War of 1812

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War of 1812
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Causes

• Free seas and trade
• Stopping American ships
• Impressment
• Frontier pressures
• Desire for land
• British Canada
• Spanish Florida
• Conflicts with Indians
• Tecumseh and Prophet
• Battle of Tippecanoe
• William Henry Harrison
• War Hawks
• Henry Clay, Kentucky
• John C. Calhoun, South Carolina
• Argued that war w/Britain only way to defend
  American honor, gain Canada, destroy Indian
  resistance
• Declaration of war
• Passed after Britain agreed to suspend its naval
  blockade

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A Nation Divided

• Pro-war
• Southern western states incl. PA VT
• Republicans
• Anti-war
• NY, NJ, New England states
• Federalists
• New England merchants
• Mr. Madisons War

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War of 1812

• Invasion of Canada
• 3-part invasion
• Detroit, Niagara, Lake Champlain
• Americans burned York (Toronto)
• Easily repulsed by superior British forces
• Naval Battles
• USS Constitution Old Ironsides
• Sank British ship
• American privateers
• Success offset by British naval blockade
• Lake Erie, 1813
• Most important naval battle of the war
• Captain Oliver Hazard Perry
• We have met the enemy and he is ours
• Prepared the way for William Henry Harrisons
  victory at Battle of Thames R.
• Tecumseh was killed

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• Chesapeake Campaign, 1814
• British defeated Napoleon increased troops in
  U.S.
• British burn White House, Capitol, other
  buildings
• Attempt to take Baltimore
• Francis Scott Key-Star Spangled Banner

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• Southern campaign
• Gen. Andrew Jackson
• Battle of Horseshoe Bend, 1814
• Creek Indians defeated
• British ally
• Opened new lands to white settlers
• Battle of New Orleans, Jan. 8, 1814
• 700 British killed, 1400 wounded
• 8 US killed, 13 wounded
• Fought 2 weeks after the war had ended

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Treaty of Ghent

• Both sides tired of the war
• Britain had fought Napoleon over a decade
• America recognized it could not win
• Treaty of Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814
• Terms
• A halt to fighting
• Return of all conquered territory
• Recognition of prewar boundary of US Canada
• Britain made no concessions about impressment,
  blockades, or other prewar grievances
• War ended in stalemate

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Hartford Convention, December 1814

• New England states opposed to war Republican
  government
• Radical Federalists wanted Constitution amended
  secession as last resort
• Secession was rejected
• Proposals were adopted to limit power of
  Republicans
• Jacksons victory Treaty of Ghent made
  Federalists appear unpatriotic
• Federalists weakened

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Legacies of War of 1812

• US gained respect of other nations
• US accepts Canada as part of British Empire
• Federalist party no longer a national force
• New England sets precedent of talk of secession
  nullification
• Indians loss of British allies forces them to
  surrender lands

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• American industry grew due to British blockade
• War Heroes
• Future political leaders
• Andrew Jackson
• William Henry Harrison
• American nationalism
• Belief that the future of the US lay in the West
  away from Europe