President James Madison called Congress into early session on 4 November 1811 to report on Britain's "hostile inflexibility" and continued "trampling on rights which no independent nation can relinquish." On 1 June 1812, after the latest diplomatic dispatches revealed that Britain would not revise its policies, President Madison asked Congress to declare war. Madison cited Britain's long history of abuses against the United States: impressment (over six thousand incidents between 1803 and 1812), violations of neutral trade, and incitement of Indian warfare on the western frontier. After secret debate the House of Representatives approved a declaration of war on 4 June by a vote of 79-49. The Senate approved a declaration on 17 June by a vote of 19-13. The vote for or against war was political. In the House 33 of the 49 opponents of war were Federalists. The 16 Republicans who voted against the war were generally.....
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