. >> up next, hift rstory profess alan taylor and nicole eustace. we recorded this interview at the organization of american historians meeting in milwaukee, wisconsin. it's just under 30 minutes. >> american history tv is at the annual meeting of the organization of american historians in milwaukee. we're joined by professor alan taylor from the university of california-davis and nicole eustace who teaches history at new york university. thank you for being with us. you're here at the conference, the annual meeting, to talk about the war of 1812 and here with us to talk about the war of 1812. let's start, professor eustace, with a look at the country in 1812. what was the population size? >> the u.s. in 1812 was as they would have said at the time a young and rapidly expanding population. the population in 1812 was about 7.2 million people and it had nearly doubled in the 20 years since the first census in 1790. a little bit less than doubled. it's a rapidly growing population, and it's a population that is really focused on that as a source of nat

let's start, professor eustace, with a look at the country in 1812. what was the population size? >> the u.s. in 1812 was as they would have said at the time a young and rapidly expanding population. the population in 1812 was about 7.2 million people, and it had nearly doubled in the 20 years since the first census in 1790. a little bit less than doubled. so it's a rapidly growing population, and it's a population that is really focused on that as a source of national strength and personal pride. people are focused on having children, raising families, and needing land to farm to support those families. so that was kind of the overall situation in terms of the population. >> professor taylor, you've written a pulitzer prize-winning book about the war of 1812. both of you. you have a book coming out. we'll get to the that in a minute. the title of your book and title of your book you refer to war of 1812 as a civil war. so set the scene for us in 1812. what was the war about, and why do you call it a civil war? >> well, i see it as a civil war because i see the american revolution

eustace has said we pursued a strategy of raising the status of real journalism. is that a fair analysis of? >> parts of it are right. the route everything labor had done. look at the meetings i to to win people over. think it's totally squares up. i think there is nothing more between the two. >> be made a point that you would not have a flown halfway around the world to speak at the annual conference. is that an accurate assessment? saw. i saw what he wrote. is winning support of including actually flying off to meet the owners of the telegraph. think i would characterize it as one approach and then a different approach. i think there is more similarity between the two. at the beginning of my leadership, a lot of what i was do was make changes to the conservative party, the policies of the party. not all of these are very popular. i have a difficulty in trying to make changes of trying to convince them out is doing the right thing. >> some have identified be changed around 2007. you did not have widespread support in the medium. >> the said they did not have wid