The Second War for
Independence and the Upsurge
of Nationalism, 1812-1824
The American continents…are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European powers.
President James Monroe, Dec. 2, 1823
On to Canada Over Land and Lakes
• The War of 1812 was one of
America’s worst-fought wars.
There was no real unity.
• The regular army and militia
was inadequate, ill-trained,
ill-disciplined, and widely
scattered.
• The offensive strategy
against Canada was a
disaster. Instead of
concentrating on Montreal,
the center of population and
transportation, the United
States broke its army into a
trio of invading forces that
was fought back.
• The American fort of
Michilimackinac which
protected the upper lakes
was lost.
• American captain Oliver Hazard Perry
won sea victories on Lake Erie. His
famous quote, “We have met the
enemy and they are ours.”
• General Harrison beat the British at
the Battle of the Thames (Canadian
Border) in October 1813.
• By 1814, America was far from
defeating the British in Canada. By
1814, Napoleon was defeated and
exiled to the Mediterranean isle of
Elba. British regulars were now
pouring into Canada from Europe.
• American captain Thomas
Macdonough saved Lake Champlain
from defeat thus protecting upper New
York, New England, and the Union.
This victory played an important part
in the Anglo-American peace treaty in
Europe.
Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended
• A British force landed in the Chesapeake
Bay in August 1814 and Burned the Capital
and White House and setting fire to most of
the public buildings.
• President Madison and his aides were
forced to flee.
• The British fleet next appeared before
Baltimore, which was a nest for
privateers, but was beaten off by the
defenders at Fort McHenry. There,
Francis Scott Key wrote the words to what
was to become, “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” (“bombs bursting in air”)
• A third British attack was launched at New
Orleans in 1814. The overconfident British,
launched a frontal assault on January 8,
1815. The entrenched American riflemen
and cannoneers slaughtered the British
• The Treaty of Paris had been
signed two weeks earlier. Because
of slow communication, Jackson
had not heard of the treaty. He
however, became an instant hero.
• The American navy had much
pride: more skillful crews, better
gunners, non-press-gang crews,
the Constitution (“Old Ironsides”)
had thicker sides, heavier
firepower, and one sailor in six was
a free black.
• The British retaliated by throwing a
naval blockade along America’s
coast.
• American economic life, including
fishing, was crippled.
• Customs revenue was choked off
and the Treasury was bankrupt.
The Treaty of Ghent
• Tsar Alexander I of Russia wanted to
negotiate a British-American treaty at
the Belgian city of Ghent in 1814.
Russia did not want Britain to loose its
strength to America.
• News of British loses in Upper New York
and at Baltimore, preoccupied with the
Congress of Vienna, and eyeing stilldangerous France, Britain signed the
Treaty of Ghent. The treaty was an
armistice (an agreement to stop
fighting). There were no real gains or
losses for either side.
• There was no mention of the Indian
menace, search and seizure of ships,
impressment, Orders in Council, and
confiscations. The war ended as a
virtual draw for both sides.
Federalist Grievances and the Hartford
Convention
• Though the war was a draw between
America and Britain, some disastrous and
lasting principles were developed within the
young nation.
• Defiant New England remained a problem
within. It prospered during the war, owing
largely to illicit trade with Canada.
• The Federalists had strong oppositions
toward the war. A small minority of them
proposed secession from the Union, or at
least a separate peace treaty with England.
The were called the “Blue Light”
Federalists-New Englanders who
supposedly flashed lanterns on shore so
that blockading British cruisers would be
alerted to the attempted escape of
American ships.
• The Hartford Convention brought the
most tension. With a British attack on
New Orleans seeming imminent,
Massachusetts issued a call for a
convention at Hartford, Connecticut.
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont
sent representatives. Only a few
actually talked of secession.
• The convention called for: financial
assistance from Washington to
compensate for lost trade; and
second, constitutional amendments
requiring a 2/3’s vote in congress
before an embargo could be imposed,
new states admitted, or war declaredexcept in case of invasion.
• This turned out to be the death of the
Federalist Party. After the glorious
news of the victory over New Orleans
and the Treaty of Ghent, the envoy
from Massachusetts looked rather
pitiful.
