AP/IB American History Mr. Blackmon

War of 1812

U.S. "Freedom of the Seas"

A quick, dirty guide to the causes of the

I. A. By 1803, started conquest of Europe, assembling a large army at Boulogne for the invasion of Great Britain B. Austerlitz campaign (1805): Napoleon smashes Austro-Russian army and is dominant on the continent of Europe C. Trafalgar (1805): Horatio Nelson smashes Franco-Spanish fleet; Britain is dominant at sea D. Prussian campaign (1806): Napoleon smashes Prussia at Jena and Auerstadt E. Campaigns with Russia and Peace of Tilsit (1806-07): Napoleon obtains a favorable peace with Russia and includes Russia in his F. Economic war: The Continental System 1. Berlin Decree (1806) forbade the importation of British goods into France, territory controlled by France, or its Allies (Prussia and later Russia) 2. British Orders in Council (1807) ordered all neutral vessels trading with the continent to first put in to British ports 3. Milan Decree (1807) threatened confiscation of any neutral vessel putting into a continental port that first put in to a British port or submitted to search by a British vessel.

II. America's profit from the war A. Napoleon faced a problem of supply 1. British navy controlled route from France's overseas possessions 2. Economic chaos in Europe 3. U.S. an important source of supply for both Great Britain and France, especially France 4. American merchants profited a. 1789-1805 increase in trade from 100,000 to 1,000,000 tons, mostly from trade with France B. Interference with U.S. trade: 1807 1. Great Britain determined to destroy U.S. trade with France 2. Orders in Council 1807 3. Napoleon attempts to blockade British Isles a. Berlin and Milan Decrees (1806-7) C. Neither the Berlin and Milan Decrees nor the Orders in Council arise out of hostility to the U.S., but is the result of a life and death struggle between the two nations 1. Both are in violation of a major tenet of U.S. foreign policy: "Freedom of the Seas" AP/IB American History Mr. Blackmon War of 1812 Page 2

D. U.S. merchants engage in blockade running 1. By 1807, U.S. trade is at an all time high, with many incidents on the high seas a. Between 1803-1807, British seize 500 ships, French seize 200 E. Impressment 1. British subjects liable to impressment at any time a. British navy is starving for men b. Desertion common 2. Britain does not recognize naturalization of British subjects as American citizens: "Once an Englishman, always an Englishman." 3. Stopped and searched merchantmen for "deserters" 4. Estimated 10,000 British sailors in American merchant marine a. Some naturalized, some with false papers, some with no papers. 5. Between 1805-1812, at least 5,000 (to 9,000) impressments a. 3,800 native Americans were later released by British Admiralty courts 6. John Quincy Adams: "No nation can be Independent which suffers her Citizens to be stolen from her at the discretion of the Naval or military Officers of another . . . . The principle . . . is of a higher . . . nature than any questions about taxation can involve. It is the principle of personal liberty and of every social right." 7. Leopard vs. Chesapeake June 22, 1807 F. Embargo Act 1807 1. Jefferson's answer was to remove ALL U.S. ships from the high seas 2. Congress votes the Embargo Act in December, forbidding U.S. vessels to leave port a. Jefferson and Congress have abandoned "Freedom of the Seas" b. Law could not be fully enforced; there was smuggling across the border into Canada 3. New England merchants demand repeal of this act a. Claimed it was a deliberate plot by Jefferson to ruin New England (1) Federalists like Thomas Pickering hint at secession b. Unemployed sailors and ruined farmers joined the protest 4. Exports in 1807=$108 million; in 1808=$22 million 5. Embargo Act repealed on March 1, 1809

III. Drift towards war A. Jefferson followed Washington's precedent--no third term B. Presidential election 1808: elected C. Madison: quiet, scholarly, ex-Secretary of State, shared Jefferson's ideas, wanted respect by peaceful means D. Madison's diplomacy: AP/IB American History Mr. Blackmon War of 1812 Page 3

1. Congress (1809) substituted Non-Intercourse Act for the Embargo Act. a. American merchants not allowed to trade with England and France, but may trade with others b. Trade with England and France was what American merchants wanted c. In 1810, this act expired, and American vessels could sail anywhere, and incidents occur again 2. Madison signs Macon's Bill No. 2 on May 1, 1810: a. Urged England and France to withdraw restrictions versus American shipping b. Promised that when either party recognized neutral rights, the U.S. would refuse to trade with her enemy E. Napoleon tricks Madison 1. Napoleon announces in 1810 that France was repealing ALL restrictions versus American ships 2. England warned Madison not to trust Napoleon 3. Madison issues orders prohibiting trade with Great Britain a. Madison's policy failed---Napoleon kept on interfering with U.S. ships F. Great Britain meets Madison's demands 1. Winter of 1811-12 severest in England between 1665 and 1940 2. Loss of American grain a serious blow 3. British government, under pressure from English merchants, businessmen, workers withdraws the Orders in Council on June 16, 1812 a. Great Britain's need for American trade forces them to yield to Madison's demands G. Congress declares war on June 18, 1812 (two days after Parliament repealed the Orders in Council 1. Madison's War Message lists the following reasons: a. Impressment of seamen b. Repeated violations of U.S. territorial waters by the Royal Navy c. Declaring an enemy coast blockaded when it was not blockaded in fact d. The Orders in Council against neutral trade. 2. War was not fought solely on the issue of freedom of the seas 3. The entire nation was not in favor of the war a. Majority of the South and West wanted war, the Eastern states were divided) IV. Causes of the War of 1812 A. Land 1. Pioneer farmers by 1812 had exhausted fertility of in the West a. Canada: Northwestern farmers did not want to go to the treeless AP/IB American History Mr. Blackmon War of 1812 Page 4

