James Madison and

the War of 1812

Election of 1808

• Republican Candidate:– James Madison– George Clinton (NY)- vp candidate

• Federalist candidate– Charles Cotesworth Pinckney– Rufus King- vp candidate

Madison Deals with Foreign Affairs

• Nonintercourse Act was due to expire in about a year

• Macon’s Bill No. 2 (1810)– Proposed by Nathaniel Macon– Bill restored US trade with Britain and France– Stated that if either France or Britain formally

agreed to respect US neutrality rights at sea and repeal offensive decrees then the US would prohibit trade with that nation’s foe

Madison Deals with Foreign Affairs

• Napoleon agreed to repeal his decrees but intentionally used vague wording in the document because he did not really intend to follow through

• Madison takes Napoleon at his word and carried out the Terms of Macon’s Bill by embargoing US trade with Britain in Nov. 1810

Impact of Madison’s decision

• Angered the British

• Aligned his national commercially against Britain

• Pulled the USA toward France

War of 1812• Causes of the War

– USA wanted to free flow of shipping. France and England had both violated our netural rights

– Impressment of Americans– Frontier Pressure

• Westerners were to control more land and sought the lands of British Canada

• Frontier Pressure– Trouble with Native Americans

• For decades, settlers had been pushing the Native Americans westward

• An effort to defend their land was organized by Shawnee twin brothers, Tecumseh and Prophet. They attempted to create a unified force by combining efforts of all tribes east of the Mississippi River

• Suspicions of white settlers led to the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Gen William Henry Harrison, gov. of Indiana Territory, destroyed Shawnee headquarters and put an end to any efforts of creating a confederacy of Native American tribes

• British had provided limited aid to Tecumseh but Americans on the frontier blamed the British for instigating the rebellion

War Hawks

• The 12th Congress seated young Republicans from South and West who were clamoring for war against Britain were called warhawks

• Leaders were Henry Clay of KY and John C. Calhoun of SC

• Argued that war with Britain would be the only way to defend American honor, gain Canada, and destroy Native American resistance on the frontier

War with England was declared June 1812

• Why Britain instead of France?– Attachment of the Republican party to the

French– British impressment– British arming of Native Americans– Desire for Canada

People opposed to war• New England states, NY, and NJ

– New England shippers and manufacturers were making money under Macon’s Bill and profit dulls patriotism

– Most were Federalist and therefore pro- British– Opposed the acquisition of Canada which

would add more agrarian states and strengthen the Republicans

People opposed to war

• Opposition led to war with Old England and New England– New Englanders lent more money to British– Sent supplies and food to Canada to aid

British army– New England governors refused to permit

their militia to serve outside their own states

People supporting war

• Southern and Western states

• Irony-– British gov. had decided to suspend Orders of

Council but news did not arrive in USA until after the declaration of war

– Madison is reelected in the same year (1812)

Fighting• Weaknesses

– War lacked burning national anger– Financially weak due to

• Embargo Act and Nonintercourse Act• US Bank had been allowed to expire at a time

when powerful financial institution was needed

– Lack of preparation• Regular army was weak• State militia was poorly trained• Generals were left over from Revolutionary War

Battles for Canada and Great Lakes

• USA chose a 3-pronged invasion into the area rather than a full attack on Montreal

• Most early battles were British victories

• Battle of Lake Erie– Oliver Hazard Perry captured the British fleet

• Battle of Thames River (near Detroit)– Americans defeat British troops including

Tecumseh (now a member of the British Army) Tecumseh was killed in the battle.

Battles for Canada and Great Lakes

• British troops received reinforcements– Napoleon is defeated in mid- 1814 and exiled– Redcoats began to pour into Canada and

prepare to attack USA

Battles in USA

• Battle of Lake Champlain– Thomas Macdonough defeats British and

saves NY and New England from conquest

• Attack of Washington DC (1814)– 4000 British troops attack and were met with

little resistance– Dolly Madison saves White House treasures– Capital and White House burned but not

destroyed

Battles in USA

• Attack of Baltimore at Ft. McHenry– All night attack by the British but did not

capture the Fort– Francis Scot Key (American lawyer detained

on board a British Ship) wrote the “Star-spangled Banner” after seeing the American flag still over the fort the next morning

Battle of New Orleans

• Dec. 23, 1814- Jan. 8, 1815

• British planned to attack New Orleans under Gen. Edward Pakenham

• Andrew Jackson (after just crushing the Creeks in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in present day AL) commanded the Am. Troops

Battle of New Orleans

• Jackson’s troops included sailors, regulars, pirates, Frenchmen and 2 regiments of free black volunteers facing 8000 experienced British soldiers– Jean Lafitte (smuggler and privateer who

attacked Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico from his headquarters outside NO) provided gun powder and men for the battle against the British

Battle of New Orleans

• With overconfidence, the British launched a frontal assault on the entrenched Americans and suffered their most devastating defeat of the war. There were over 2000 casualties for the British and about 70 for the Americans

• The treaty ending the war had been signed before the battle but the information had not yet reached America

Treaty of Ghent

• Representatives from both sides met in Ghent, Belgium to discuss peace terms in the summer of 1814- progress was slow

• British Demands– Wanted an Indian buffer state in the Great

Lakes region – Wanted control of the Great Lakes– Wanted a portion of Maine

Treaty of Ghent

• Americans refused these demands and talks reached a stalemate until the Americans received a few advantages– Macdonough’s victories in NY– Failure of the British to take Baltimore– War-weariness in Britain– British were preoccupied with the Congress of

Vienna

Treaty of Ghent

• Provisions (Dec. 24, 1814)– Armistice– Restore territory– No mention made of relations with Native

Americans, search of American ships, Orders of Council, or impressment (proof that Americans did not defeat the British decisively)

– Treaty negotiations, like the war, ended as a virtual draw

Hartford Convention• Dec. 15, 1814- Jan. 5, 1815• Purpose- representatives from 5 New

England states (Mass., Conn., RI, NH, and VT) met to discuss grievances against the federal gov’t

• Conclusion- drafted a resolution suggesting an amendment requiring 2/3 vote for an embargo, before western states could be admitted, and before western states could be admitted, before declaration of war

Hartford Convention

• Arrived in Washington, DC with these demands at the same time the news of the Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent arrived– Sneered and jeered by the press they slunk

away

• Hartford Convention was the death song of the Federalist Party

Effects of the War of 1812

• The War of 1812 was a small war and globally unimportant, but highly important to the USA

• New respect for America’s navy (Perry, Macdonough)

• New respect for American diplomats

• Sectionalism was given a black eye (Federalists in New England)

Effects of the War of 1812

• War heroes emerged (Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison)

• Hostile Native Americans had been crushed in the south (battle of Horseshoe Bend) and in the north (Battle of Thames) and were left in the lurch by the British in Ghent

• Manufacturing increased because of the British blockade

• New sense of nationalism in USA