The Election of 1808
A. Madison was viewed as a brilliant thinker and statesman
1) Leading effort to write and ratify the Constitution
B. He worked tirelessly with Jefferson in developing the Democratic-Republican Party
C. He was a weak public speaker, possessed a stubborn temperament, and lacked Jefferson’s political skills
1) He was also short and bald
D. Madison defeated Charles Pinckney in the 1808 election
E. The Federalists did manage to gain seats in Congress due to widespread unhappiness with the effects of the embargo
Madison: Dupe of Napoleon
A. Madison took the oath on March 4, 1809
B. Like Jefferson, Madison attempted a combination of diplomacy and economic pressure to deal with the Napoleonic wars
C. Economic hardships continued in 1810
1) Nathaniel Macon, member of Congress, introduced a bill that restored U.S trade with Britain and France
2) Macon’s Bill No. 2 provided, however that if either Britain or France formally agreed to respect U.S. neutral rights at the sea then the United States would prohibit trade with that nation’s foe
D. Napoleon had his opportunity: in August of 1810, he announced that French commercial restrictions had been lifted, and Madison, desperate for recognition of the law, declared France available for American trade.
1) Of course, Napoleon lied, and never really lifted the decrees, but meanwhile, America had been duped into entering European affairs against Great Britain.
War Whoops Around the War Hawks
A. From the U.S. point of view, the pressure leading to war came from two directions:
1) The continued violation of U.S. neutral rights at sea
2) Troubles with the British on the western frontier
B. Free Seas and Trade – The United States depended upon the free flow of shipping across the Atlantic
1) The chief belligerents in Europe, Britain and France, had no interest in respecting neutral rights so long as they were locked in a life-and-death struggle with each other
2) The majority of Americans had tended to sympathize with France against Britain
3) Even though both the French and British violated U.S. neutral rights, the British violations appeared to be more blatant because of the British navy’s practice of impressing American seaman
C. Frontier Pressures – Added to long-standing grievances over British actions at sea were the ambitions of western Americans for more open land
1) Americans on the frontier longed for the lands of British Canada and Spanish Florida
2) Standing in the way of their ambitions were the British and their Indian and Spanish allies
D. Indians had watched with increasing apprehension as more and more Whites settled in Kentucky, a traditionally sacred area where settlement and extensive hunting was not allowed except in times of scarcity.
E. Thus, two Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh (warrior) and the Prophet (religious leader), decided that the time to act was now, and gathered followers, urging them:
1) To give up textile clothing for traditional buckskin garments
2) Arguing eloquently for the Indian’s to not acknowledge the White Man’s “ownership” of land
3) Urging that no Indian should cede control of land to whites unless all Indians agreed
F. White settlers became suspicious of Tecumseh and persuaded the governor of the Indiana Territory, General William Henry Harrison, to take aggressive action
1) On November 7, 1811, American general William Henry Harrison advanced upon Tecumseh’s headquarters at Tippecanoe and burned it to the ground.
a. Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames in 1813, and the Indian confederacy dream perished.
b. In the South, Andrew Jackson crushed the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe, Bend at the on March 27, 1814, effectively breaking the Indian rebellion and leaving the entire area east of the Mississippi open for safe settlement.
G. The British had provided only limited aid to Tecumseh but Americans on the frontier blamed the British for instigating the rebellion
H. War Hawks – Congressional election in 1810 had brought a group of new, young Republicans to Congress, many of them from frontier states (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio)
1) Known as war hawks because of their eagerness for war with Britain, they quickly gained significant influence in the House of Representatives
2) Led by Henry Clay (KY) and John C. Calhoun (SC), the war-hawk Congressmen argued that war with Britain would be the only was to defend American honor, gain Canada, and destroy Native American resistance on the frontier
I. Declaration of War – British delays in meeting U.S. demands over neutral rights combined with political pressures from the war-hawk Congress finally persuaded Madison to seek a declaration of war against Britain
1) Ironically, the British government had by this time (June 1812) agreed to suspend its naval blockade
2) News of its decision reached the White House after Congress had declared war
A Divided Nation
A. Neither Congress nor the American people were united in support of the war
B. In Congress, Pennsylvania and Vermont joined the southern and western states to provide a slight majority for the war declaration
C. Voting against the war were most of the northern states: New York, New Jersey, and the rest of the states in New England
Election of 1812
A. Division of opinion was seen in the presidential election, in which Republican strength in the South and West overcame Federalist and antiwar Republican opposition to war in the North
B. Madison won reelection, defeating De Witt Clinton of New York, the candidate of the Federalists and antiwar Republicans
Opposition to the War
A. Those Americans who opposed the war viewed it as “Mr. Madison’s War” and the work of the war hawks in Congress
B. Most outspoken in their criticism of the war were three groups: New England merchants, Federalist politicians, and “Quids,” or “Old” Republicans
C. New England merchants were opposed because
1) After the repeal of the Embargo Act, they were making sizeable profits from the European war
2) Viewed impressment as merely a minor inconvenience
3) Both commercial interests and religious ties to Protestantism made them more sympathetic to the Protestant British than the Catholic French
4) A disunited America had to fight both Old England and New England in the War of 1812, since Britain was the enemy while New England tried everything that they could do to frustrate American ambitions in the war
D. Opposed as a matter of principle to anything Madison did, Federalist politicians viewed the war as a Republican scheme to conquer Canada and Florida, with the ultimate aim of increasing Republican voting strength
E. The “Quids” of “Old” Republicans criticized the war because it violated the classic Republican commitment to limited federal power and to the maintenance of peace
American Problems
A. Due to widespread disunity, the War of 1812 ranks as one of America’s worst fought wars.
B. Facing Britain’s overwhelming naval power, Madison’s military strategies based their hope for victory on:
1) Napoleon’s continued success in Europe
2) A U.S. land campaign against Canada
C. There was not burning national anger, like there was after the Chesapeake outrage; the regular army was very bad and scattered and had old, senile generals, and the offensive strategy against Canada was especially poorly conceived.
