Unshackling America: How the War of 1812 Truly Ended the American Revolution

by Willard Sterne Randall

Unshackling America challenges the persistent fallacy that Americans fought two separate wars of independence. Williard Sterne Randall documents an unremitting fifty-year-long struggle for economic independence from Britain overlapping two armed conflicts linked by an unacknowledged global struggle. Throughout this perilous period, the struggle was all about free trade.

Neither Jefferson nor any other Founding Father could divine that the Revolutionary Period of 1763 to 1783 had concluded only one part, the first phase of their ordeal. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War halted overt combat but had achieved only partial political autonomy from Britain. By not guaranteeing American economic independence and agency, Britain continued to deny American sovereignty.

Randall details the fifty years and persistent attempts by the British to control American trade waters, but he also shows how, despite the outrageous restrictions, the United States asserted the doctrine of neutral rights and developed the world’s second largest merchant fleet as it absorbed the French Caribbean trade. American ships carrying trade increased five-fold between 1790 and 1800, its tonnage nearly doubling again between 1800 and 1812, ultimately making the United States the world’s largest independent maritime power.

Genres: History, American History, Military History, Nonfiction, War, American Revolution, Military Fiction

464 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 2017

About the author

Willard Sterne Randall is an American historian and author who specializes in biographies related to the American colonial period and the American Revolution. He teaches American history at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I learned so much by reading this book. All I really ever knew about the war was what I learned in history classes, and that wasn’t a lot. I really enjoyed reading this book

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written, dense and informative history of the war.

Randall spends a lot of time on US-British relations after the Revolution, and describes how the War of 1812 was the culmination of years and years of trade disputes between the two nations. Randall provides a lot of detail on these earlier flare-ups, and they do slow down the narrative a bit. He then describes how things escalated to a war neither country prepared for or could afford to prosecute for very long.

The book seems a just a bit overstuffed at times, the narrative jumps around a bit and a lot of the material has been covered elsewhere. Still, a well-researched work that does a great job putting everything into context.

[Porter Broyles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: This is a very solid introduction to the War of 1812. It is an easy read and covers the key events of the war.

Cons: The book has the sub title: "How the War of 1812 truly Ended the American Revolution." In the introductory chapter it lays a premise that the War of 1812 ended the an economic crusade wherein England continued to treat the US as a colony. Randall provides a brief summary of the Revolutionary War, which is OK because the book promises to be about how America couldn't garner true financial independence until the War of 1812. I didn't expect too much on the Revolutionary War. I expected the book to provide a solid link between the end of that War and the War of 1812 which would illuminate how England continued to treat the US as a colony. Instead, the book provided a good, but superficial history of events between the two wars. But it really didn't demonstrate how they were tied to England (for example the XYZ affair and the First Barbary War.)

About a third of the way into the book the author starts talking about the War of 1812. The last half to two-thirds of the book is about that War. At this point, the author seems to have forgotten the premise that he made and simply talks about the chronology of events in War of 1812. The last chapter of the book deals with the Battle of Lake Champlain. The last 2 or 3 pages talking about how the war was more significant that most historians give it credit for and how the War of 1812 changed history. In other words, the part of the book that deals with "How the War of 1812 Truly Ended the American Revolution" is confined to 2 or 3 pages of synopsis---which any other book on the war will tell you.

The book is very well written and educational. But there are other books on the subject, Alan Taylor's and the book "Six Frigates" (both of which are cited frequently), that cover the War better. If you are unfamiliar with the war or looking for a quick synopsis of the War, then this book is definitely worth your time.

If you are looking for a good book on the War, it is definitely worth reading. If you are familiar with the War of 1812, the book does not offer any novel insights or material. While I enjoyed the book, it did not deliver what it promised, so I could only give it 3 stars.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars This was a very uneven book that sucked me in with an interesting title and thesis. The problem: no execution. Looking at the War of 1812 as a continuation of the Revolutionary War is an interesting interpretation that I think is gaining ground among historians. Instead of tackling that, this book gives a very straight forward history of about 1760 on through the War of 1812. He also will focus on some obscure or minor topics, such as a long digression on an Irish rebellion in 1798 to explain why so many Irish emigrated to America. But then other topics, such as the Battle of New Orleans, get short shrift. Still, it had potential.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love American History books that fill in some gaps. Seems like the War of 1812 deserves more than a line or two in most American History books I have read. Most of the time the line or two that is in there is about how Andrew Jackson won the battle of New Orleans that took place after the peace was signed and built his national reputation that was a contributing factor to his eventual election as President. This book fills the gap on this chapter of American History. A war fought over free trade and against the mercantilism practices of the British!

