Andre Salmon
MS 2313
LarryBerkenhoff
April
The War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a war between the newly formed United States of America and former colonial ruler, Great Britain.It was seen asAmerica’ssecond war forindependence because America was not recognized as a sovereign nation and lacked any respect fromEuropean powers, particularly the British Empire and France.Even though there were no border changes, it was significant to American expansionwestand influence in North America.
There are several reasonsfor whythe War of 1812 began.Since America first won its independence if 1783, the defeated and bitter British Empire, never recognize America as an independent nation.The British lack of respect for America’s national sovereignty continued throughout the early 19thcentury.There were constant incursion into American territory as well as maritime harassment by the Royal Navy.Both actions created uproar among Americans and renew feeling of nationalism.
The British Empire was locked ina long and bloody war with NapoleonBonaparteofFrance. Both sides decided that in order to win the war, they would have to prevent the other side from trading with America.This led to traderestrictions fromGreat Britain in order to hindertrade with France.The United States opposedthe restrictions stating that they areillegal under international law.Additionally, Americans believe that the increase Indian attacks on the frontier are being motivated by Great Britain.
As the war with France raged on,the Royal Navy couldnotman its ships with qualified sailors because they competed withmerchant shipping and privateers. They eventuallyturned to impressment when it could not operate ships with volunteers alone.A great number of either naturalized or recently immigrated Britons were serving on American merchant ships. Britain didnot recognize the right of a British subject to relinquishhis status as a British, whether or not hetransfer his national allegiance as a naturalized citizen to any other country.
Americansbelieved that Britishsailors who desertedhad ahumanright to become United States citizens.However,Britain did not recognize naturalized Americancitizenship, so they saw deserters andUnited States citizens born Britishalikeassubjectsfor impressment.Sailors began using forged papers to protect themselves from impressment, but the British started impressing non-British Americans when they couldn’t distinguish between the two.
On June 18, 1812, America declared war for the first time in its short history.
The American merchant marine had come close to doubling between 1802 and 1810, making it by far the largest neutral fleet. Britain was the largest trading partner, receiving 80% of U.S. cotton and 50% of other U.S. exports. The British public and press were resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition.[13] The United States’ view was that Britain’s restrictions violated its right to trade with others
The British restricted the American trade becausethey feared it was harmful for their war with Franceand they wanted to limit America’s expansion to the west so the armed Indiansin order to maintain their influence in the region.TheBritish Empire wasalso practicing impressment, thecapturing andconscripting ofAmerican sailors into the Royal Navy.
thewar of 1812 helped toreforgea young nation.
The first war after Americans foundation
In the War of 1812, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain, in a conflict that would have an immense impact on the young country’s future. Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen and America’s desire to expand its territory. The United States suffered many costly defeats at the hands of British, Canadian and Native American troops over the course of the War of 1812, including the capture and burning of the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., inAugust 1814. Nonetheless, American troops were able to repulse British invasions in New York, Baltimore and New Orleans, boosting national confidence and fostering a new spirit of patriotism. The ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on February 17, 1815, ended the war but left many of the most contentious questions unresolved. Nonetheless, many in the United States celebrated the War of 1812 as a “second war of independence,” beginning an era of partisan agreement and national pride
CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812
At the outset of the 19th century, Great Britain was locked in a long and bitter conflict with Napoleon Bonaparte’s France. In an attempt to cut off supplies from reaching the enemy, both sides attempted to block the United States from trading with the other. In 1807, Britain passed the Orders in Council, which required neutral countries to obtain a license from its authorities before trading with France or French colonies. The Royal Navy also outraged Americans by its practice of impressment, or removing seamen from U.S. merchant vessels and forcing them to serve on behalf of the British. In 1809, the U.S. Congress repealed Thomas Jefferson’s unpopular Embargo Act, which by restricting trade had hurt Americans more than either Britain or France. Its replacement, the Non-Intercourse Act, specifically prohibited trade with Britain and France. It also proved ineffective, and in turn was replaced with a May 1810 bill stating that if either power dropped trade restrictions against the United States, Congress would in turn resume non-intercourse with the opposing power. After Napoleon hinted he would stop restrictions, President James Madison blocked all trade with Britain that November. Meanwhile, new members of Congress elected that year-led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun-had begun to agitate for war, based on their indignation over British violations of maritime rights as well as Britain’s encouragement of Native American hostility against American expansion in the West.
