivation for the American declaration. However, some historians, both Canadian and American, retain the view that desire to annex all or part of Canada was an American goal. Although the British made some concessions before the war on neutral trade, they insisted on the right to reclaim their deserting sailors. The British also had the long-standing goal of creating a large "neutral" Indian state that would cover much of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. They made the demand as late as 1814 at the peace conference, but lost battles that would have validated their claims.