The Muse is toying with the idea of "lecturing" on the War of 1812 from the point of view of the characters in This is the House. We all can go to Wikipedia and learn the facts (which are not easy to assimilate, as there were many currents and cross currents to navigate at the beginning of the Republic's history). But the Muse has always been interested on how those currents and cross currents affected the Common Man, and two birds might be decimated with one stone, if the lectures were to proceed in this manner.

First bird: facts. Second bird: effects, which affect everyday people. We would start with Elijah Merrick, a young mariner just starting his career as a captain in America's merchant fleet. An early voyage to Spain results in his ship and cargo being intercepted and confiscated by the French, who are having a revolution and the population is going hungry. Elijah's cargo of flour disappears in an instant.

At this very point in American history, George Washington proclaimed our neutrality, so that we'd be able to continue to trade with England. Now, we must remember that France was our ally during our own Revolution. Naturally, she was not happy when America declared neutrality and continued to trade with Britain. The United States, to show its gratitude, should be on  the side of France and the Revolutionaries, instead of bowing to the almighty dollar. But we weren't in a position to join anybody's war, and the Federalists did their level best to keep us out of one. (Jefferson and his supporters favored France). Apparently a bunch of French enthusiasts had built a privateer and were all ready to go out on the high seas to help France, which occasioned Washington's proclamation.

But back to our hero: after endless delays, Elijah Merrick was indemnified and then some, returned to Boston, his home port, with his reputation made and his "owners" delighted in the enormous profit he was able to negotiate. Being boarded, his cargo confiscated, was just one of the hazzards that the mariner had to deal with. But there were other boardings, too, on the part of the British. Looking for deserters from His Majesty's navy, American ships were stopped and sailors of British birth removed -- some of whom were American citizens. Pretty disrespectful, we think.
Thus the stage is set. Elijah Merrick's experience with the French ended up profitably due to his persistance. The French would have been glad to cheat him out of his due. His counterpart, (who wrote the memoir upon which This is the House is based) continued trading in Europe and chasing around the French countryside, smuggling rum into Ireland, etc. until the American government, in an attempt to get France and England to stop picking on our mariners, laid on a complete embargo, hoping that our commercial value was so great that they'd stop boarding and confiscating.

That, of course, is a story for another day.