Did You Know?
The War of 1812 produced a new generation of great American generals, including Andrew Jackson, Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott, and helped propel no fewer than four men to the presidency: Jackson, John Quincy Adams, James Monroe and William Henry Harrison.
THE WAR OF 1812 BREAKS OUT
In the fall of 1811, Indiana’s territorial governor William Henry Harrison led U.S. troops to victory in the Battle of Tippecanoe. The defeat convinced many Indians in the Northwest Territory (including the celebrated Shawnee chief Tecumseh) that they needed British support to prevent American settlers from pushing them further out of their lands. Meanwhile, by late 1811the so-called “War Hawks” in Congress were putting more and more pressure on Madison, and on June 18, 1812, the president signed a declaration of war against Britain. Though Congress ultimately voted for war, both House and Senate were bitterly divided on the issue. Most Western and Southern congressmen supported war, while Federalists (especially New Englanders who relied heavily on trade with Britain) accused war advocates of using the excuse of maritime rights to promote their expansionist agenda.
In order to strike at Great Britain, U.S. forces almost immediately attacked Canada, then a British colony. American officials were overly optimistic about the invasion’s success, especially given how underprepared U.S. troops were at the time. On the other side, they faced a well-managed defense coordinated by Sir Isaac Brock, the British soldier and administrator in charge in Upper Canada (modern Ontario). On August 16, 1812, the United States suffered a humiliating defeat after Brock and Tecumseh’s forces chased those led by Michigan William Hull across the Canadian border, scaring Hull into surrendering Detroit without any shots fired.
WAR OF 1812: MIXED RESULTS FOR AMERICAN FORCES
Things looked better for the United States in the West, as Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s brilliant success in the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813 placed the Northwest Territory firmly under American control. Harrison was subsequently able to retake Detroit with a victory in the Battle of Thames (in which Tecumseh was killed). Meanwhile, the U.S. navy had been able to score several victories over the Royal Navy in the early months of the war. With the defeat of Napoleon’s armies in April 1814, however, Britain was able to turn its full attention to the war effort in North America. As large numbers of troops arrived, British forces raided the Chesapeake Bay and moved in on the U.S. capital, capturing Washington, D.C., on August 24, 1814, and burning government buildings including the Capitol and the White House.
On September 13, 1814, Baltimore’s Fort McHenry withstood 25 hours of bombardment by the British Navy. The following morning, the fort’s soldiers hoisted an enormous American flag, a sight that inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem he titled “The Star-Spangled Banner.” (Set to the tune of an old English drinking song, it would later be adopted as the U.S. national anthem.) British forces subsequently left the Chesapeake Bay and began gathering their efforts for a campaign against New Orleans.
END OF THE WAR OF 1812 AND ITS IMPACT
By that time, peace talks had already begun at Ghent (modern Belgium), and Britain moved for an armistice after the failure of the assault on Baltimore. In the negotiations that followed, the United States gave up its demands to end impressment, while Britain promised to leave Canada’s borders unchanged and abandon efforts to create an Indian state in the Northwest. On December24, 1814, commissioners signed the Treaty of Ghent, which would be ratified the following February. On January 8, 1815, unaware that peace had been concluded, British forces mounted a major attack on New Orleans, only to meet with defeat at the hands of future U.S. president Andrew Jackson’s army. News of the battle boosted sagging U.S. morale and left Americans with the taste of victory, despite the fact that the country had achieved none of its pre-war objectives.
