Several factors led the United States to declare war on England in 1812. First, there were British violations of American neutral rights. With Macon's Bill No. 2 put into effect in May 1810, the volume of United States commerce with the British Isles rose to pre-embargo levels. However, trade with France remained limited because of the British fleet occupying the surrounding waters. As a result Madison reapplied the nonintercourse policy to Great Britain. Still, Great Britain refused to repeal the Orders of Council unless it could be shown that the French had actually repealed the Berlin and Milan decrees. The U.S. therefore felt it must declare war. .
The trouble accompanied with the Indians adding to this feeling. It was the feeling of western farmers that the British in Canada were egging them on. This wasn't the case though. The fact that frontiersmen threatened to obliterate the tribes caused them to conform into a great confederation. With bribery, trickery, and force, frontiersmen such as General William Henry Harrison wrested lands from several tribes. Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, made an effort to reverse the trend by binding all the tribes east of the Mississippi into a great confederation. With the help of his brother, the Prophet, they convinced thousands of Indians to attempt to drive the whites off their lands. This organization soon came to end at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Ignorantly, Americans sought to blame the British for this scheme of Tecumseh's, and thus the cry for war with Great Britain rang along the frontier.
The agricultural depression in the west also heightened the war fever. Again, being ignorant, westerners attributed the decline to the loss of foreign markets and the depredations of the British. They believed that if the seas were free, costs would go down, prices would rise, and prosperity would return. .
Another factor contributing to declaring war in 1812 was western expansionism.
