With Britain giving weapons to Native Americans a few years back and their continuation of impressing sailors, the American people demanded war. Eventually, the government gave in and declared war during the summer of 1812 which was pretty unfortunate for Britain as they were still fighting their war with France. During the early days of wars, America was severely underprepared due to the major cuts to the military and navy during Jefferson's presidency. Despite this, they still won an important battle at the Atlantic Ocean with their warship, the Constitution, which had hulls the British cannonballs could not break. Another fight was won on Lake Erie and they forced the British to retreat into Canada, where they were attacked by the Americans