On June 17, 1812, the Senate approved a House-passed resolution declaring war with Great Britain The vote for war ultimately passed along strict party lines. The House vote was 79 to 49; the Senate vote was 19 to 13. All 98 who voted in favor of war were Republicans. Not a single Federalist voted in favor. source
At the top is the cry "Huzza for Free Trade and Sailor's Rights" which refers to the American grievances that propelled the country into war. Both British and French ships harassed American shipping, disrupting cargoes and in the case of the British taking American sailors off and impressing them to serve in the Royal Navy. I n this cartoon two large insects, a wasp and a hornet are stinging England in the caricature of John Bull. The Wasp and the Hornet were also the names of American warships that administered stunning defeats to the British navy early in the war. The Wasp defeated three British ships: The HMS Three Brothers, Baachus, and Atlanta on September 12, and 26, 1812, and the Hornet who sunk the British ship Peacock on February 24, 1813. Source
