Chapter Twelve Notes: The War of 1812

Madison replaces Jefferson as president after 2 terms

• Natural replacement with a long resume

• Not an effective politician

Macon’s Bill No. 2 made to replace Non-Intercourse Act • Offered non-importation policies on the

country that did not remove their own restrictive trade policies on the U.S. (France or Britain)

• Napoleon took advantage of U.S.’s desire to avoid war and promised to oblige (even though he had no intentions of doing so)

– Brits upset at this

– Helped Napoleon since he wanted another foe for Britain

• Election of “War Hawks” in 1810

–New, young congressmen come from the SW and W

• They wanted to wipe out Native resistance to white settlement

– Opposed by Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet

– Tecumseh’s confederacy was damaged by Harrison’s attack at Tippecanoe in 1811

•More nationalistic than many easterners—wanted to fight the British over the impressments of sailors

–National rights trampled by the British—upsetting the young upstarts

–Western ag. Products were not shipped due to the British Orders in Council

The Naive Madison, the crafty Napoleon, the youthful

Congress, and lingering resentments from the

Revolutionary War set the stage for the Second War for

Independence.

For many the prize of the war was Canada

• Fighting forces were pathetic—poorly trained, little discipline, and no zeal

• Poor strategy—should have aimed at the center of Canada (Montreal)

• Canadians and British were ready, and possessed a solid strategy.

• The fighting:

– Americans initially repelled at Detroit, Champlain, Niagara, and Mackinac

– Turned tide when Americans won on Lake Erie, and the Battle of Thames

– Advancing British finally defeated on L. Champlain near Plattsburgh.

Results also mixed in the Middle States and the South

• British invaded Washington, burning the Capitol building and the White House

• British then attacked Baltimore, but were finally driven back

• Brits then attacked New Orleans (after the treaty was signed) and were soundly defeated by Andrew Jackson and his men (helped his future immensely).

On the sea, the Americans were overmatched, but still

emerged victorious and earned the reputation as a “first-class power in the

world”

Treaty of Ghent: 1815

• A victory for America since they achieved something when they earned nothing

– Brits won the war narrowly

– Americans won the negotiation

• Pressures in Europe compelled British to be happy without any new territories and to accept a draw.

War of 1812 enabled America to turn its back on Europe

• Western lands were gained from battles with the Native Americans

– Horseshoe Bend

– Battle of the Thames

• Navy became stronger, thus serving as a deterrent to forces considering an attack

• New England (though battered and upset over the blockade—as shown by their Hartford Convention gathering) was able to build a manufacturing base, allowing America to make their own, instead of buying from Europe.

In the end, the wars with Europe were over—for 103

years. Europe was so exhausted from battling

Napoleon that the prospect of another war was a paralyzing

thought.