size of the us navy during the war of 1812

The practice of impressment, also called press-ganging, was directly contradictory to American political values and led to intense criticism of Britain in the United States. British ships would stop American vessels and seize sailors, who were then forced to serve on British ships. As a result, impressment in the Atlantic Ocean increased. These Napoleonic Wars, during which Napoleon tried to conquer all of Europe, made Britain desperate for military manpower. Improved relations with France put the US in greater tension with Britain, especially as France and Britain were soon at war. The United States & Britain: 1804-1812 An image protesting the impressment of American sailors by the British, via the US Naval Institute

US President Thomas Jefferson agreed, and the purchase roughly doubled the size of the United States. Knowing that restoring French territory in North America was unlikely, Napoleon offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15 million. The new French leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, had been unsuccessful in retaking the Caribbean island of Haiti after a slave revolution and knew war with Britain was looming. Future US president James Monroe was dispatched to Paris to try and work out a deal. Suddenly, the US no longer had access to the port of New Orleans, the city at the mouth of the Mississippi River on the Gulf of Mexico. In 1802, the Louisiana Territory, which had been given to Spain by France at the end of the French and Indian War, was suddenly returned to France. American diplomats tried to make agreements with both France and Britain, but the Jay Treaty of 1794 between the US and Britain only increased the hostility from France. Caught between France and Britain when it came to overseas trade, the US was subject to its ships being seized by both nations. By the 1790s, relations with Revolutionary War ally France had begun to cool over trade disputes. Britain still controlled Canada to the north and was the dominant power in the Atlantic Ocean. However, this did not mean friendly relations. The United States had formally won its independence from Britain in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris.

The United States & France: 1790s-1803 A map of the United States circa 1810, via the State Historical Society of North Dakota

Size of the us navy during the war of 1812