Unit Eight: The Jeffersonian Era

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Unit Eight The Jeffersonian Era

• The War of 1812

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The War of 1812

• The War of 1812 started with early victories from
  Americas young navy, but the land war did not go
  as well.
• At the beginning of the war America did find
  Britain in an inauspicious (unfavorable) spot due
  to the fact they were fighting a war against
  Napoleon in Europe.
• Due to this fact many Americans thought that we
  would be able to quickly defeat the British in
  Canada, thus taking it for American expansion.

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The Land War

• The invasion into Canada was to be a three prong
  attack to quickly surround and capture British
  forts, Montreal, and York (Toronto).
• The three prong attack was
• 1.) to attack from Fort Detroit into Upper Canada
  to Ontario.
• 2.) to attack from Fort Niagara northward.
• 3.) to move up the Hudson river to Montreal.

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Early Failures

• General William Hull was defeated by General
  Isaac Brook taking Fort Detroit without a shot
  fired and half of the Northwest Territory.
• Stephan Van Rensselaer and Brigadier General
  Alexander Smyth were to coordinate an attack
  across the Niagara River which led to their
  defeat at Queenston Heights, and the fall of Fort
  Niagara and Buffalo, New York.
• General Henry Dearborn lost Fort Dearborn
  (Chicago) allowing the British to gain control of
  most the Great Lakes region.

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Early Battles

• The first major land victory was commanded by
  Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to retake Lake Erie
  known as the Battle of Put-in-Bay.
• Perry made the famous
  statement that we have met
  the enemy, and they are
  ours signaling the ability
  for America to invade Canada.
• Shortly after Perrys victory
  General William Henry Harrison
  led on a march to recapture Detroit and into
  Canada.

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Early Battles

• Harrison then met a joint contingent of Canadians
  and Indian allies defeating them at the Battle of
  the Thames.
• The Battle of the Thames was important for two
  reasons it gained back Lake Erie for America,
  and also led to the retreat of the Indians due to
  the death of Tecumseh.
• Other American generals failed to gain more
  territory for America like Commodore Isaac
  Chauncey on Lake Ontario, General James Wilkinson
  occupied Mobile but failed to take East Florida,
  and the year ended with a strong British blockade
  of American port cities.

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1814

• During 1812 and 1813 the British were occupied
  with Napoleon, but after his defeat and exile to
  the island of Elba, the British were allowed to
  focus on their American problem.
• The British then sent 14,000 seasoned troops to
  deal with the Americans.
• The British tried to invade America through New
  York, but were defeated by Captain Thomas
  Macdonough at the Battle of Plattsburg on Lake
  Champlain.
• Also Brigadier General Winfield Scott defeated
  the British at the Battle of Chippewa.

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Creek War

• During 1813 and the early parts of 1814 the
  southern Creek Indians Red Sticks led by Red
  Eagle (William Weatherford) had launched attacks
  against settlers in the Mississippi territory
  known as the Creek War.
• In late 1813 the Red Sticks attacked and
  massacred a small militia and their families at
  an outpost in Alabama called Fort Mims.
• To defeat the Red Sticks the leader of the
  Tennessee militia, General Andrew Jackson was
  sent to deal with the Indians.

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Creek War

• Old Hickory as Jackson
  was called marched his men
  into Creek country and waged
  war.
• The climax of the battles was the Battle of
  Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River were the
  Creek were defeated by Jackson.
• The Creek were then forced to give up 20 million
  acres of land and any Indians who refused were
  killed.

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Battles in Alabama
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British Offensive

• In 1814 the British decided to distract the
  Americans by sailing up the Chesapeake and then
  attacking Washington D.C., while the other major
  force marched from Canada.
• A British regular army of 4,000 men under the
  command of Robert Ross landed on the Patuxent
  River quickly defeating the American force at the
  Battle of Bladensburg allowing the British direct
  access to Washington D.C.

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British Offensive

• Shortly after the Battle of Bladensburg the
  British marched on Washington D.C. setting fire
  to most of the Federal buildings including the
  Presidents Mansion.
• Due to the efforts of Madisons wife Dolly a
  slave named Jennings, and others the
  Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and a
  painting of Washington were snuck out of
  Washington D.C. and saved.

