War with Great Britain
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War with Great Britain
orderwriters.com outlines the war with the Great Britain in the folliwing article. Henry clay was born as the seventh child of reverend John clay and Elizabeth Hudson in the year 1177. His father was living with the family in Hanover County at the time Henry was born. In 1781, his father died following a raid on their home by British loyalists and soldiers. When Henry was aged, about 10 years his mother remarried and together they moved to Richmond with his stepfather. Between 1793 and 1797, Henry worked as a clerk at a store and later got a position in high court as a secretary.
During the time, he worked in the high court Henry spent much of his time reading. Although he had little formal education, he was able to move to Lexington in 1797 where he became a reputable layer. He later married Lucretia a daughter of a leading family and together they had 11 children (Columbia University Press).
Henry also spent a good part of his life clubbing and gambling and he was good at it. This is what may have inspired his political career and in 1803 clay contested for Kentucky legislature seat, which he worn. His political career expanded steadily and in 1810, he got a position in the U.S. senate. In the year 1811, Henry won elections as a member of the House of Representatives from where he was the speaker of the house after the nominations. He managed to maintain his position as the speaker of the house for six consecutive terms and during this period; he was in a single party position. In the year 1811, Henry got involved in the war against the British as one of the representatives who met with the British officials. Clay was also one of the officials in the government who advocated for abolition of slavery. Henry was also an active human right activist and this promoted his political career. Clay was able to see the end of the war between America and the British and an end to slave trade and in 1850 clay went back in the senate. Although being in poor health he was able to lead the work on compromise and later died in 1852 in a hospital in Washington.
Problems between America and the Mother Country. America needed to stand as a country on its own just as other British colonies wanted (Norton, Sheriff and Blight 154). A large percentage of European American population wanted to be free from England. In matters about the choice of leadership, the America had no much say since the mother country imposed the policies that the major issues were to follow. In America, for example, people believed in equality and democracy for all while in Britain there was the gap between the rich and the poor and between the monarchy and the subjects. The monarchy in Britain was hereditary and this affected or influenced the upcoming democratic leadership in America. Although the leadership in American was through democratic elections, there were traces of heredity, which the effects from the mother country affiliated.
As faced by any other colony of the Great Britain America, various problems mainly resulted from the decisions made in the mother country. These decisions had a direct or indirect effect on America and its people. A conflict on matters concerning resources has always been of major concern during the error of colonization. Like all the other European colonizers Britain had gone out to form colonies with the main aim of finding the resources that it needed most especially for its developing industries. America was a country that at that time was rich in resources and this led to its major problem with the mother country. Timber is an example of the natural resource that ended up in Britain. Soon America was to become independent and industrialized and therefore it needed these resources.
The economy of a country is of great importance to its people and following colonization of America by Britain the economy of America suffers great damage. "The imperial government of the British empire has taxed its people" (making of America project 65), which shows that the British benefited financially from the colony. America also had to depend on British navy and this added on its debts and expenditures.
Being a colony of the Great Britain America had little choice on who to like and who to follow among the established countries at the time like France and Spain. For that reason, Americans friends had to be those that were the friends of the mother country. This meant that America was restricted on many issues like trade and development. On the other hand, Americans had a little choice when it came to the choosing of who their enemies were and they had no choice than to accept the mother's country as their enemies. "France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our enemies as Americans, but as our being subject of Great Britain" (Independence Hall Association)
My Reaction. The article by Henry Clay is unique and by reading it, I have come to realize a lot that I never knew before or thought existed before. Previously I thought that the aim of British to take colonies in different continents of the world was to share and spread its newly acquired wisdom. Britain was one of the countries among the pioneers of modern life and modern democracy in the world and previously I thought that Britain had to extend the same to its new colonies. However, this is not the case since from this article America suffered in the hands of the British
"An island ruling a continent" this is a phrase that was used by in the article to refer to the act of Britain colonizing or having vast colonies across the globe. The British must have been people who knew how to scheme, how they acquired and were able to control all these colonies remained unclear to me until I read this article. The leadership that controlled and managed these colonies must have been very good at what they did and this is what I had always thought before reading the article. However, after reading the article I realized that the British did not sustain their colonies by how well they governed these colonies or basing the acceptance of their leadership by the people but through suppression. From the article, it is clear that the British government had to apply all mechanisms that were available on its disposal to ensure that it was able to handle the colonies. As Clay continues to explain the British government did not care much, whether its policies affected the people either negatively or positivel
y.
As a more developed country than most of other countries at that time, I thought that Britain respected human rights and democracy. After reading this article, I realized that policies were dictated in Britain during this time and this is what led people to mainly immigrate to America. As it is stated in the article, "the new World has been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty." From this phrase it is obvious that in Britain there was no religious and ideology freedom and this is what led people to migrate to the new world. From this article, I realized that the British were people who believed in themselves and for this reason; they thought that they had the right to impose their ideology to any of their subjects including their colonies. I think this is where the British might have gone wrong by that all their ways were perfect and that people needed to take from them without any questioning.
Before reading this article, I never realized that the British were selfish people but after I had read this article, I realized that the British were selfish people. The British also had many enemies among their neighbors. The British also put first their own interest before considering the interest of any other country that is why they had to go out there and colonize other continents. They had to apply everything at their disposal to ensure that their subjects remained in their current state as colonies and they did not gain their independence.
Britain as a mighty country is another thing that I realized after I had gone through this paper and how Britain was able to colonize the America was of interest (Stuart and Smith 36). How this country was able to control the vast colonies from Africa, India to America had been a mystery but after going through this paper, I realized that the British are people who believed in themselves.
Works cited
Columbia University Press. The Columbia Encyclopedia. 2001-09. 5 March 2010 <http://www.referencecenter.com>.
Independence Hall Association, ushistory.org 1995 October, 23, 2011. <http://www.ushistory.org/paine>.
Making of America project. The American Whing Review, volume 12. New York: Willey and Putnam, 1850. Print.
Norton, Mary, Sheriff, Carol and Blight, David. A People & a Nation: A History of the United States, volume 1. Boston: Cengage learning, 2011. Print.
Stuart, Charles and Smith, George. British Opinions of the American Colonization Society. Boston: Garrison & Knapp, 1833. Print.