The+War+Hawks

=__**The British were supplying the Native Americans with guns and ammunition**__= =__**President Madison announced that if either Britain or France stopped seizing American ships, the United States**__= =__**would halt trade with the**__ __**other nation**__= =__**France agreed to respect American neutrality**__= = = =__**The War Hawks were a group of about twenty Democratic-Republicans who persuaded Congress to support a**__= =__**declaration of war against Britain**__= =__**They were young, vocal, members from the South and the West**__= =__**They were outraged by the British practice of impressment (abduction) of American sailors.**__=

=__**The British Royal Navy was notoriously harsh in dealing with their sailors. **__= =__**The pay was low, shipboard conditions were miserable, **__= =__**there was the ever-present risk of death or injury in battle. **__= =__**Many British sailors chose to abandon the Royal Navy for the American merchant marine, **__= =__**which offered **____**better pay and better conditions. **__= =__**When British commanders began to board American ships in search of Royal Navy deserters, the Americans **__= =__**were highly offended. **__= =__**First of all, searching an American ship was an insult to American national sovereignty. **__= =__**Secondly, legitimate Americans were sometimes "impressed" into British service on the pretext that **__= =__** they were British deserters. **__= =__**The British Navy was able to abduct as many as 6,000 Americans in the early 1800s. **__=

=__**Henry Clay of Kentucky was the most outspoken War Hawk**__=

=**John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was also an outspoken War Hawk**= =__**Clay wanted to punish Britain for seizing American ships**__= =__**He also hoped to conquer Canada**__=

=**__The War Hawks stirred up a strong sense of nationalism, or devotion to one's country__**= =__The War Hawks believed that the British were treating the United States as if they were still a British colony__= =**__President Madison gave in to the war fever__**= =**__In June 1812, he asked Congress to declare war on Britain__**=