The War of 1812

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The War of 1812

• AKAMadisons War

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Background Information

• The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten wars of
  the United States.
• The war lasted for over two years, and it ended
  much like it started, in stalemate.
• However, it was in fact a war that once and for
  all confirmed American Independence.

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AMERICAN REVOLUTION PART 2??

• The British never really left America after the
  Revolutionary War.
• The Americans and the British fought over the
  borders with Canada.
• The British wanted to have control of Baltimore,
  New Orleans and Washington, D.C.

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Still Having Troubles with the Native Americans??

• The Native Americans continued to fight against
  the Americans and their westward growth towards
  lands in the Northwest Territory
• Todays Ohio and Indiana
• The British deserted the tribes after the Treaty
  of Greenville gave the Americans more land
• They reacted in 4 distinct ways

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Native American Reactions

• Accepted White culture
• Little Turtle lived peacefully with the Americans
• Blended White and Native American cultures
• Handsome Lake settled differences and lived
  peacefully
• Returned to Indian Traditions
• Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) opposed assimilation
• Later joined his brother, Tecumseh in open
  warfare
• Took military action
• Tecumseh led tribes in open warfare
• Fought Wm. Henry Harrison at the Battle of
  Tippecanoe
• Joined the British in the War of 1812 and died in
  battle

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Embargo of 1807

• Instead of going to war with England, President
  Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to pass an
  embargo.
• American trade with any foreign country was
  restricted.
• The Embargo outlawed almost all trade with
  foreign countries
• Result Americans smuggled goods to Europe
• The Embargo was EXTREMELY unpopular with
  Americans
• Ruined Jeffersons second term and his popularity

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USS Chesapeake

• In 1807 the British ship Leopard attacked the
  American ship, USS Chesapeake.
• Americans are outragedmany demand war!

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Election of 1808

• James Madison was elected as the 4th American
  president
• Jefferson retired to his home
• Later makes peace with Adams
• Madison inherited the problems with the British
• Congress was anxious to settle these differences

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War Hawks

• In 1810 a new Congress was elected.
• In the new Congress there was a group known as
  War Hawks.
• They wanted to go to war with England and invade
  Canada.
• On June 18, 1812, President James Madison
  declared war on England even though the United
  States was not ready for war.

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The Specific Causes of the War of 1812

1. The British had previously attacked the USS
   Chesapeake and nearly caused a war two year
   earlier.
2. Disputes continued with Great Britain over the
   Northwest Territories and the border with Canada.
   
3. Finally, the attempts of Great Britain to impose
   a blockade on France during the Napoleonic Wars
   was a constant source of conflict with the United
   States.

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Indirect and Direct Causes

• Indirect Cause
• The War was declared as a result of long
  simmering disputes with Great Britain.
• Direct Cause
• The central dispute surrounded the impressment of
  American soldiers by the British.

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1812

• Hostilities between the two countries began with
  an invasion of British held Canada.
• But the entire campaign failed and ended with the
  British occupation of Detroit.
• The U.S. Navy, however, scored successes and
  restored confidence.
• In addition, American privateers, swarming the
  Atlantic, captured 500 British vessels during the
  fall and winter months of 1812 and 1813.

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The USS Constitution

• Cruising off the Gulf of St. Lawrence on August
  19, 1812 the USS Constitution encountered the
  Guerriere, a fast British frigate mounting 49
  guns.
• Twenty minutes later the Guerriere was a
  dismasted hulk, so badly damaged that she was not
  worth towing to port.
• The American ship sent the British ammunition
  rebounding harmlessly off its hull.

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Thus the name Old Ironsides

• It was a dramatic victory for America and for USS
  Constitution .
• In this battle of only half an hour the United
  States "rose to the rank of a first-class power
• The country was fired with fresh confidence and
  courage and union among the States was greatly
  strengthened.

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1813

• The campaign of 1813 centered on Lake Erie. The
  general was William Henry Harrison who would
  later become president of the United States.
• He led an army of militia, volunteers and
  regulars from Kentucky with the object of
  retaking Detroit.
• The entire region now came under American
  control.

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General Harrison

• On September 12, while he was still in upper
  Ohio, news reached him that Commodore Oliver
  Hazard Perry had annihilated the British fleet on
  Lake Erie.
• Harrison occupied Detroit and pushed into Canada,
  defeating the fleeing British and their Indian
  allies on the Thames River.

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1814

• Another decisive turn in the war occurred in 1814
  when Commodore Thomas McDonough won a point-blank
  gun duel with a British flotilla on Lake
  Champlain in upper New York.
• Deprived of naval support, a British invasion
  force of 10,000 men retreated to Canada.
• At about the same time, the British fleet was
  harassing the Eastern seaboard with orders to
  "destroy and lay waste."

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The White House Burns

• On the night of August 24, 1814, the British
  burst into Washington, D.C., home of the federal
  government.
• American morale was at an all-time low when the
  British captured the City of Washington and
  burned the White House.