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this is a book ostensibly about the War of 1812, the first half of it is about events preceding the War going back to the early colonial days. The backstory is to establish the deep commercial-related causes for the unusual conflict, namely the impact of the Napoleonic wars on American shipping commerce.

Unshackling America adeptly explains the impressment casus belli, demonstrating that both the British and Americans had reasons for their positions. Ultimately, impressment was the critical issue leading to a war that neither America nor England were eager or prepared to fight.

The second half provides a solid history of this unusual war. It included some of the worst military defeats in American history at Detroit and Bladensburg and some of the greatest victories on Lake Erie and at New Orleans. It included surprising American successes against the powerful British navy combined with catastrophic land disasters in multiple invasions of Canada. Ultimately, the War ended because both sides ran out of money rather than because of the mixed results on the battlefields.

[Deane Aikins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Authoritative and sobering. Outstanding

[Redgriffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book of the newer view of the War of 1812 in which the war for American Independence really lasted from 1775-1814. The seconf half of the war in 1812 was caused by the unwillingness of the British Government to
1. live up to it's agreements made after the Revolution.
2. The intrasigents of the Federalist and the Democratic Republicans to come up with and agree upon a strategy to solve the problems that were caused by the forming of a new nation and a dealing with the Natives so that they and the white settlers could coexist.
And 3. The inability by both sides to undo the laws that had been put into place in that caused the American Revolution. So the nation went into the Quasi war with France still with an inability to trade with England at a time when England really need grain from the US to feed it's artmies over seas.
This is a good book but it only gets 4 starts because Mr Randall seem to just leave a problem to move to the next to leave the reader hanging. I do recomend it and think that in time it may become one of the major texts of the era.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Randall has a wonderful writing style and masterfully conveys the virtually unknown story of the War of 1812 (which really started many years before, and did not end until Christmas Eve 1814). Most people may know just two facts about the War of 1812: the burning down of the Capitol and White House, and that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Bangled Banner while watching the British bomb Baltimore. The war was so much more, and so much less. One's blood really boils when reading about the British invasion of America, from North to South, and their vile acts against citizens and our new country. It is really remarkable that America was able to fight the British to a draw, and not be re-taken. The Battle of Lake Champlain was especially riveting, and the turning point of the war. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to fill in their knowledge gap between the American Revolution and Jacksonian America.

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wonder if people even remember that we fought the British twice.

The War of 1812 was about a lot of things, but mostly it was about the impressment of American sailors. Those damned Redcoats kept kidnapping American sailors to work on British ships because they felt they could.

We went to war. Well, the U.S. went to war. The British already were at war fighting Napoleon. Then everything spilled over and there was also the Creek War with American Indians. Oh, we invaded Canada again.

The War of 1812 is a mess. But in the end, we won! Well, kind of. Ultimately, both the U.S. and Great Britain called the entire thing a “win”, sued for peace, and forgot the whole thing.

At least we got the National Anthem out of it.

[Michael Dahlhoff]

the 1st half of the book is the lead up to the war of 1812. Coverage highlights include the political divisions that affected the ability of America to conduct the war. The financial strains of the war with the US defaulting in its debt two months prior to the peace treaty being signed, and English land owners paying a wartime taxes of 25% of total property value every year. It also covers Tecumsehs' confederacy and the end of promised native land protections that were promised by the British, how America came together after the capital was burned, and peace negotiations in Ghent, Belgium.

[Fred Svoboda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book is particularly good at tracing the origins of the war and its outcomes, with both a political and (best) economic point of view. The only real negative is the coverage of the many invasions and counter-invasions of Canada which were quite important to the course of the war but something of a muddle to read about. (In fairness, they also were a muddle in real time.) Thus the best sections of the book for an interested amateur reader are its excellent opening 1/3 and the last chapters explaining how the war reshaped American (and Canadian) identity.

[Dave E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knowing little about the War of 1812, I felt it was time for me to change that. This book started out slowly, focusing on the setup of the War through the French and Indian War and then American Revolutionary War. It eventually picked up in the second half of the book, covering more directly the War of 1812 directly. Ultimately the book accomplished what I had hoped for, a much better understanding of the causes and events of the War.

[David Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Author is very thorough and I learned a lot about a war I knew little about. I do feel he achieved his stated aim of demonstrating that the war of 1812 was a continuation and the end of the American war of independence. Look forward to reading more of his books.

[Bsldavio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nonfiction

[Donald Herrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great detail of every event.

I wish I could remember it all. I do have lasting new ideas. It fills in the details in our history.

[Reece · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is Unshackled

The book is very full of facts and is very long but I liked the history it talked about. When you're done you will know many facts about American history

[John Hively · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read, well detailed, great writing.