Free trade and sailors' rights in the War of 1812
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Bibliographic Information
Free trade and sailors' rights in the War of 1812
Cambridge University Press, 2013
- : pbk
- : hardback
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-404) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
On 2 July 1812, Captain David Porter raised a banner on the USS Essex proclaiming 'a free trade and sailors rights', thus creating a political slogan that explained the War of 1812. Free trade demanded the protection of American commerce, while sailors' rights insisted that the British end the impressment of seamen from American ships. Repeated for decades in Congress and in taverns, the slogan reminds us today that the second war with Great Britain was not a mistake. It was a contest for the ideals of the American Revolution bringing together both the high culture of the Enlightenment to establish a new political economy and the low culture of the common folk to assert the equality of humankind. Understanding the War of 1812 and the motto that came to explain it - free trade and sailors' rights - allows us to better comprehend the origins of the American nation.
Table of Contents
- Part I. Free Trade: 1. The Enlightenment and defining free trade
- 2. The revolutionary experience
- 3. The new diplomacy
- 4. Legacy
- Part II. Sailors' Rights: 5. Anglo-American traditions
- 6. The rise of Jack Tar
- 7. Impressment
- 8. Citizenship
- 9. The Hermione and the rights of man
- Part III. Origins: 10. Empire of liberty
- 11. Indians in the way
- 12. Contested commerce
- 13. The ordeal of Jack Tar
- 14. Honor
- Part IV. War: 15. The odyssey of the Essex
- 16. The language of combat
- 17. Politics of war
- 18. Pursuit of peace
- 19. Dartmoor
- Part V. Memory: 20. Winning the peace
- 21. Remembering impressment
- 22. The persistent dream
- 23. Politics
- 24. Popular culture
- 25. Conclusion.
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