THE WAR OF 1812

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THE WAR OF 1812

• Dont look now, but Buffalo is smoldering.

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The Nonintercourse Act 1809

• In 1808, JAMES MADISON was elected the 4th
  president of the United States
• Attempting to avoid the economic problems of the
  Embargo Act the Nonintercourse Act stated that
  the US would resume trade with Great Britain and
  France if they agreed to leave American shipping
  alone.
• 1810 the US government stated that if either
  Britain or France recognized American neutrality
  then the US would resume trade restrictions
  against the other country.
• France agreed to withdraw sanctions against the
  US so Madison ordered sanctions against Great
  Britain. (BUT, France continued to harass
  American ships)

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Internal American Problems as Settlers Moved West

• The dramatic move of thousands of American
  settlers west upset the Indian nations. Many
  lost lands through dishonest treaties others
  had lands just taken. The SHAWNEE leader
  TECUMSEH tried to unite all of the American
  Indian nations against American expansion.

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• In 1811, while Tecumseh was in the south trying
  to get Indian allies, the governor of the Indiana
  Territory WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON destroyed
  Tecumsehs village along the Tippecanoe River
  BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE

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WAR HAWKS

• In 1811, Congress became dominated by young
  nationalistic congressmen who favored war against
  the British and the Indians. They were called
  the WAR HAWKS.
• Most were from the southern or western states
  such as JOHN C. CALHOUN from South Carolina and
  HENRY CLAY from Kentucky. They denounced
  British impressment and British support for the
  Indians who were fighting the western expansion
  of American settlers.
• Central to their war cry was their belief that
  the US could take Canada. That would stop the
  sale of British guns to the Indians through
  Canada and they thought Britain would give the
  US maritime concessions to get Canada back.
• The War Hawks were confidant that the British
  were too concentrated on defeating Napoleon to
  stop the Americans if the US attacked Canada.

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John C. Calhoun Henry Clay
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Declaration of War Mr. Madisons War

• With the British impressing American sailors,
  attacking American shipping, and aiding the
  Indians who were fighting western settlers, James
  Madison asked Congress to declare war on Great
  Britain in June of 1812.
• The nation was deeply divided over the war, and
  Madison barely won re-election in November 1812.

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Problems

• The National Bank established by Alexander
  Hamilton had been disbanded making it difficult
  for the government to finance the war.
• The American forces consisted of only 12,000 men
• Merchants and bankers (mainly located in the
  northeast) hated the war and its disruption of
  their livelihoods
• The US was completely unprepared
• Canada had no desire to be invaded or to
  liberate themselves from British control as
  many Americans had hoped. Remember, thousands of
  Loyalists left the US after the Revolution and
  settled in Canada. The last thing they wanted
  was to abandon the British.

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The Atlantic Theater

• 1812 the British had 85 ships in American
  waters the Americans had 21
• The British tried to blockade the US and the
  American ships were reduced to hit-and-run
  tactics.
• U.S.S. CONSTITUTION did serve valiantly and was
  deemed so strong that it was nicknamed Old
  Ironsides

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The Great Lakes and Canada Theater

• British crossed into Michigan and took Mackinac
  Island after firing only one shot.
• The Americans had crossed into Ontario at Detroit
  and took land but retreated to the US after
  hearing of the British victory in Michigan.
• Americans were pulled back from present Michigan
  and Chicago to Indiana.
• The war then focused along Lake Erie and Lake
  Ontario especially the Niagara frontier. Fort
  Erie (Ft. Erie, Ontario), Fort George
  (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario), Fort Niagara
  (Youngstown, New York) and Buffalo, New York were
  centers of conspiracy and threats of war.

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• 13 October 1812 the Americans attacked across
  the Niagara River.
• The Battle of Queenston Heights proved to be an
  American loss but the British Major General Sir
  Isaac Brock was killed.

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Battle of Lake Erie

• 10 September 1813 US Captain Oliver Hazard
  Perry defeated the British and maintained
  American control of the Great Lakes during the
  war.

