War of 1812: The War That Shouldn't have Happened

The reason this war even took place was because of Britain's behavior in the high seas caused much intereference with U.S trade. Great Britain and France had been fighting since the 1790s. James Madison eventually declared war on Britain in 1812. This happened of corse because of Britain's irresponsible actions in the high seas. However, Britain had finally agreed to respect the neutrality of the U.S ships. Because of the slow communication back in those days, Madison was not aware of the decision of respect from Britain and he declared war on Britain  before he knew of the sudden compassion from Britain.Some people wanted the war to happen because it would fulfill the upper midwest's goals of expansion and would also restore honor to the U.S. New England was very opposed to the war because the restrictions against trade with Great Britain hurt New England worse than there were interferences in the sea before the war. The U.S was unprepared for the war and started off poorly although they came out victorious after a final victory in New Orleans against the British forces.
Overall, I think George Washington would oppose the act of declaring war against Britain in this case. He states that "time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions."(74) If James Madison would have given this situation more time, the tension with the U.S. and Britain would have been broken because Madison would have received the information from Britain expressing Britain's compassion toward the interference of trade that Britain is causing for the U.S. "Religion and morality are indispensable supports [to political prosperity]."(75) Is it really moral to go out looking for a war like James Madison did? It really seems that Goerge Washington solely believes in morals and I don't believe that it is moral to declare war on something tat just needed a little more time.