Apush Ch 7 Dbq

Nicholas Alamillo

Mr. Woolsey

AP US History

1. According to John Randolph, in Document B, what was the real reason the war hawks wanted war with Britain?

John Randolph was a Republican congressman from Virginia. He led the faction of “Old Republicans” that opposed the leadership of Jefferson and Madison. John Randolph attempted to rebut the war hawks motives for war by pointing out their “true” motives for war. John Randolph made the motives of the war hawks very clear. They wanted to have war so that they may gain new territory and they had their sights set on Canada. John Randolph could clearly see that it was agrarian cupidity and not the defense of maritime rights that urged the war. Randolph and most New Englanders truly believed that the driving force behind war was primarily fueled by a Republican desire to expand America’s territory northwards into Canada. In seeing this motive Randolph cried out in the House of Representatives, that maritime rights are not the motive for war. Randolph went on further to say that ever since the report from the Committee of Foreign Relations entered the house, there has been one monotonous tone, “Canada! Canada! Canada!”. Randolph’s tried to make clear the basic motive for the war hawks to go to war was the gain of American territory in Canada.

2. In your opinion, did Senator German, in Document D, have a valid point that the United States was unprepared for war? Should the degree of preparedness be a major consideration when debating whether a nation should go to war?

In my opinion, Senator Obadiah German did have a valid reason on why the United States should not go to war. The American forces at that time were not ready to battle the monstrous army of Britain. He also stated that they had been at peace for twenty-nine years and were a nation of moneymakers. This states that the nation was starting to produce a major amount of income so that they could pay off all of the debt from there past wars....