What So Proudly We Hailed -James Madison and The War of 1812 British harassment of American commerce on the high-seas leading to the Second War for Independence and the development of a national identity
Historical Context: The Election of 1808 – James Madison beat Charles Pinckney 122 to 47 and took over where Jefferson had left off.
1807 -1809Both England and France had established a policy of seizing a ALL neutral shipping. Both the Embargo Act (1807) and Non-Intercourse Act (1809) had been failures.
1810 Macon’s Bill #2 became law on May 1, 1810. It was intended to encourage Britain and France to stop seizing American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars. According to the law, which ever country (Britain or France) ceased its attacks upon our commerce would be rewarded by having the US stop trading with its enemy.
A shifty Napoleon jumped at the chance (Even though he continued to harass our guys). Britain steps up it's maritime harassment of United States shipping.
What is impressment? Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. The British navy consistently suffered manpower shortages due to the low pay and a lack of qualified seamen. During wartime the navy forced unwilling individuals into service. Residents of seaports lived in fear of the press gangs that patrolled waterfronts and raided taverns, pouncing on deserters and idle mariners.
By 1812 The British claimed 20,000 sailors had deserted the British Navy. In the lead up to the War of 1812 the British impressed nearly 6,000 seamen into the British Navy
(CHART) Census Data on Enslaved Populations in Southern States, 1790 -1800; (MAP) Slavery in the United States, 1790 -1830; (CHART)
Immediate or Gradual Emancipation in Northern States, 1780-1850; (MAP) The Election of 1796
NOTES on PAGE #8 - NOTBALE "WAR HAWKS"
1810-1811 - Meanwhile, new members of Congress elected that year–led by Henry Clay (Kentucky) and John C. Calhoun (South Carolina) had begun to agitate for war, based on their indignation over British violations of maritime rights as well as Britain’s encouragement of Native American hostility against American expansion in the West.
1811- William Henry Harrison and the Indiana Militia took onIndian Confederation under Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Harrison's forces were victorious.
1812 - Great Britain's continued violations of shipping rights intensifies war cries!
Causes of The War of 1812 [Summary]
Great Britain began stopping American sea vessels and forcing subjects on the vessels into the British military. This practice was called "impressment." The British justified the practice with the idea that American soldiers, once subjects of the King, were always subjects of the King.
Great Britain issued a series of trade restrictions designed to disrupt American trade with France.
Great Britain provided arms and support to Native Americans in the western frontiers who were attacking American settlers.
Great Britain controlled much of Canada and many Americans simply wanted to expel the British from the North American continent and expand America's borders.
“British cruisers have been in the continued practice of violating the American flag on the great highway of nations, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under it, not in the exercise of a belligerent right founded on the law of nations against an enemy, but of a municipal [internal] prerogative over British subjects.
Under pretended blockades, without the presence of an adequate force and sometimes without the practicability of applying one, our commerce has been plundered in every sea, the great staples of our country have been cut off from their legitimate markets, and a destructive blow aimed at our agricultural and maritime interests. . . . . . . .
In reviewing the conduct of Great Britain toward the United States, our attention is necessarily drawn to the warfare just renewed by the savages on one of our extensive frontiers--a warfare which is known to spare neither age nor sex and to be distinguished by features peculiarly shocking to humanity. It is difficult to account for the activity and combinations which have for some time been developing themselves among tribes in constant intercourse with British traders and garrisons, without connecting their hostility with that influence, and without recollecting the authenticated examples of such interposition heretofore furnished by the officers and agents of that government.”
"I assert ... that the Federalists in the Northern States have done more injury to their country by their violent opposition measures than a French alliance could. Their proceedings are copied into the English papers, read before Parliament, and circulated through their country, and what do they say of them ... they call them [Federalists] cowards, a base set, say they are traitors to their country and ought to be hanged like traitors. "
Samuel Finley Breese Morse, 1814
The Hartford Convention (Dec. 15, 1814 thru Jan. 5, 1815)
Almost from the start the states of New England had refused to co-operate with the war effort. The leadership in Massachusetts. called for a meeting to discuss what they could do. In attendance were Massachusetts, New Hampshire Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont
They talked about secession and came up with several resolutions and wanted to see them proposed as amendments to the Constitution:
#1 No embargo shall last more than 60 days
#2 2/3 vote should be required to : declare war, place restrictions on trade, admit new states to the union
#3 no naturalized citizens shall hold public office
#4 taxation and representation based only on the number of free inhabitants
#5 president shall serve only one term
#6 no two consecutive presidents can come from the same state
The resolutions were written up and sent to DC and arrived at the same time as news of the Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent
They were never acted upon - this was the last straw for the Federalist Party on the national level
Signing of the Treaty of Ghent. Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier is shaking hands with the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Quincy Adams. Also, the British
Undersecretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Goulburn, is carrying a red folder. December 24, 1814. Painting by Amédée Forestier.
