Thus, on June 19, 1812, just two days after the British government announced that it was suspending the Orders in Council, the United States formally declared war on Britain. Later that month, somewhere in the north Atlantic, the ship from Britain bringing news of the Orders in Council suspension passed the ship from the United States bringing news of the declaration of war. Had there been more rapid means of communication, the conflict might have been averted. “Madison later indicated that the declaration of war ‘would have been stayed’ if he had known about the repeal of the Orders,” Hickey
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Wow, sounds dramatic now that faster comms may have prevented a war