• New England’s illicit trade
efforts concerning
Jefferson’s embargo act
and crippling the war
efforts were the two most
damaging acts of
nullification in America
prior to the events leading
to the Civil War.
The Second War for American Independence
• The War of 1812 had many lasting and
positive effects for America
– Other nations developed a new
respect for America
– Naval officers like Perry and
Macdonough commanded respect
upon the seas
• In a political sense the War of 1812
could be called the Second War for
American Independence since America
would not be involved with another
European nation for the next 100 years
(World War I-1918)
• Sectionalism (sections within the
country-north, south, east, west) was
given a “black-eye” by the Federalist New
Englanders. The Federalist Party fared
the worst, thus disappearing as a political
party.
• Andrew Jackson and William Henry
Harrison emerged as war
• heroes (both would become
presidents).
• The Indians had to relinquish much of
their land north of the Ohio River.
• Manufacturing prospered due to the
British blockade. Economically, the
war could also have been called the
Second War for American
Independence. America became
less dependent upon Europe
economically.
• In 1817, the Rush-Bagot agreement
between Britain and the United States
limited naval armaments on the Great
Lakes. Canada and the United States
share the world’s longest unfortified
border between any two nations.
• With European conflicts over,
America could now turn its
attention “West” and build their
democracy
Nascent Nationalism
• The most impressive byproduct of the War of
1812 was a heightened
nationalism (the spirit of
nation-consciousness or
national oneness.
America may not have
fought the war as one
nation, but it definitely
emerged as one nation.
• A distinctive national literature
emerged. Most literature up to this time
was English literature. Now American
authors were becoming popular:
Washington Irving and James
Fenimore Cooper. They were the
nations’ first writers of importance to
use American scenes and themes.
School textbooks were being written by
Americans for Americans. Magazines
such as the North American Review1815 were popular. American painters
were painting American landscapes.
• Nationalism even revived the Bank of
the United States. A newer national
capital was being built. The army was
expanded to 10,000 soldiers. The navy
gained enormous recognition for
having beaten the pirates off of the
Barbary Coast in North Africa.
Stephen Decatur, naval hero of the
War of 1812 and in the Mediterranean
made a famous toast, “Our Country!”
Washington Irving’s Home
“The American System”
• A nationalist Congress, outFederalizing the old Federalists
(who were for protective tariffs)
passed the Tariff of 1816. This
tariff raised rates on imports from
20 to 25 percent.
• Henry Clay proposed the
American System
– Strong banking system which
would provide easy credit
– A protective tariff to protect
businesses
– Revenues from the tariffs
would provide fund for roads
and canals, especially in the
Ohio Valley.
• A transportation would allow
goods to flow from the
• South and West to the North and
East. This knitted the country
together economically and
politically.
• The Erie Canal was completed by
New York. Jefferson’s Republicans
did not like the idea of federal
funds going to states. Thus
President Madison, vetoed the
measure as being unconstitutional
since it would further empower the
National government. New
England also did not like the
improvements of transportation
since it would drain away
population and create competing
states.
The So-Called Era of Good Feelings
• James Monroe became president
in 1816. The Virginia dynasty of
Washington, Jefferson, Madison,
and now Monroe continued.
• The Republicans were practically a
one-party rule since the Federalists
were dying out.
• Nationalism was further cemented
by a goodwill tour Monroe
undertook early in 1817, to inspect
military defenses. Even in New
England, he was received well. A
Boston newspaper announced that
an “Era of Good Feelings” had
been ushered in.
• This phrase has been used
to characterize Monroe’s
administration.
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Nationalism was high
Internal improvements
Free from European wars
Manufacturing
• However, not all was well:
– Issues over the tariff, the
bank, internal improvements,
sale of public land were
being hotly contested.
– Sectionalism crystallizing
and the conflict over slavery
was beginning to rise
The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times
• A lot of the goodness went out of the
“good feelings” in 1819, when a
paralyzing economic panic descended.
It brought deflation, depression,
bankruptcies bank failures,
unemployment, soup kitchens, and
“debtors’ prisons.”
• Causes: overspeculation in frontier
lands; The Bank of the United States,
through its western branches, had
become involved with this type of
outdoor investing.