Though the War of 1812 is remembered as a relatively minor conflict in the United States and Britain, it looms large for Canadians and for Native Americans, who see it as a decisive turning point in their losing struggle to govern themselves. In fact, the war had a far-reaching impact in the United States, as the Treaty of Ghent ended decades of bitter partisan infighting in government and ushered in the so-called “Era of Good Feelings.” The war also marked the demise of the Federalist Party, which had been accused of being unpatriotic for its antiwar stance, and reinforced a tradition of Anglophobia that had begun during the Revolutionary War. Perhaps most importantly, the war’s outcome boosted national self-confidence and encouraged the growing spirit of American expansionism that would shape the better part of the 19th century.(http://www.history.com/topics/war-of-1812)
The War of 1812 was a military conflict, lasting for two-and-a-half years, between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies and its American Indian allies. Seen by the United States and Canada as a war in its own right, it is frequently seen in Europe as a theatre of the Napoleonic Wars, as it was caused by issues related to that war (especially the Continental System). The war resolved many issues which remained from the American Revolutionary War but involved no boundary changes. The United States declared war on June 18, 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by the British war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of Indian tribes against American expansion, outrage over insults to national honor after humiliations on the high seas, and possible American interest in annexing British territory in modern-day Canada.[3]
The war was fought in three principal theatres. Firstly, at sea, warships and privateers of each side attacked the other’s merchant ships, while the British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the United States and mounted large raids in the later stages of the war. Secondly, land and naval battles were fought on the American-Canadian frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River and the northern end of Lake Champlain. Thirdly, the American South and Gulf Coast also saw big land battles, in which the American forces defeated Britain’s Indian allies and a British invasion force at New Orleans. At the end of the war both sides signed theTreaty of Ghent and both parties returned occupied land to its pre-war owner and resumed friendly trade relations.
With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, the British used a defensive strategy in the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, repelling initial American invasions. This demonstrated that the conquest of theCanadaswould prove more difficult than anticipated. However, the Americans gained control of Lake Erie in 1813, seized parts of western Ontario, and ended the prospect of an Indian confederacy and an independent Indian state in the Midwest under British sponsorship. In April 1814, with the defeat of Napoleon, the British adopted a more aggressive strategy, sending larger invasion armies. In September 1814, the British invaded and occupied eastern Maine. In the south-west, General Andrew Jackson destroyed the military strength of the Creek nation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Washington, D.C, but they were repulsed in an attempt to take Baltimore. American victories in September 1814 at the Battle of Plattsburgh repulsed the British invasions of New York, which along with pressure from merchants on the British government prompted British diplomats to drop their demands at Ghent for an independent native buffer state and territorial claims that London previously sought. Both sides agreed to a peace that restored the situation before the war began. However, it took six weeks for ships to cross the Atlantic so news of the peace treaty did not arrive before the British suffered a major defeat at New Orleans in January 1815.[4]
In the United States, late victories over invading British armies at the battles of Plattsburg, Baltimore (inspiring their national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”) and New Orleans produced a sense of euphoria over a “second war of independence” against Britain.[5] The Federalist Party had strongly opposed the war effort and prevented New England from providing much in the way of soldiers and troops; it now virtually collapsed. The war ended on a high note for Americans, bringing an “Era of Good Feelings” in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened U.S. nationalism. Spain played a small role, but was not an official belligerent; some Spanish forces fought alongside the British during the Occupation of Pensacola. The U.S. took permanent ownership of Spain’s Mobile District.
In Upper and Lower Canada, British and Provincial militia victories over invading American armies became iconic and promoted the development of a distinct Canadian identity, which included strong loyalty to Britain. Today, particularly in Ontario, memory of the war retains its significance, because the defeat of the invasions ensured that theCanadaswould remain part of the British Empire, rather than be annexed by the United States. In Canada, numerous ceremonies took place in 2012 to commemorate the war, offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border.[6] The war is scarcely remembered in Britain, where attention focuses on the closer threat of Napoleon.