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The President Flees

• President James Madison and his wife Dolley
  Madison fled to Virginia.
• She is credited with saving several priceless
  papers and a picture of George Washington from
  the flames

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From Dolley Madisons Journal

• Dolley packed state papers and wondering how she
  might save Gilbert Stuart's priceless full-length
  portrait of George Washington.
• I have had a wagon filled with plate and the
  most valuable portable articles belonging to the
  house whether it will reach its destination, the
  Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of
  British soldiers, events must determine."
• She then supervised servants as they wrenched
  Washington's portrait from the wall.
• "It is done... the precious portrait placed in
  the hands of the gentlemen for safe keeping. And
  now, dear sister, I must leave this house or the
  retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by
  filling up the road I am directed to take. When I
  shall again write to you, or where I shall be
  tomorrow, I cannot tell."

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The Star-Spangled Banner

• In 1813 the commander of Ft. McHenry asked for a
  flag so big that "the British have no trouble
  seeing it from a distance."
• He asked Mary Young Pickersgill to make the flag
  for him. Her thirteen year old daughter helped
  her.
• She used 400 yards of fine wool.
• They cut 15 stars that were two feet across.
• There were 8 red and 7 white stripes.
• The stripes were each two feet wide.
• When it was finished it measured 30 by 42 feet
  and cost 405.90.

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Ft. McHenry Attacked!

• Baltimore Harbor was attacked and Ft. McHenry was
  bombarded by British bombs-
• A lawyer, Francis Scott Key watched from an
  American ship in the harbor and wrote a poem to
  that expressed his feelings after seeing the
  American flag still flying during the battle.

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National Anthem

• Keys poem, The Defence of Fort M'Henry, was
  later added to the existing music To Anacreon
  Heaven, by the English composer John Stafford,
  but the combination came to be known as the Star
  Spangled Banner.
• Under this name, the song was adopted as the
  American national anthem in 1931.

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Do you know the Lyrics??

• Work with a small group and see if you know the
  lyrics

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Here they are.

• Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early
  light,What so proudly we hailed at the
  twilight's last gleaming?Whose broad stripes and
  bright stars, through 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 through the night
  that our flag was still there.O say, does that
  star-spangled banner yet waveO'er the land of
  the free and the home of the brave?

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Cool Website

• The Star Spangled Banner The Flag that Inspired
  the National Anthem
• http//americanhistory.si.edu/ssb/2_home/fs2.html

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The End of the War

• As the war continued, British and American
  negotiators each demanded concessions from the
  other.
• The British envoys decided to concede, however,
  when they learned of McDonough's victory on Lake
  Champlain.
• Urged by the Duke of Wellington to reach a
  settlement, the negotiators for Great Britain
  accepted the Treaty of Ghent negotiated in
  Belgium on December 24, 1814.

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Oops! There was a treaty???

• Unaware that a peace treaty had been signed, the
  two sides continued fighting in New Orleans,
  Louisiana.
• Led by General Andrew Jackson, the Americans
  scored the greatest land victory of the war.
• The battles with British troops are among the
  most decisive in American military victories in
  our history.

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Battle of New Orleans In 1814 we took a little
trip, Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty
Mississip. We took a little bacon, and we took a
little beans. And we fought the bloody British
near the town of New Orleans.
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We fired our guns and the British kept a
comin'There wasn't quite as many as there was a
while ago.We fired once more and they began a
runnin on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of
Mexico.
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We looked down the river and we seen the British
come, An there must have been a hundred of them
beatin on the drum. They stepped so high they
made their bugles ring, we stood beside our
cotton bails didn't say a thing.
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We fired our guns and the British kept a
comin'There wasn't quite as many as there was a
while ago.We fired once more and they began a
runnin on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of
Mexico.
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• Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise if
  we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked them in
  the eye.
• We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well,
  then we opened up our squirrel guns really gave
  'em WELL....

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We fired our guns and the British kept a
comin'There wasn't quite as many as there was a
while ago.We fired once more and they began a
runnin on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of
Mexico.
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They ran thru the briars and they ran thru the
brambles andthey ran thru the bushes where a
rabbit couldn't go.They ran so fast that the
hounds couldn't catch 'em on downthe Mississippi
to the Gulf of Mexico.
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We fired our cannon till the barrel melted down,
then we grabbed an alligator we fought another
round. We filled his head with cannon balls,
powered his behind 'n when we touched thepowder
off the gator lost his mind.
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We fired our guns and the British kept a
comin'There wasn't quite as many as there was a
while ago.We fired once more and they began a
runnin on down the Mississippi to the Gulf of
Mexico.
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They ran thru the briars and they ran thru the
brambles andthey ran thru the bushes where a
rabbit couldn't go.They ran so fast that the
hounds couldn't catch 'em on downthe Mississippi
to the Gulf of Mexico.
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Whats next for the young country???

• Americans now turned their energies to exploring
  and settling the American continent in a fury of
  westward expansion.

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The Balance of Power

• Congress had a balance of free and slave states
• Butnew lands mean new states
• Will they be slave or free states??
• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 said that no
  state north of the Ohio River could be a slave
  state
• Missouri did not fit the definition
• Bitter debate followed in Congress

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The Missouri Compromise

• A compromise was reached in 1820
• Slavery would be permitted in the new state of
  Missouri
• Maine would also admitted as a free state
• Any new state above 36 30 N would be free
• The balance of power was preserved.FOR NOW!!

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