Content area
Full Text
America's First Crisis: The War of 1812 Robert P. Watson. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014.
Robert P. Watson's America's First Crisis is one of a spate of books that appeared to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812. This bicentennial passed without a great deal of fanfare in the United States. The War of 1812 remains one of the most obscure conflicts in American history. There is some reason for this. Aside from conspicuous and celebrated episodes of gallantry such as the ship-to-ship duels of vessels such as the USS Constitution and a few glorious victories like those won by Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Erie and Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, many American military operations in the war were exercises in frustration. For Americans, the War of 1812 demanded selective commemoration.
Watson devotes ample space to the origins of hostilities. Congress only narrowly declared war in 1812 after the United States had endured years of humiliation at the hands of the British. Most of this took place on the high seas, where the British interfered with American trade and kidnapped American...