Invasion of Canada
A. Had the Americans captured Montreal, everything west would have wilted like a tree after its trunk has been severed, but the Americans instead focused a three-pronged attack that set out from Detroit, Niagara, and Lake Champlain, all of which were beaten back.
B. An American raid and burning of government buildings in York (Toronto) in 1813 only served to encourage retaliation by the British
C. The U.S. Navy achieved some notable victories, due largely to superior shipbuilding and the valorous deeds of American seaman, including many free African Americans
1) The attacks of American privateers, motivated by patriotism and profit, captured numerous British merchant ships were effective
2) Offsetting these gains was the success of the British navy in establishing a blockade of the U.S. coast, which crippled trading and fishing
D. The Americans, led by Oliver Hazard Perry, managed to capture a British fleet; his victory, coupled with General William H. Harrison’s defeat of the British during the Battle of the Thames, helped bring more enthusiasm and increased morale for the war.
1) Perry – “We have met the enemy and they are ours”
D. In 1814, 10,000 British troops prepared for a crushing blow to the Americans along the Lake Champlain route, but on September 11, 1814, Thomas Macdonough challenged the British and snatched victory from the fangs of defeat and forced the British to retreat and abandon their plan to invade New York and New England
Chesapeake Campaign
A. By the spring of 1814, the defeat of Napoleon in Europe enabled the British to increase their forces in North America
B. In August 1814, British troops landed in the Chesapeake Bay area, dispersed 6000 panicked Americans at Bladensburg, and proceeded to enter Washington D.C. and burn most of the buildings there (White House and Capital).
C. At Baltimore, another British fleet arrived but was beaten back by the privateer defenders of Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”
Southern Campaign
A. Another British army menaced the entire Mississippi Valley and threatened New Orleans, and Andrew Jackson, fresh off his slaughter of the Creek Indians (ally of the British), led a hodgepodge force of 7000 sailors, regulars, pirates, and Frenchmen, entrenching them and helping them defeat 8000 overconfident British that had launched a frontal attack.
1) The victory was impressive – but also meaningless
2) The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, two weeks after a treaty ending the war had been signed in Ghent, Belgium
B. The news of this British defeat reached Washington early in February 1815
1) Ignorant citizens simply assumed that the British, having been beaten by Jackson, finally wanted peace, lest they get beaten again by the “awesome” Americans.
C. During the war, the American navy had done much better than the army, since the sailors were angry at the British impressments
D. However, Britain responded with a naval blockade, raiding ships and ruining American economic life such as fishing
Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention
A. As the capture of New Orleans seemed imminent, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island secretly met in Hartford from December 15 1814 to January 5, 1815, to discuss their grievances and to seek redress for their wrongs.
1) Most wanted financial assistance form Washington to compensate for lost trade, and an amendment requiring 2/3 majority for all declarations of embargos, and war
2) A few talked about secession as a last resort and the delegates eventually voted it down
3) Three special envoys from Mass. went to D.C., where they were greeted with the news from New Orleans; their mission failed, they sank away in disgrace and into obscurity.
B. The Hartford Convention proved to be the death of the Federalist Party, as their last presidential nomination was trounced by James Monroe in 1816.
1) They were stamped as being unpatriotic
The Treaty of Ghent
A. By 1814, the British were weary of war
1) Having fought Napoleon for more than a decade, they now faced the prospect of maintaining the peace in Europe
B. Madison’s government recognized that the Americans would be unable to win a decisive victory
C. At first, the confident British made sweeping demands for a neutralized Indian buffer state in the Great Lakes region, control of the Great Lakes, and a substantial part of conquered Maine, but the Americans, led by John Quincy Adams, refused.
1) As American victories piled up, though, the British reconsidered.
D. The Treat of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, the terms were:
1) A halt to the fighting – an armistice
2) The return of all conquered territory to the prewar claimant
3) Recognition of the prewar boundary between Canada and the United States
E. The Treaty of Ghent, promptly ratified by the Senate in 1815, said nothing about all the grievances that led to war
F. Britain made no concessions concerning impressment, blockades, or other maritime differences
G. The war ended in a stalemate with no gain for either side
The Second War for American Independence
A. From Madison’s point of view, the war achieved none of its original aims
B. Nevertheless, it had a number of important consequences for the future development of the American republic:
1) Having now survived two wars with Britain, a great power, the United States gained the respect of other nations
2) The United States came to accept Canada as a neighbor and a part of the British Empire
3) Widely denounced for its talk of secession and disunion in New England, the Federalist party came to an end as a national force and declined even in New England
4) Talk of nullification and secession in New England set a precedent that would later be used by the South
5) Abandoned by their British allies, Native Americans in the West were forced to surrender large areas of land to white settlement
6) As European goods became unavailable due to the British naval blockade, more U.S. factories were built, and Americans took a big step toward industrial self-sufficiency
7) War heroes such as Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison would soon be in the forefront of a new generation of political leaders
8) As a result of the war, there was a strong feeling of American nationalism and also a growing belief that the future for the United States lay in the West and away from Europe
Anglo-American Rapprochement
A. American trade had become more important to the British economy, and in 1815 the two countries signed a commercial agreement ending discriminatory duties and making other adjustments favorable to trade
B. Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817) – during Monroe’s first year as president, British and American negotiators agreed to a major disarmament pact
1) They agreed to demilitarize the Great Lakes
2) The agreement was later extended to place limits on border fortifications as well