On 2 July 1812, Captain David Porter raised a banner on the USS Essex proclaiming 'a free trade and sailors rights', thus creating a political slogan that explained the War of 1812. Free trade demanded the protection of American commerce, while sailors' rights insisted that the British end the impressment of seamen from American ships. Repeated for decades in Congress and in taverns, the slogan reminds us today that the second war with Great Britain was not a mistake. It was a contest for the ideals of the American Revolution bringing together both the high culture of the Enlightenment to establish a new political economy and the low culture of the common folk to assert the equality of humankind. Understanding the War of 1812 and the motto that came to explain it – free trade and sailors' rights – allows us to better comprehend the origins of the American nation.

'Gilje skilfully analyzes Anglo-American diplomacy over impressment and neutral rights. Unlike most other accounts of the War of 1812, he traces the roots of these issues back to the colonial period and also explains how these issues fared in the aftermath of the conflict. The major contribution to scholarship, however, is the reconstruction of the multiple meanings of ‘free trade’ and the explanation of the significance of impressment for early America’s national identity.'

Source: Reviews in History

'Gilje’s book is a valuable contribution and a substantial achievement.'

Matthew Taylor Raffety Source: William and Mary Quarterly

'… one of the best of many books recently published to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812.'

Brian Rouleau Source: Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

'… I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the maritime and ideological dimensions of the war as well as anyone interested in connections between the colonial and early national periods in US history.'

Christopher P. Magra Source: The New England Quarterly

'This work deserves a central place on bookshelves devoted to the nation’s second war with Great Britain. All students interested in the origins of the War of 1812 and its aftermath will profit from it.'

Donald R. Hickey Source: The Journal of American History

'… Gilje’s ambition is admirable. He has rescued the forgotten phrase that gave meaning to America’s original forgotten war.'

Denver Brunsman Source: Journal of Interdisciplinary History

'[Gilje] poignantly shows that, to Americans in the postrevolutionary period, free trade and sailors’ rights symbolized the success of the American Revolution and that they therefore interpreted their violation by Great Britain as an attack on their democratic aspirations.'

Jasper M. Trautsch Source: Amerikastudien/American Studies