America’s Second War for Independence – The War of 1812 DBQ
US History/Napp
Name: _________________
Historical Context:
“John Adam’s successor Thomas Jefferson (elected in 1800) also faced international crises
during his presidency. Pirate ships off the coast of North Africa had attacked American
vessels, and Jefferson refused their increased demands for tribute. He sent a small fleet to
blockade the Barbary States in North Africa and eventually won a peace settlement that
protected American shipping.
Unfortunately, Jefferson’s attempts to protect Americans’ rights to trade with Europe as
a neutral country were not as successful. Both France and England were seizing American
ships to prevent supplies from reaching the European ports. When England fired upon the
American warship Chesapeake, killing and injuring 21 people, Americans demanded a
declaration of war. Instead, Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass the Embargo Act of
1807, which forbade American ships from leaving and foreign ships from entering any U.S.
port. The act had disastrous results for the American economy and was repealed three
days before Jefferson left office. Jefferson’s hand-picked successor, James Madison, easily
won the election of 1808. Madison had no better luck in stopping the attacks against
American shipping. More Republicans began to call for war. The western farmers wanted
war because they still blamed Britain for their problems with some American Indian tribes,
who continued to block their westward expansion.
The ‘War Hawks,’ as Congressman Henry Clay of Kentucky, Congressman John
Calhoun of South Carolina, and their supporters were called, cited the British-Indian
alliances as cause for war. However, those New Englanders who had been hurt by the
seizure of American ships were against the war. They knew that in the long run the
economic success of New England was closely tied to good relations with Great Britain.
New Englanders suspected that those calling for war were really more interested in
expanding United States territory by conquering Canada than they were in protecting
American freedom of the seas. Eventually the War Hawks won out, and war was declared
on June 18, 1812.
After two years of fighting it was not clear which side was winning. The British had
managed to burn some public buildings in Washington, D.C. The Americans had
successfully resisted the British shelling of Fort McHenry – the battle that inspired Francis
Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner.
By the end of 1814, both sides were weary of a war that seemed to be going nowhere.
British and American representatives agreed to hold peace talks in Belgium. On Christmas
Eve, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent ended the fighting, but it did not resolve the issues that had
led to war. It did not address the British violation of neutral rights on the high seas and the
impressment of American seamen. The treaty simply provided for the return of all
occupied territory, restoring the prewar boundaries between Canada and the United
States. A joint commission was later to settle disputed land claims.”
~ The American Century
Task: Using information from the documents (1-7) and your knowledge of history, write an
essay that
 Identifies and explains the causes of the War of 1812
 Discusses the effects of the War of 1812
Document 1
Source: James Madison, War Message to Congress, June 14, 1812
…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
...thousands of American citizens, under the safeguard of public law and of their national
flag, have been torn from their country and from everything dear to them; have been
dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation and exposed, under the severities of their
discipline, to be exiled to the most distant and deadly climes, to risk their lives in the battles
of their oppressors, and to be the melancholy instruments of taking away those of their own
brethren…British cruisers have been in the practice also of violating the rights and the
peace of our coasts. They hover over and harass our entering and departing commerce. To
the most insulting pretensions they have added the most lawless Proceedings in our very
harbors, and have wantonly split American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial
jurisdiction…
Document 2
Source: HEAVENLY ADVICE FROM WASHINGTON, William Charles, Present State of
our Country, 1812
In the cartoon, George Washington, observing the scene from heaven, delivers a warning
on the war debate: “I left you with a precious Casket of choicest Blessings Supported by
three Pillars – Desist my sons from pulling at them. Should you remove one you destroy the
whole.” The pillars are labeled “Federalism,” “Republicanism,” and “Democracy.”
Document 3
Source: The Toronto Star, The War of 1812 Shaped Canada Forever, Editorial, June 17,
2012
It was a small war… And yet the War of 1812 had a powerful, invigorating influence on
what would become Canada. Indeed, had the struggle been lost, this country likely
wouldn’t exist. Hostilities were launched…when U.S. president James Madison signed a
declaration of war pitting his nation against Great Britain. He cited, at length, maritime
complaints stemming from Britain’s blockade of Napoleonic Europe. American vessels
were routinely stopped by British warships and searched. Sailors, even U.S. citizens, were
often removed and pressed into service in the British navy. And the American economy
suffered as U.S. ships were restricted from trading with continental Europe.
Ironically, those trade restrictions were lifted shortly before Madison’s declaration of
war. But it was too late for the U.S. to change course. “War hawks” controlled Congress
and the call to arms came loudest from newly formed states west of the Appalachians,
where settlers were eager to seize more Indian land and punish the British for supporting
native resistance.
Madison’s war speech made only passing mention of the Indian conflict — and none at all
of Canada — but it was clear from the start that this struggle would primarily be fought on
Canadian soil. And British holdings were, quite naturally, expected to fall…It didn’t
happen that way. Repeated U.S. invasion attempts were either broken or stalled through
the combined efforts of British regular troops, local militia and Indian warriors. Indeed,
the war would almost certainly have been lost without the participation of all three.
The two sides finally tired of fighting and signed a peace treaty on Christmas Eve, 1814.