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British Offensive

• After burning Washington D.C. the British then
  set their sights on the third largest city,
  Baltimore, which was protected by Fort McHenry.
• During the Defense of Baltimore, Fort McHenry was
  bombarded for a complete day but was able to
  withstand the barrage of shells the next day the
  British withdrew.
• During the Bombardment of Fort
  McHenry an American lawyer named
  Francis Scott Key watched the attack
  from a British vessel and wrote the
  famous poem turned song of the attack
  called the Star-Spangled Banner.

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Star Spangled Banner

• The Star Spangled Banner
• by Francis Scott Key
• O say! can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
  What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last
  gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars,
  thro' the perilous fight,  O'er the ramparts we
  watched were so gallantly streaming?And the
  rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 
  Gave proof thro' the night, that our flag was
  still there.O say! does that Star-Spangled
  Banner yet wave  O'er the land of the free and
  the home of the brave?
• On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the
  deep,  Where the foe's haughty host in dread
  silence reposes,What is that which the breeze,
  o'er the towering steep,As it fitfully blows,
  half conceals, half discloses?Now it catches the
  gleam of the morning's first beam,  In full
  glory reflected now shines in the stream.'Tis
  the Star-Spangled Banner.  O long may it wave 
  O'er the land of the free and the home of the
  brave.
• And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, 
  That the havoc of war and the battle's
  confusionA home and a country should leave us no
  more?  Their blood has wash'd out their foul
  footstep's pollution.No refuge could save the
  hireling and slave  From the terror of flight or
  the gloom of the grave,And the Star-Spangled
  Banner in triumph doth wave  O'er the land of
  the free and the home of the brave.
• O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 
  Between their lov'd home and war's
  desolation,Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the
  Heav'n-rescued land  Praise the pow'r that hath
  made and preserv'd us a nation.Then conquer we
  must, when our cause it is just,  And this be
  our motto, "In God is our Trust."And the
  Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave  O'er
  the land of the free and the home of the brave.
• Sung to the tune "To Anacreon in Heaven"

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Battle of New Orleans

• After the Battle of Fort McHenry the British
  planned an invasion of the city of New Orleans.
• New Orleans though was defended by Andrew Jackson
  who after he defeated the Creeks, marched on West
  Florida capturing the capital of Pensacola and
  then moved to fortify New Orleans.
• Jackson quickly surprised the British force as
  soon as they landed off the Mississippi River
  with a motley crew of free black men, pirates,
  Indians, and militiamen slowing their advance
  toward New Orleans.

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Battle of New Orleans

• The British halted to regroup which gave Jackson
  the time needed to fortify the city.
• On January 8, 1815 General Edward Pakenham
  finally attacked, but was defeated by Jackson at
  the Battle of New Orleans within one hour.
• The Battle of New Orleans was
  a major victory for America
  even though it took place after
  the signing of the peace treaty
  that ended the War of 1812.

Click on Above Picture to hear Johnny Hortons
Battle of New Orleans
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Treaty of Ghent

• During the latter parts of 1814 both American and
  British diplomats had been working on a peace
  agreement to end the war.
• Finally on December 24, 1814 the Treaty of Ghent
  was signed ending the War of 1812 with both
  parities agreeing to go back to the way things
  were before the war (status quo antebellum).
• The treaty may have officially ended the war, but
  do to poor communication fighting continued all
  the way into the latter parts of 1815.

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Hartford Convention

• Everyone in America was not in agreement over the
  necessity of the War of 1812, and non more than
  New England.
• Due to the embargos placed against the British,
  New England shipping and their economy came to a
  halt.
• Due to these factors the New England Federalists
  met at Hartford Connecticut in a Convention to
  discuss a plan to secede from the Union.
• The Federalists called off their plan due to the
  Treaty of Ghent and the victory at New Orleans,
  but it left the Federalist party destroyed as a
  viable party in America.

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Results of the War of 1812

• Even though the War of 1812 is and was seen as a
  unnecessary war it did affect the thirty year old
  nation greatly.
• 1.) It gave the nation respect in the eyes of the
  world powers it did not have before.
• 2.) It unified the people for the first in a
  patriotic feeling not toward their state, but
  their nation.
• 3.) It stimulated American manufacturing growing
  our many infant industries.
• 4.) It broke up the major Indian resistance
  against western expansion. (allowed for the mass
  settlement of Alabama)

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A Victorious Nation