Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Free Trade and Sailors' Rights in the War of 1812
  • Cited by 9
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      05 March 2013
      18 March 2013
      ISBN:
      9781139177269
      9781107025080
      9781107607828
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139177269
      Dimensions:
      (234 x 156 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.74kg, 438 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (234 x 156 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.61kg, 437 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Military History, History, Early Republic and Antebellum History
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Military History, History, Early Republic and Antebellum History
    Information

    Book 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.

    Reviews

    'Gilje skilfully analyzes Anglo-American diplomacy over impressment and neutral rights. Unlike most other accounts of the War of 1812, he traces the roots of these issues back to the colonial period and also explains how these issues fared in the aftermath of the conflict. The major contribution to scholarship, however, is the reconstruction of the multiple meanings of ‘free trade’ and the explanation of the significance of impressment for early America’s national identity.'

    Source: Reviews in History

    'Gilje’s book is a valuable contribution and a substantial achievement.'

    Matthew Taylor Raffety Source: William and Mary Quarterly

    '… one of the best of many books recently published to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812.'

    Brian Rouleau Source: Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

    '… I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the maritime and ideological dimensions of the war as well as anyone interested in connections between the colonial and early national periods in US history.'

    Christopher P. Magra Source: The New England Quarterly

    'This work deserves a central place on bookshelves devoted to the nation’s second war with Great Britain. All students interested in the origins of the War of 1812 and its aftermath will profit from it.'

    Donald R. Hickey Source: The Journal of American History

    '… Gilje’s ambition is admirable. He has rescued the forgotten phrase that gave meaning to America’s original forgotten war.'

    Denver Brunsman Source: Journal of Interdisciplinary History

    '[Gilje] poignantly shows that, to Americans in the postrevolutionary period, free trade and sailors’ rights symbolized the success of the American Revolution and that they therefore interpreted their violation by Great Britain as an attack on their democratic aspirations.'

    Jasper M. Trautsch Source: Amerikastudien/American Studies

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Page 1 of 2

    Contents

    Page 1 of 2

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.