ABSTRACT
The literature on the War of 1812 is vast. 1 It dates to the war itself, and that on the causes goes back further. In the run-up to the contest, administration officials (particularly Secretary of State James Madison), members of Congress, newspaper and magazine contributors, clergymen, and others wrote tracts, speeches, and sermons that shaped the contemporary debate on the causes of the war and thus influenced the ensuing historiography. The Annals of Congress, the American State Papers, and contemporary newspapers offer a particularly rich vein of source material on the causes of the war.
