What I have endeavored to do here is collect a series of scholarly quality pieces of evidence to support the conventional interpretation of the war. Some aspects at least. A. T. Mahan's blockade thesis is thrown out in favor of the reality of the British blockade. Some of the tidbits that could not be fit into the sequence the video are as follows:
-Madison's embargo of 1813 accounts for the drop in export/import.
This is supported by the fact that the British blockade was not on station in 1814 until the late spring of that year, and was still recovering from the previous year's storm at Halifax NS.
-What the British like to call a blockade was in reality 25 ships. Warren had another 70 largely assigned to convoy duty and could not interdict either American privateers, men of war or merchants.
-The blockade was largely that of northern ports, the privateering shifted to southern ports immediately in 1813.
-A great majority of the ships in port got out and returned due to poor British tactical procedures. We see this in the Jan 1815 action in which the entire blockading force at NYC followed the USS President out to sea, allowing numerous privateers to escape and resume ravaging the British merchant marine.
-Impressment as a reason for going to war cannot be denied. There were impressed Americans serving aboard the HMS Java at the time of her capture by the USS Constitution. Guerriere herself was a well known impressment ship in American waters.

Frigate and Sloop actions by casualty rate/ships complement:
--------------------------US casualties - RN casualties - Outcome
USS Essex vs HMS Alert - 0% - 0% US victory
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerrier - 3% - 34% - US victory
USS Wasp vs HMS Frolic - 8% - 81% US victory

USS United States vs HMS Macedonian - 2% - 37% - US victory
USS Constitution vs HMS Java - 14% -31% - US victory
USS Hornet vs HMS Peacock- 3% - 31% - US victory
USS Chesapeake vs HMS Shannon - 38% - 17% - British victory
Decatur vs HMS Dominica - 19% - 68% - US victory
USS Enterprise vs HMS Boxer - 10% -33% - US victory
USS Peacock vs HMS Epervier - 1% - 17% - US victory
USS Wasp vs HMS Reindeer - 13% - 56% - US victory
USS Wasp vs HMS Avon - 1% - 32% - US victory
USS Constitution vs Cyane and Levant - 3% - 19% - US victory
USS Peacock vs Nautilus - 0% - 17% - US victory
brig General Armstrong vs Royal Navy landing force: 10% - 71% - US victory
Lake Battle on L. Champlain - 24% - 41% - US victory - Squadron Captured
Lake Battle on L. Erie - 22% - 30% - US victory - Squadron Captured

Ships that refused to engage their American rivals in equal Duels:
HMS Minerva 1812 (opponent USS Essex)
HMS Bonney Citoynne 1813 (USS Hornet)
HMS Belvedira 1812 (USS President)
HMS Southhampton (USS Essex - Yeo backs down)
Quickest duel in naval history: USS Essex vs HMS Alert: 8 minutes. The British crew + 1st Lt pleaded with their capt to surrender after receiving a single broadside. While the surrender was being negotiated they gorged themselves on alcohol from the ship's stores.
American crews were superior in discipline and motivation. RN crews were brutalized, impressed and suffered large desertion rates. USN desertion rates remained low throughout the war. Sailors on blockading duty often risked drowning if only meant washing up free on American shores.