Snap Debate

Today in class we had a snap debate on what we thought was the cause of the War of 1812. We were supposed to watch a video on the prelude to the war, but i was unaware of this. Of the four groups (Impressment, Chesapeake Affair, Orders in Consul, and Incitement) I was put in the Impressment group, and argued why impressment was the cause of the war. Impressment is when Great Britain forced people from other countries into their navy. They targeted Americans since they believed that "Once a British citizen, always a British citizen." Even though America had supposedly won their freedom from Great Britain, they were still forced into the navy. The only way someone was safe was if they were an apprentice or worked at sea, and even then you had to have proof as to your occupation. A vast majority of the impressed people were not British, and only 23 British were impressed of the 697 between 1806 and 1808. However, after hearing other cases, I believe that the real cause o the War of 1812 was the Order of the Consul. The Consul in Britain made a law that forbade America from trading with France, even though it was during a time of peace. They are trying to rule over a country that has recently claimed its independence. I do not understand how Britain can make a law for another country . That would be like France saying that Britain cannot trade with America (not that America would want to trade with them, anyways). Great Britain kept America from establishing relations between countries.

Personally, I did not like this activity. It was hard to gather information from the people talking, and I felt like I was missing pieces to the equation. It's hard for me to learn without seeing all of the facts and information in front of me, and this activity made it difficult to understand what was going on. Then again, I did not watch the video, so that could have helped.