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• 27 April 1813 the Americans attacked York (now
  Toronto) Ontario. The Americans eventually
  abandoned their conquest but began a nasty
  habit of burning and destroying what they took!

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Buffalo-Fort Niagara and the War of 1812

• 27 May 1813 the Americans crossed the Niagara
  River at Fort Niagara and took Fort George at
  Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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• Many American soldiers were taken from Fort
  Niagara and sent to the American attacks along
  the St. Lawrence River.
• The Americans did not have enough men to hold the
  Niagara Peninsula when the British reorganized
  and attacked.
• The Americans abandoned Fort George and returned
  to Fort Niagara burning Niagara-on-the-Lake to
  the ground as they left. (NOT GOOD!!!)

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• The British crossed the Niagara River and
  proceeded to Fort Niagara. The British came
  across militia men from Youngstown and forced
  them to give up the passwords for the fort.
• The British arrived at the fort and gave the
  password their British accents mistaken by
  Americans in the fort for southern accents. The
  British took the fort and held it until the end
  of the war.
• In retaliation for the burning of
  Niagara-on-the-Lake, the British marched south
  from Fort Niagara along the Niagara River. They
  burned American settlements along the way
  stopping in Tonawanda where they destroyed homes,
  a blockhouse, and the bridge crossing Tonawanda
  Creek (remember there was no Erie Canal at the
  time).

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The Burning of Buffalo

• On 30 December 1813, the British crossed the
  Niagara River and burned Buffalo to the ground
  killing several Americans and forcing the
  populace of Buffalo to flee the village.
• Conflicts continued through 1814 with the
  American seizure of Fort Erie and the Battle of
  Chippewa.

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Theater of Chesapeake Bay

• In the summer of 1814, the British attacked the
  port cities of the Chesapeake Bay.
• Washington, D.C. was burned heightened by the
  destruction of the White House.
• The British bombardment of Ft. McHenry in
  Baltimore led to Francis Scott Key writing The
  Star Spangled Banner

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Battle of Ft. McHenry
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Peace

• American and British negotiators signed the
  TREATY OF GHENT on 24 December 1814.
• The terms may be best described as status quo
  ante bellum nothing changed. The war helped
  the Americans very little.
• BUT, it took weeks for news from Europe to reach
  the US..

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The Battle of New Orleans

• The Americans greatest victory technically came
  after the war had ended on 8 January 1815 with
  General ANDREW JACKSONs massive defeat of the
  British at New Orleans.
• 2,000 British losses less than 100 American
  looses.

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The Hartford Convention

• In December of 1814, before the Treaty of Ghent
  and the Battle of New Orleans there was a move
  in the north to consider secession from the union
  and a separate peace with great Britain.
• Representatives from the New England states
  (mainly Federalists) met at Hartford,
  Connecticut. They stopped short of secession,
  but demanded constitutional amendments that would
  strengthen New Englands political power.
• When news of the Treaty of Ghent and of Jacksons
  victory at New Orleans reached New England, the
  Federalists looked like unpatriotic defeatists.
  The Federalists fell apart as a political party
  eventually coming together as the WHIG PARTY.

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New States

• While the Americans could not have considered the
  War of 1812 a victory, the Indians who allied
  themselves with the British did consider it their
  loss. Indian resistance east of the Mississippi
  River diminished and new states were organized
• Indiana 1816
• Mississippi 1817
• Illinois 1818
• Alabama 1819

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Florida not just a place for old people

• Florida became a huge problem for the American
  government. The land belonged to Spain, BUT
• 1. Americans had been crossing into the territory
  and settling without permission from the Spanish
• 2. the Americans in Florida often were a source
  of conflict with the Seminole Indians of Florida
• 3. Fugitive slaves from the US had sought
  sanctuary in Spanish Florida over the years.
  They were desperate to remain under Spanish
  control and free.
• 1819 ADAMS-ONIS TREATY John Quincy Adams
  negotiated a treaty with the Spanish that gave
  the US Florida and the US recognized the Spanish
  border at Mexico.

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