• When the depression came, the Bank of
the United States forced the wildcat
western banks to foreclose mortgages
on countless farms. In the eyes of the
western debtor, the nationalist Bank of
the United States soon became a kind of
financial evil.
• Imprisonment for debt demanded
changes in the states.
Growing Pains of the West
• Between 1791 and 1819 nine frontier
states had joined the original thirteen. In
order to preserve the balance between free
states and slave states, most of the new
states had been admitted alternately.
• Reason for increased expansion:
– A continuation of the westward movement
– Cheap land-”the Ohio fever” had taken an
appeal to European immigrants
– Land exhaustion in the tobacco states
– Land speculators accepted small down
payments, making it easier to buy new
holdings
– Economic distress during the embargo
years
– Crushing of the Indians in the Northwest
and South by Generals Harrison and
Jackson
– Building of highways improved routes to the
Ohio Valley-the Cumberland Road (1811)
ran from western Maryland to Illinois
• The West, however, was still
weak in population and
influence. The west had to ally
itself with other sections.
• It was demanding:
– cheap acreage and partially
achieved its goal with the Land
Act of 1820-80 acres at a
minimum of $1.25 an acre in
cash.
– Cheap transportation
– Cheap money issued by
“wildcat” banks (banks that
issued cheap loans) many
farmers defaulted on these
loans and caused western
financial crisis.
Slavery and the Sectional Balance
• Sectional tension, involving rivalry
between the slave South and the free
North over control of the virgin West,
were reveled in 1819. In this year the
territory of Missouri wanted admission
as a slave state.
• The House of Representatives passed
the Tallmadge amendment which
stipulated that no more slave should b
brought into Missouri and provided for
the gradual emancipation of children
born to slave parents already there.
Those who argued against this:
– Southern slave holding states
– Pioneers who favored unhampered
expansion of the West
– Northerners, especially Federalists
who were eager to see slavery
opened in the west to break the
“Virginia dynasty”
• Though the southerners defeated
the Tallmadge amendment in the
Senate, the saw it as a threat to
sectional balance. More wealth and
population increased in the North,
thus giving the northern states the
advantage in the House of
Representatives.
• There were 11 free states and 11
slave states-Missouri would off
balance the issue. Missouri was the
first state west of the Mississippi be
carved out of the Louisiana
Purchase.
• If Congress could abolish the
“peculiar institution” (slavery) in
Missouri, then could it abolish
slavery in the already established
South?
• A small but growing group of
antislavery agitators in the North
took the occasion to raise an outcry
against the evils of slavery.
The Uneasy Missouri Compromise
• Henry Clay of Kentucky, known
as the “Great Compromiser”
devised a plan in 1820. This was
known as the Compromise of
1820 or the Missouri
Compromise. Clay proposed:
– Missouri would be a slave state
– Maine would be admitted as a
new “free” state” -the balance
would be kept at 12 for the North
and 12 for the South
– All future slave bondage would
be prohibited in the remainder of
the Louisiana Purchase north of
the 36/30-the southern boundary
of Missouri. Missouri would be
above the line but it would be the
exception.
• The Missouri compromise
would last for only 34
years in which it kept the
republic together. It was
only a temporary solution
to the slave issue.
• The panic of 1819 and the
Missouri Compromise did
not mar President
Monroe’s presidency.
Since the Federalist party
was so weak, Monroe
received every electoral
vote in the election of 1820
except one. A unanimous
honor was reserved only
for George Washington.
John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism
• Nationalism of the post-Ghent
(War of 1812) years was further
reinforced by the Supreme Court
headed by Chief Justice John
Marshall.
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
was a very important decision
that bolstered the power of the
federal government at the
expense of the states.
• The state of Maryland wanted to
destroy a branch of the Bank of
the United States by imposing a
tax on its notes. Jefferson stated
that:
– the bank was constitutional by
invoking the Hamiltonian
doctrine of implied powers
(necessary and proper clause or the elastic clause) Congress
can make a law that it feels is
necessary and proper.
– A state could not tax a federal
bank since, “that the power to
tax involves the power to
destroy” and “that a power to
create implies a power to
preserve.” In other words a
state could destroy of federal
bank by taxing it to death. Since
the federal government was
supreme, federal institutions
could
– not be destroyed by a state.
