Overview of The War of 1812

1
Overview ofThe War of 1812

• Adapted from presentation by
• Tao Peng, Department of Chemistry,
• University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

2
Introduction

• Between the United States and Britain
• Began in 1812 and lasted until early 1815
• Americans in the West and South hoped to expand
  US by seizing control of both Canada and Florida.
• Mr. Madisons War
• The second war of independence

3
Causes of the War

• The British disregard of American shipping
  rights.

4
Causes of the War

• Americans suffered financial losses during those
  years of European warfare
• The War Hawks Henry Clay John C. Calhoun
• 1) They believed British officers from Canada
  were encouraging Native American peoples to rebel
  against U.S.
• 2) Americans had always wanted Canada.

5
First Phase of the War

• June 18, 1812-the winter of 1813
• In July American army invaded Canada but finally
  lost Detroit, without fighting a battle.
• In October the Americans made a second attempt to
  invade Canada on the Niagara frontier and were
  defeated again due to the lack of help from the
  militia.
• A third American effort to invade Canada also
  ended ingloriously in November north of
  Plattsburgh, New York. Once again the militia
  refused to cross into Canada and instead marched
  back to winter quarters at Plattsburgh.

6
Second Phase of the War

• During the spring of 1813 and through the
  following winter
• We have met the enemy and they are ours.
• -- Oliver H. Perry

7
Second Phase of the War

• On October 5 the Native American leader Tecumseh,
  the great warrior, died in a battle, bringing an
  end to most Native American resistance.
• General Dearborn raided York (now Toronto),
  Ontario and the ill-disciplined Americans burned
  several government buildings.
• Americans attempted to attack Montréal but
  retreated ingloriously.
• On December 18, a British column captured Fort
  Niagara with the loss of only eight men. Later
  British army burned the towns of Black Rock and
  Buffalo, New York.

8
Third Phase of the War

• Napoleon fell down in the early spring of 1814.
• On August 18 the British landed 3500 troops in
  Maryland.
• The Capitol, the White House, and the navy yard,
  including all the ships anchored there were
  burned.
• The British bombardment of Fort McHenry inspired
  Francis S. Key to write the words of the
  Star-Spangled Banner, which became the national
  anthem of the United States.

9
Third Phase of the War

• Turning Point the Battle of Lake Champlain on
  September 11
• Captain Thomas McDonough
• defeated a powerful
• British naval squadron
• and cut off the
• waterborne supply line
• of British ground
• troops.

10
The End of the War

• Both countries signed the peace agreement, known
  as the Treaty of Ghent, on December 24, 1814.
• American negotiators believed they had triumphed.
• More realistically, the fledgling nation had the
  extraordinary good fortune to escape the
  consequences of a war that it had badly
  mismanaged from the outset.