http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=119740 This link talks about what led up to the War of 1812 and thereafter. From the documentary that I watched, it was a surprised the British didn't kick our butts. I think you can order these tapes from their website. War of 1812 War of 1812, armed conflict between the United States and Great Britain, 1812-15. It followed a period of great stress between the two nations as a result of the treatment of neutral countries by both France and England during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, in which the latter two were antagonists (1793-1801, 1803-14). Causes of the War American shippers took advantage of the hostilities in Europe to absorb the carrying trade between Europe and the French and Spanish islands in the West Indies. By breaking the passage with a stop in a U.S. port, they evaded seizure under the British rule of 1756, which forbade to neutrals in wartime trade that was not allowed in peacetime. In 1805, however, in the Essex Case, a British court ruled that U.S. ships breaking passage at an American port did not circumvent the prohibitions set out in the rule of 1756. As a result the seizure of American ships by Great Britain increased.