The Second War for Independence
& the Upsurge of Nationalism
1812 – 1824
Created by Mr. Love, adapted by Mrs. Watkins
“Mr. Madison’s War”

War of 1812
– June 1812 – declaration of war
• Opposed by Federalists & Middle Atlantic states
• West & Southern states supported
War of 1812

One of America’s worst – fought wars
–
–
–
–
People divided/ apathetic
Militarily unprepared
Canadian strategy poorly conceived
Economic life was crippled
Indian Resistance

Battle of the Thames – 1813
– Tecumseh killed by William Henry Harrison’s
forces

Battle of Horseshoe Bend - 1814
– Creek Indians defeated by Andrew Jackson
Canadian Strategy

Instead of going for Montreal (center of
population and transportation), US launched a
3 pronged invasion of 1812
 Troops sent from Detroit, Niagara, & Lake
Champlain
 All were beaten back shortly after they crossed
the Canadian border. Some militia would not
cross state lines. Made it hard to engage
enemy!
British & Canadians

Displayed energy from the outset
 Captured Fort Michilimackinac (SAY IT 3
TIMES FAST)
– Commanded the upper Great Lakes & Indianinhabited area to the south & west
– British General Isaac Brock

1813- Americans began to look for successes
on water after land invasions were hurled
back
America’s Navy
Much better than the army.
 Compared to the British, US Navy had
better gunners and were manned by
non-press gang crews.

– The Constitution (Old Ironsides) had
thicker sides, heavier firepower and larger
crews.
Oliver Hazard Perry

Captured British fleet on the shores of Lake
Erie
 “We have met the enemy & they are ours.”
 Retreating redcoats were overtaken by
General Harrison’s army & beaten at the Battle
of the Thames – Oct. 1813
Problems for America
1814 – Americans were grimly defending
their own soil against the invading British
 Napoleon was exiled from France to the
island of Elba leaving America to fight alone

Battle of Plattsburgh 1814

British prepared to attack NY
– Forced to bring supplies over Lake Champlain

Challenged by Thomas Macdonough
– British were forced to retreat (BIG WIN)
– Saved upper NY from conquest
Washington Burned

Aug. 1814 – 4000 British landed in
Chesapeake Bay & advanced to Washington
– “Bladensburg Races” – 6000 panicky militia ran

British entered & burned capital
– set fire to most of the public buildings including the
Capitol & the White House

British moved on to Baltimore
– Beaten off by defenders of Fort McHenry
– Francis Scott Key – “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Battle of New Orleans 1815

Andrew Jackson & his hodgepodge forces
defeat British; fight behind bales of hay.
 Jackson becomes the hero of the west and a
national celebrity.
 Most devastating defeat of the entire war
 Peace Treaty had been signed 2 weeks earlier
– Naive citizens believed British signed treaty because
of battle
The Treaty of Ghent 1814

Tsar Alexander I of Russia proposed mediation.
Why is he getting in on this?
 5 American peacemakers met in Ghent
– John Quincy Adams & Henry Clay

British demands:
1. Neutralized Indian buffer state in Great Lakes region
2. Control of Great Lakes
3. Substantial part of Maine
America flatly rejected these demands
Britain was tired of fighting and was still worried
About France
Treaty of Ghent

12-24-1814 basically an armistice
 Agreement
– Both sides agreed to stop fighting
– Restore conquered territory

American Grievances were not addressed
– Indian menace, search & seizure, Orders of
Council, impressment, confiscations
– Clear that America had not managed to defeat
the British – virtual draw
Hartford Convention 1814

States involved

– MA, CT, RI, NH, VT -26 delegates total
– Met in complete secrecy
for 3 weeks

Final Report
– Financial assistance from
Washington to compensate
for lost trade
– Constitutional amendments
requiring 2/3 vote in
Congress for embargo, new
states admitted, or war
declared – except in case
of invasion
Purpose – to discuss
grievances & seek
redress for wrongs


Arrived in Washington
after Ghent
Death of Federalist Party
Results of War of 1812




6000 Americans killed or 
wounded
Republic had shown that

it would resist what it
regarded as grievous
wrongs
Nations developed a new 
respect for America
Federalist Party died

War heroes emerged –
Jackson & Harrison, Perry
and Macdonough
Manufacturing prospered –
industries less dependent on
Europe
Natives reluctantly
relinquished vast areas of
forested land north of the
Ohio River
Canadian patriotism &
nationalism
– Rush-Bagot agreement –
limited naval armament on
lakes
Nationalism

Nationalism increased after the War of 1812
 Washington Irving & James Fenimore Cooper
– Nation’s 1st writers to use American scenes &
themes

North American Review 1815 (magazine)
Nationalistic Spirit

1816 Congress revived Bank of the US
 National capital began to rise from the ashes
of Washington
 Army was expanded to 10,000 men
 1815 – Naval victory in North Africa
– Stephen Decatur – naval hero of War of 1812 & of
the Barbary coast expeditions
Tariff of 1816

Factories had mushroomed
 British began to dump their bulging warehouses on the US
– Cutting their prices below cost to hurt American warbaby factories

Nationalist Congress responds
– 1st protective tariff in American history
– Instituted primarily for protection, not revenue
• Started a trend for more protective tariffs
American System


