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 “Starspangled 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