prairies due to the myth of the "Great American Desert" and therefore wanted lower Canada b. Florida: farmers in Tennessee, west Georgia, and Alabama wanted Spanish Florida for farming and to stop runaway slaves B. National Pride and Nationalism 1. To avenge insults to the flag C. Indian Problems 1. Indians of the Northwest Territory losing land steadily to whites as the result of broken promises 2. Tecumseh, the great leader of the Shawnee (in my opinion, the greatest of all native American leaders), encouraged by Canadian fur traders, builds a confederation of tribes from the Northwest and Southwest, for the purpose of a. Cultural regeneration b. To stop loss of Indian lands c. To keep tribes apart from the white man's culture 3. Frontiersmen are alarmed at the confederacy, remembering Pontiac's Rebellion, and decide to seize Canada in order to end the threat of an alliance of the British and the Indians D. Congressional elections of 1810 1. The War Hawks a. of Kentucky b. Richard Johnson of Kentucky c. Felix Grundy of Tennessee d. Peter Porter of New York e. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina 2. Demand war because the West was faced with Indian attacks that they believed were instigated from Canada and because they were nationalists E. In 1811, as a result of Western demands, Gen. William Henry Harrison led U.S. troops versus the Indians and wins the Battle of Tippecanoe (later used in slogan for the Presidential election of 1840) F. War starts for many reasons 1. Most historians agree that the war was fought over "Freedom of the Seas" and the impressment of American sailors 2. Desire to gain land 3. Nationalism 4. Indian problems G. Madison stressed "Freedom of the Seas" and the impressment of sailors (like World War I) V. The War of 1812 A. War lasts until 1815 B. Election of 1812 1. Madison, a Republican, won reelection, but the Federalists, who were very AP/IB American History Mr. Blackmon War of 1812 Page 5

strong in New England, are opposed to the war, mostly because the merchants would lose money in a war with England C. Handicaps fighting the war 1. New England Federalists opposed the war, and their activities verge on treason (communications with the British, banks not lending money to the government to conduct the war, opposition to a conscription bill, etc.) a. Ironically, the War stimulated New England manufacturing, since all legitimate trade passed through New England, New England traded freely with Canada, and the textile industry flourished (1) In 1810, there were 80,000 spindles in operation in 87 cotton mills, but there were 500,000 spindles in operation by 1815. 2. "Mr. Madison's War" 3. Hartford Convention 1814 a. Moderate Federalists, like Harrison Gray Otis, wished to obtain concessions from the federal government favoring New England b. Radical Federalists, led by Timothy Pickering, expected the British invasion of New Orleans to succeed, and Aaron Burr's secession plot for Louisiana and West Florida to succeed. They intended to draft a new federal constitution and present it to the original Thirteen States; they would either have to accept it or New England would make a separate peace c. Hartford report demanded: (1) The three fifths compromise be abolished (2) Two thirds vote to declare war or admit new states (3) prohibit embargoes beyond 60 days (4) Exclude foreign born citizens from federal office (5) limit the President to one term (6) prohibit the election of two successive Presidents from the same state 4. Report reaches Washington after news of the Treaty of Ghent and of the Battle of New Orleans. a. Federalist party stigmatized as unpatriotic, and never recovers D. Crucial Battles 1. Put-in-Bay (Lake Erie) (1813), Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British flotilla and forces the British evacuation of Detroit 2. Plattsburg (Lake Champlain) (1814) Thomas MacDonough defeats a British flotilla to force the retirement of a very powerful British force from New York 3. Horseshoe Bend (1814) Andrew Jackson breaks the power of the Creek Confederacy and opens up two thirds of Alabama to white settlement 4. New Orleans (1815), fought after the war was actually over, Andrew Jackson wins a smashing victory of no military importance; however, it makes him a AP/IB American History Mr. Blackmon War of 1812 Page 6

national hero. E. Treaty of Ghent (1814) 1. status quo ante bellum 2. said nothing about impressment or neutral rights 3. Established a commission to settle the U.S.-Canadian border VI. The War of 1812 was a "second War of Independence" A. Led to eventually friendlier relations with Great Britain B. Rush-Bagot Agreement (1817) led to demilitarization of the U.S.-Canadian border C. Other agreements restored most U.S. trading rights with Great Britain, provided for joint rule of Oregon, and for fishing rights for Americans off Labrador and Newfoundland.