Jefferson and the War of 1812

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Jefferson and the War of 1812
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Thomas Jefferson

• Although Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) had already
  retired from politics by the time the war began,
  policies that developed during his presidential
  term influenced the timing and the outcome of the
  war.

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• In the early 1800s, U.S. trading ships were
  caught in the crossfire between the British and
  French. Americans were outraged when U.S. ships
  were seized and American sailors were impressed.
  Jefferson's administration retaliated with the
  Embargo Act in 1807. Congress agreed to close
  American ports to foreign goods and kept American
  ships in ports. This hurt England, France, and
  American merchants most of all.

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• The failed Embargo Act was repealed in March 1809
  and replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act. This
  new act did not allow trade with England and
  France, but allowed for trade with all other
  nations.
• Various American, English, and French laws,
  embargos, and seizures continued.

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James Madison 1808

• During the first year of Madison's Presidency,
  the United States prohibited trade with both
  Britain and France then in May, 1810, Congress
  authorized trade with both, if either nation
  would respect American neutrality then we would
  only trade with that nation.
• Frances Napoleon pretended to comply. Late in
  1810, Madison stopped trade with Great Britain.
  In Congress some were demanding war. A group
  including John C. Calhoun and Kentuckys Henry
  Clay, were called the "War Hawks," and they
  pressured the President to go to war.

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• In America there was also fighting breaking out
  with Native Americans who were supplied with guns
  and ammunition by the British. This also caused
  worsening relations with England.
• The British impressment of American sailors and
  the seizure of cargoes impelled Madison to give
  in to the pressure. On June 1, 1812, he asked
  Congress to declare war.

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WAR !!

• "Mr. Madison's War"
• "The Second American Revolution."
• June 18, 1812

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• Despite losing to George Washington and the
  American revolutionaries twenty-five years
  earlier, England did not take the United States
  that seriously.
• U.S. forces were not ready for war. The Navy and
  Army were both small and untrained. The powerful
  British Navy kept American ports blockaded. Some
  small naval victories made Americans proud but
  did little to win the war.

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Conquer Canada ?

• American hopes of conquering Canada collapsed in
  the campaigns of 1812 and 1813.
• The plan called for a three-pronged attack across
  Canada. The attacks were uncoordinated and all
  failed. American attempts to invade Canada in
  1813 were again mostly unsuccessful.
• The Americans won control of the Detroit frontier
  region when Oliver Hazard PERRY's ships destroyed
  the British fleet on Lake Erie (Sept. 10, 1813).
  This victory forced the British to retreat
  eastward, and on Oct. 5, 1813, they were defeated
  by an American army under the command of Gen.
  William Henry HARRISON. In this battle the great
  Shawnee chief TECUMSEH was killed while fighting
  on the British side.

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TECUMSEH Shawnee who helped unite Indians to
aid the British in the War of 1812
Captain Oliver Hazard Perry The first to defeat
an entire British squadron and bring back every
ship to his base as a prize of war.
Gen. William Henry Harrison Defeated British and
killed Tecumseh. Elected as 9th President but
before he had been in office a month, he caught
pneumonia. On April 4, 1841, he died--the first
President to die in office
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Final Battles

• The British and their Indian allies continued to
  fight in the South. General Andrew Jackson and
  Cherokee allies defeated the Creek Indians at the
  Battle of Horseshoe bend.
• In Europe, the English defeated Napoleon and sent
  more troops and ships to America.

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• The British appeared near success in the late
  summer of 1814. American resistance was so weak
  that the British marched into Washington, D.C.,
  and burned most of the public buildings.
  President Madison had to flee into the
  countryside. The British then turned to attack
  Baltimore but retreated after they met stiffer
  resistance and the American defense of FORT
  MCHENRY, which inspired Francis Scott KEY to
  write the words of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

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August 24-25, 1814 - The British burn Washington,
D.C. and Madison flees the White House.
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Battle of New Orleans

• Major General Andrew Jackson led United States
  forces in the Gulf campaign against Britain. An
  ardent expansionist and charismatic leader,
  Jackson inspired his men and the local populace
  to fight and defeat the British.

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• In addition to his regular U.S. Army units,
  Jackson counted on dandy New Orleans militia, a
  sizable number of black former Haitian slaves
  fighting as free men of color, Kentucky and
  Tennessee frontiersmen armed with deadly long
  rifles and a colorful band of outlaws led by the
  pirate Jean Lafitte. This hodgepodge of 4,000
  soldiers, crammed behind narrow fortifications,
  faced more than twice their number of trained
  British soldiers.
• The main British columns had no choice but to
  advance across the open fields toward the
  Americans, who waited expectantly behind their
  mud and cotton-bale barricades

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• The British made perfect targets as they marched
  across a quarter mile of open ground. Hardened
  veterans of the wars in Spain fell by the score.
  Both senior British generals were shot early in
  the battle, and the commander himself suffered
  two wounds before a shell severed an artery in
  his leg, killing him in minutes. His successor
  wisely disobeyed dying instructions to continue
  the attack and retreated. More than 2,000 British
  had been killed or wounded and several hundred
  more were captured. The American loss was eight
  killed and 13 wounded.
• Jackson's victory had saved New Orleans, but it
  came after the war was over. The Treaty of Ghent,
  which ended the War of 1812 had been signed in
  Europe weeks before the Battle of New Orleans.

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Treaty of Ghent

• The Treaty of Ghent, in effect, meant that
  thousands of people had died for nothing nobody
  won the war of 1812. The United States, though it
  achieved none of its stated war aims, did achieve
  the less openly stated aim of pushing the native
  Americans off their lands, which were now open
  for white settlement.
• The resounding defeat of the British at New
  Orleans ended any question of America rejoining
  Britain and established American Independence,
  power, and strength.
• The victory also catapulted Andrew Jackson into
  the White House as our 7th President.