What disadvantages did the US face at the beginning of the War of 1812?

Answer 1

None really, other than a little bit of self-consciousness. America was only about 20 years old at the time.

Answer:The main weakness was a combination of poor military preparedness and political hubris.

Thirty-seven years after independence, the United States had been neglecting its military, but when Britain's Royal Navy stopped American ships and kidnapped American sailors, a group of politicians called the War Hawks called for war, and suggested it was a chance to forcibly annex Canada. One of them, John Calhoun, predicted that within a month, "the whole of Upper Canada and a part of Lower Canada will be in our power." Thomas Jefferson said taking Canada from Britain would be "merely a matter of marching," leading to, he said, "and the final expulsion of England from the American continent."

Those opinions ignored previous history. In 1775, an American invasion force had been roundly defeated in Quebec.

It was about to happen again. Two large invasion forces crossed into Canada. Both were defeated by a combination of farmers, natives, and a few redcoats. British regulars were the the core of the defence, but Canadian militia were three times larger. A much smaller force than the Americans, they chased the would-be invaders back over the border, and took Detroit, Buffalo, and Fort Dearborn (Chicago).

The problem, in part, was an army that had been starved by Congress, and cheated by corrupt quartermasters and cheating suppliers. Some state militia men simply refused to to join the invasion, or even fight outside their own state.

Leadership was often dubious, too. British commander Isaac Brock was outnumbered when he got to Fort Detroit, so he had his Indian allies cross in front of the fort, then double back, out of sight, and cross again, so it looked like huge numbers of natives were arriving. The elderly American general, Hull, was terrified, and surrendered the fort without a shot.

The War Hawks convinced the president that Canadians would welcome the invaders with open arms, a singular piece of hubris. Instead, the invasion was welcomed with musket fire, and managed to unite English and French-speaking Canadians, and greatly heighten feelings of nationhood.

The War Hawks' enthusiasm for starting a war exposed one other weakness. The seven New England states were furious that such a bizarre notion was even being discussed, and things were about to get much worse for them. When Madison declared war, the Royal Navy began a blockade of American ports that strangled the economy. Things were going so badly that those states started publicly, and formally, discussing seceding from the Union, even holding a political convention to talk through their options.

Those discussions only ended when the war did. Britain had been locked in a much bigger and bloodier war with Napoleon. When it ended, it was in a position to start shipping much, much greater numbers of troops to North America, and the US, painfully aware of that, asked for talks. Britain, weary of the European war, and burdened with the cost of it, was happy to end it's skirmish with the US.

Answer 2

It was that the navy was not as as large or as powerful as that of Great Britain.