The Treaty of Ghent simply affirmed pre-war borders. So, in the end, thousands of lives
were lost, communities burned and wealth squandered with no material gain of any
importance for either Britain or the United States. In one final irony, the Battle of New
Orleans was fought more than two weeks after the peace treaty was drafted, resulting in a
U.S. victory and 2,000 British casualties. They suffered in vain, not knowing the war was
over.
But dismissing this conflict as a small, bumbling affair of little consequence would be a
cardinal error. In fact, the War of 1812 had profound impact, most of all on the Indian
nations. They were left shattered. Tecumseh’s dream of a native confederacy that could
hold its own against encroaching Americans was forever lost. Americans, on the other
hand, emerged with new confidence in their revolution, having stood — for a second time
— against Great Britain and endured.
The war had more effect on Canada. For one thing, the outcome left its territory intact
instead of swallowed by the United States. But it also wrought a deep psychological change.
Before 1812 many settlers, especially in what is now Ontario, did not feel particularly
Canadian…Collectively fighting for their land, and seeing it ravaged by an invader, went a
long way in hammering these people into a unified whole — into Canadians.
Document 4
Source: The Burning of the White House, the War of 1812: Dolley Madison’s Letter to Her
Sister, Tuesday August. 23d. 1814
Dear Sister,
My husband left me yesterday morng. to join Gen. Winder. He enquired anxiously whether
I had courage, or firmness to remain in the President’s house until his return, on the
morrow, or succeeding day, and on my assurance that I had no fear but for him and the
success of our army, he left me, beseeching me to take care of myself, and of the cabinet
papers, public and private.
Wednesday morng., twelve o'clock. Since sunrise I have been turning my spyglass in every
direction and watching with unwearied anxiety, hoping to discern the approach of my dear
husband and his friends, but, alas, I can descry only groups of military wandering in all
directions, as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirit to fight for their own firesides!
Three O'clock Will you believe it, my Sister? We have had a battle or skirmish near
Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of the cannon! Mr. Madison comes not; may
God protect him! Two messengers covered with dust, come to bid me fly; but I wait for him
. . . At this late hour a wagon has been procured, I have had it filled with the plate and most
valuable portable articles belonging to the house; whether it will reach its destination, the
Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine.
Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad
humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of Gen. Washington is
secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious
for these perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken, and the canvass taken
out it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York,
for safe keeping. And now, dear sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will
make me a prisoner in it, by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again
write you, or where I shall be tomorrow, I cannot tell!!
*The letter above, from Dolley Madison to her sister, is unsigned.
Document 5
Source: Composed by Francis Scott Key, ‘In Defense of Fort McHenry’ in September 1814.
Congress proclaimed it the U.S. National Anthem in 1931. National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Document 6
Source: The War of 1812, A History of the United States, Allen Nevins and Henry Steele
Commager, 1966
This made relations with Great Britain worse, and the two countries drifted rapidly toward
war. Ill-feelings had been aroused by various incidents. For example, the British warship
Leopard had ordered the American warship Chesapeake to give up certain British deserters
– though actually only one was aboard; meeting with some hesitation, it fired into the
Chesapeake for fifteen minutes and then boarded her, the decks wet with blood, and took
off four men. A little later the President laid before Congress a detailed report, showing
6057 instances in which the British had impressed American citizens within three years.
Other factors entered into the situation. Northwestern settlers had suffered from the
attacks of a league of Indian tribes formed by the able chief Tecumseh, and they believed
that British agents in Canada had encouraged the Indians.
And one motive was thoroughly selfish. Many land-hungry men in the West, ably
represented in Congress by the eloquent Henry Clay of Kentucky, wished to grab all of
Canada, and they were abetted by Southerners under the able John C. Calhoun who hoped
to conquer Florida from Spain, now Britain’s ally. The result was that, with Madison in
the White House, war was declared on Britain in 1812.
This War of 1812 was in many ways one of the most unfortunate events in American
history. For one reason, it was needless; the British Orders in Council that had caused the
worst irritation were being unconditionally repealed just as Congress declared war. For
another, the United States suffered from internal divisions of the gravest kind. While the
South and West favored war, New York and New England in general opposed it, and
toward its end important New England groups went to the very edge of disloyalty. For a
third reason, the war was far from glorious in a military sense.
Document 7
Source: The War of 1812, A History of the United States, Allen Nevins and Henry Steele
Commager, 1966
Yet in one respect the war did contribute signally to the development of the republic.
Begun and continued amid discontent and bickering, it nevertheless strengthened the
sentiment of national unity and patriotism. For this several reasons can be assigned. The
scattered successes, and especially the naval victories and the defeat of Pakenham’s
veterans at New Orleans, gave Americans a new basis for pride and self-confidence. They
dispelled the feeling of inferiority that Jefferson’s ‘submission policy’ had fostered. In
second place, the fact that men of different states fought side by side, and that a Virginian,
Winfield Scott, was the ablest commander the Northern troops found, added to the sense of
national unity. The Western troops won some battles that they did not forget, and they had
less attachment to their state and more loyalty to the nation than many people of the
original thirteen. From this time onward the West counted for much more in American
life, and the West was always national in sentiment.
Task: Using information from the documents (1-7) and your knowledge of history, write an
essay that
 Identifies and explains the causes of the War of 1812
 Discusses the effects of the War of 1812
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