Henry Clay’s plan for developing a profitable
home market
3 main parts
1. Strong banking system – provide easy &
abundant credit (BUS)
2. Protective tariff – eastern manufacturing would
flourish
3. Network of roads & canals – knit country together
economically & politically (internal improvements)
His plan would knit the country together economically
and politically.
Internal Improvements

1817 Congress voted to distribute $1.5 million
to states for internal improvements
– Vetoed by Madison-measure as unconstitutional

States were forced to move ahead with their
own programs
– Erie Canal – New York/ 1825

New England strongly opposed federally
constructed roads & canals
– Would drain away population & create competing
states beyond the mountains
Era of Good Feelings

James Monroe – became president in 1817
– Part of the Virginia dynasty

Period of one-party rule
 Monroe
– 1817 – inspection of military defenses

Boston newspaper coined the
term “Era of Good Feelings”
– Somewhat misleading
Problems during the
Era of Good Feelings

Tariff
 Bank
 Internal
improvements

Sale of public lands
 Sectionalism
 Conflict over slavery
Panic of 1819

Paralyzing economic panic
 Results:
– depression, bankruptcies, bank failures,
unemployment, soup kitchens, & overcrowded
pesthouses known as debtors’ prisons.

West was especially hit hard due to
overspeculation in frontier lands
– Foreclosures were common – bank became the
financial devil
– Imprisonment of debtors
Growing Pains of the West
9 frontier states joined the union

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


Vermont - 1791
Kentucky - 1792
Tennessee – 1796
Ohio – 1803
Louisiana - 1812
Indiana – 1816
 Mississippi – 1817
 Illinois – 1818
 Alabama - 1819

Westward Expansion

Cheap land
 European immigrants
 Land exhaustion in tobacco states
 Speculators accepted small down payments making it
easier to buy new holdings
 Economic distress during embargo years
 Defeat of Indian resistance opened new land
 Building of highways improved land routes
– Cumberland Road – 1811 – ran westward from Maryland to
Illinois
– Steamboat – 1811
Land Act of 1820

West demanded:
1. Cheap acreage
•
Land Act of 1820 - Authorized a buyer to purchase 80
acres at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash
2. Cheap transportation
3. Cheap money through wildcat banks & fought the
powerful Bank of US to attain its goal (Read p.
246 – 247)
Slavery & Sectional Balance
1819 – Missouri applies for statehood
 Tallmadge amendment passed

– No new slaves & gradual emancipation of children
born to slave parents in Missouri
– Viewed as a threat to sectional balance by South
– Defeated in Congress

Sectional Problems
– 1788 – South & North equal in population & wealth
– 1819 – North was becoming more populated &
wealthier
Issue of Balance
11 slave states & 11 free states – map p. 247
 Missouri – 1st state from Louisiana Territory

– Would set a precedent for the rest of the area

Issue was political & economic balance
Missouri Compromise


1820 – Henry Clay played major role in
compromise
Missouri Compromise
–
–
–
Missouri – slave state
Maine – free state
Slavery was prohibited in the remainder of the
Louisiana Purchase north of the line of 36°30’
(the southern boundary of Missouri)
Satisfied?

Both North & South yielded something, both
gained something
 Missouri Compromise
– lasted 30 years
– Preserved the shaky compact of the states

Ducked the question of slavery – it did not
resolve it
James Monroe
Reelected in 1820 – received every electoral
vote except one
 Only president in American history to be
reelected after a term in which a major
financial panic began

John Marshall

Shaped the Constitution in the direction of a
more potent central government at the expense
of state’s rights
 McCullouch v. Maryland (1819)
– Denied the right of Maryland to tax Bank of the US

Cohens v. Virginia (1821)
– Right of the Supreme Court to review
the decisions of the state supreme
courts in all questions involving
powers of the federal gov’t
Marshall conti.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
– Constitution conferred on Congress alone the
control of interstate commerce

Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
– Legislative land grant was a contract & the
Constitution forbids state laws “impairing” contracts
– Protected property rights

Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)
– Safe guarded business enterprise from domination
by the state’s governments
• Daniel Webster
Treaty of 1818

Treaty with Britain
– Permitted America to share the coveted
Newfoundland fisheries with Canada
– Fixed northern limits of Louisiana - 49th parallel
from the Lake of the Woods (Minnesota) to the
Rocky Mountains (p. 250)
– 10 year joint occupation of Oregon country –no
surrender of rights or claims
Florida

General Andrew Jackson – 1817
– Sent to Florida to punish outlaws
– Hanged 2 Indians, executed 2 British subjects, &
seized two Spanish posts: St. Marks & Pensacola

Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819 (Adams –
Onis Treaty)
– Spain ceded Florida as well as claims to Oregon
– America – abandon claims to Texas
Monroe Doctrine

Concern over Russian expansion in Alaska, Oregon,
and even California

Monroe Doctrine 1823 proposed by Sec Adams
– Era of colonization in America had ended
– No more European intervention in the affairs of the
Western Hemisphere
 Expressed an increasing American sense of
isolationism from world affairs & nationalism
 No contemporary significance because
the US could not enforce it
 “Self Defense Doctrine”
Russo-American Treaty of 1824

Fixed the southern most limits at the line of
54°40’ – the present southern tip of the
Alaska panhandle
 Settled before the Monroe Doctrine was
issued
CLOSING

Chalk and Talk:
NEW
NATION