• Marshall believed in “loose
construction” the constitution can be
interpreted according to the times. He
stated that the Constitution derived from
the consent of the people and thus
permitted the government to act for their
benefit. Marshall also stated, “Let the
end be legitimate, let it be within the
scope of the constitution, and all
means which are appropriate, which
are plainly adapted to that end, which
are not prohibited, but consistent
with the letter and spirit of the
Constitution, are constitutional.” In
other words, if a law is necessary to
make and it is not in violation of the
Constitution, it can be made.
• Cohens v. Virginia (1821) defended
federal power. The Supreme Court ruled
in favor of a Virginia court. This appalled
“state-righters” since the ruling implied
that the Supreme court could review
decisions of state supreme courts.
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
stated that Congress had
the power to control
interstate commerce
(trade) whether on water
or on land.
• Fletcher v. Peck (1810) this set
the precedence that allowed the
Supreme Court to invalidate state
laws conflicting with the federal
Constitution.
• Dartmouth College v. Woodward
(1819)-Contracts are
constitutionally protected against
state violations. This decision also
safeguarded business enterprises
from state control. This did have a
negative effect on later years when
chartered corporations escaped
the need of public control (the
Gilded Age Period-late 1800’s).
• John Marshall was a Molding
Father of the Constitution while
• Daniel Webster was a Expounding
Father. Many times he left his seat in
the Senate, stepped downstairs to the
Supreme Court and expounded his
Federalist and nationalistic philosophy.
Webster gave powerful speeches in the
Senate challenging states’ rights and
nullification
• John Marshall’s Legacy:
– Promoted national supremacy
– Helped create a stable, national
environment for business
– Checked the excesses of popularly
elected state legislatures
– Checked the tendency of the new
spirit of white manhood suffrage
(freedom to vote for all white males).
He was more conservative in
checking the powerful rule by the
individual people in favor of rule by
the Constitution.
• Adams and Hamiltonian Federalists
triumphed through John Marshall
and Daniel Webster
Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida
• Nationalistic President Monroe teamed
with his nationalistic secretary of state,
John Quincy Adams.
• Monroe negotiated a very important
treaty, the Treaty of 1818. This permitted
Americans to share the coveted
Newfoundland fisheries with their
Canadian cousins. It also fixed the vague
northern limits of Louisiana along the
forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the
Woods (Minnesota to the Rock
Mountains.
• General Andrew Jackson, who was a
hero of the South during the War of 1812
swept across Florida in 1818 and
overzealously defeated the Indians and
British still in Florida. In the Florida
Purchase Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded
Florida and claims in Oregon to America.
America ceded claims to Texas
The Menace of Monarchy in
America
• After the Napoleonic
reign, rethroned autocrats
in the European countries
returned to power and
wanted to crush any
forms of democracy,
including French and
Spanish colonies in the
new world.
• Americans feared that the
European powers would
cause republicanism to
suffer from the invasions.
• British foreign minister, George
Canning, in 1823 proposed that the
United States combine with Britain
in a joint declaration, renouncing
any interest in acquiring Latin
American territory, and specifically
warning the European despots to
keep their hands off the Latin
American republics.
• John Quincy Adams detected the
deception of this proposal. England
was fearful that America would one
day take lands in Latin America.
This alliance would keep America
from expanding territorially.
Monroe and His Doctrine
• In 1823 President Monroe
issued what was to become
the Monroe Doctrine.
• This was a stern warning to
the European powers to
avoid:
– Colonization in the
Americas
– Intervention in the
Americas
The Monroe Doctrine stated
that European colonization in
the Americas had ended.
Countries could keep
territories that it had already
acquired but could not
expand to new areas.
Monroe’s Doctrine Appraised
• The monarchs of Europe were
angered at Monroe’s doctrine.
• The Monroe Doctrine had little
practical impact at the time. The
Doctrine did not really apply until mid
century.
• The Russo-American Treaty of
1824 fixed the Russian southern most
boundary line at 54/40-the present tip
of the Alaskan panhandle.
• The doctrine was often noted that it
was as big as the nation’s armed
forces -and no bigger.
• The Doctrine would emerge being
very important to American status.
• The Doctrine also deepened the idea
of American Isolationism