By the time representatives of both sides of the war had arrived in the Belgian town of Ghent in August of 1814, most of the issues that had caused the war had been resolved.
The European War and the Economy
The U.S. grievance, the Orders-in-Council forbidding trade with European countries, had long since been repealed by Britain; indeed, Orders-in-Council had been repealed by the end of June, 1812.
Naval Issues
U.S. dropped the impressment issue. With Napoleon defeated, Britain had a surplus of sailors and no longer engaged in the practice.
Expansionism
As the peacemakers sat in Ghent in 1814, only the territorial issues remained. Once Britain agreed to drop the creation of a First Nations barrier-state between the U.S. and Canada, it was only a matter of time before both countries agreed to end hostilities by returning to the exact same conditions that had existed before the war.
On Christmas Eve of 1814, the peace treaty was signed and sealed. The eleven articles stated that the U.S. and Britain would return to the status quo ante bellum, or the exact same state of affairs as before the war. There was no mention of impressment or the Orders-in-Council; the issues which had spurred the U.S. into declaring war. On paper, it was as if the war had never been fought.
We were now seen in Europe’s eyes as a nation!
Results of The War of 1812 [Summary]
1.) The War of 1812 changed the course of American history. Because America had managed to fight the world's greatest military power to a virtual standstill, it gained international respect. Furthermore, it instilled a greater sense of nationalism among its citizens. It prompted James Monroe and John Quincy Adams to pen the Monroe Doctrine, the nation's first articulation of a foreign policy. The entire period of time after the War of 1812, during the presidency of James Monroe, is referred to as the "Era of Good Feeling" for the reasons above.
2.) The Federalist Party, founded by Alexander Hamilton, and once the dominant political party in America, declined precipitously following the War of 1812. Its members had opposed a war with Great Britain.
3.) While the War of 1812 had virtually no impact in England, it did assure the survival of the British colonies in Canada, and ultimately paved the way for the Canadian Confederation - the precursor to the nation of Canada. Some historians believe if the War of 1812 had not happened, Canada would have become part of the United States because so many Americans would have migrated north.
War of 1812 Timeline of Major Events
1803: British begin to impress American sailors and force them to work on British Ships.
June, 1807: The American ship Chesapeake is fired upon by the British ship Leopard causing an international incident.
Dec., 1807: Thomas Jefferson imposes an embargo on Great Britain but it results in economic disaster for American merchants and is discontinued in 1809.
March, 1809: James Madison is inaugurated President of the United States.
Nov., 1811: War Congress convenes.
The Battle of Tippecanoe (in present-day Indiana), considered the first battle of the War of 1812, takes place between Tecumseh's brother, The Prophet, and William Henry Harrison's army.
June, 1812: America declares war on Great Britain.
June – August 1812: Riots break out in Baltimore in protest of the war.
1813 January, 1813: British and Indian allies repel American troops at the Battle of Frenchtown (present-day Michigan).
American survivors are killed the following day in the Raisin River Massacre (present-day Michigan).
October, 1813: The warrior Tecumseh is killed at the Battle of the Thames (Canada).
Aug., 1814: Peace negotiations begin in Ghent.
Aug. 24-25, 1814: The British burn Washington, DC in retaliation for the burning of York. President James Madison flees the Capital.
Sept., 1814: The Battle of Plattsburg on Lake Champlain is a major American victory, securing its northern border. The Battle of Baltimore takes place at Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner.
Dec., 1814: The Treaty of Ghent: Americans and British diplomats agree to the terms of a treaty and return to the status quo from before the war.
Dec 1814through January 5, 1815 The Hartford Convention meets
January, 1815: Andrew Jackson defeats the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
February, 1815: The Peace Treaty is ratified and President Madison declares the war over.
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