Chapter 5 Section 4 – pg 201 The War of 1812

Pg 201 To Move Toward War Tension with Britain was high when James Madison took office in 1809 Americans were angry that the British had been arming the NA and stealing our sailors Americans had a new sense of nationalism Pride in one’s country In 1810 Henry Clay and John Calhoun became leaders in the House of Reps These men and their supporters were called war hawks, b/c they were eager for war with Britain Others opposed war believing it would harm American trade

In the early months of 1812 relations with Britain got worse Pg 201 In the early months of 1812 relations with Britain got worse The British said they would continue impressing soldiers Native Americas in the Northwest began new attacks on frontier settlements In June of 1812, Congress declared war on Britain

Pg 202 Early Days of the War The British were still at war with Napoleon when we declared war with them They started providing the NA with support in order to protect British controlled Canada from invasion America was not prepared for a war Jefferson’s budget cuts left the military weak The navy had only 16 war ships The army had fewer than 7,000 men and many of the officers were poorly trained or too old for combat

Pg 202 In the first days of the war, the British set up a blockade off the American coast Blockade: the action of shutting a port or road to prevent people or supplies from coming into an area or leaving it By 1814, the British navy had 135 warships blockading American ports A major sea battle was fought at the beginning of the war In August 1812, the USS Constitution defeated a British warship The Constitution was nicknamed “ Old Ironsides” b/c British artillery fire bounced off the ship’s thick wooden hull

The War in the West and South Pg 203 The War in the West and South In the west, the Americans and British fought for control of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Both had NA allies

Pg 203 Invasion of Canada Even before the war, the war hawks were demanding an invasion of Canada They believed that the Canadians would welcome a chance to throw off British rule In July 1812, General William Hull marched his troops into Canada from Detroit He was unsure that they could win and quickly retreated British commander, General Isaac Brock, had his soldiers and allied NA warriors quickly surround them, forcing them to surrender They captured 2,000 American soldiers and took control of Detroit

Pg 203 - 204 Both sides understood the importance of controlling Lake Erie In 1813, a 3 hour battle took place at Put-In-Bay American commander Oliver Hazard Perry won a victory there forcing the British to leave Detroit and retreat to Canada The American soldiers pursued them into Canada and defeated them at the Battle of the Thames Tecumseh was killed during this battle

Conflict in the South Pg 204 In the summer of 1813, Creek warriors attacked several southern American settlements Andrew Jackson took command of forces in Georgia In March 1814 Jackson defeated the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend The treaty that ended the fighting forced the Creeks to give up millions of acres of land

Pg 204 Final Battles In 1814, the British finally defeated Napoleon allowing them to send more troops to fight the US

The British Attack Washington and Baltimore In August 1814 a British force marched into Washington D.C. Set fire to several gov’t buildings, including the White House Dolley Madison, the President’s wife, gathered important papers before fleeing Repairs being made in 1948, the White House was almost condemned Pg 204

After burning the White House the British troops moved on to Baltimore to Fort McHenry, which defended the city’s harbor The port have been bombarded all night by British warships Young American, Francis Scott Key, watched the attack and at dawn saw the American flag still flying over the fort showing that the US had beaten off the attack Wrote a poem called “The Star-Spangled Banner”, which told of that night’s events Later became popular and set to music In 1931 Congress made it the national anthem The flag that inspired the poem is on display at the Smithsonian Pg 204

The War Ends Pg 204 By 1914, the British were tired of war On Christmas eve 1814 the two sides met in Ghent, Belgium and signed the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war News of the treaty took several weeks to reach the US One more battle was fought: in January 1815 General Andrew Jackson won a victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans

Protests and Peace Many Americans had been against the war Pg 205 New Englanders especially b/c it hurt their trade In Dec 1814 a group of Federalists met to talk about New England succeeding (withdrawing) from the US These talks ended when the war ended