Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815

The War of 1812 was a very strange episode and was essentially a part of the ongoing war between Britain and France.

The reasons for going to war, as given by the Madison administration, were the impressment of Americans by the Royal Navy and other violations of American rights in the high seas.

The U.S. was extremely unprepared for the war it had declared.

In 1812 it had fewer than seven thousand regular troops and the navy had only 16 vessels (excluding small gunboats).

Without a central bank, the federal government had trouble raising funds and borrowing money to pay for the war.

The declaration of war involved two main ironies: the first being that Britain did not want war and had repealed the orders allowing for the seizure of American ships and impressment of American sailors but the news didn’t reach the U.S. in time, and that in Congress those that voted for the war were overwhelmingly from the South and West whereas those from the North, the area most affected by British acts against American shipping, opposed the war.

The support and aims of the war are still unclear given which areas of the country supported the war and which areas opposed it.

While the professed claims for the war were about American rights on the seas, because most of the supporters were from areas of the country least affected by British maritime policy historians have tried finding other reasons for the war.

With much support coming from the West some historians believe it was really a scheme for land hungry Westerners to seize Canada and end British support for Native Americans and connected to this some historians saw an alliance between Western interests (wanting Canada) and Southern interests (wanting Florida).

However the state that supplied the most votes for the war, Pennsylvania, had little interest in the West or Florida.

Whatever the true reasons for the war it’s clear that , given Republican policy, it was inevitable.

The U.S. couldn’t repeal its embargo and still have Americans be impressed on the seas and British actions deeply offended Republican sentiments making it seem as the U.S. wasn’t sovereign and independent.

Making matters more difficult for the administration were political developments at the time.

Madison was not as effective as Jefferson in controlling the Republican Party and Congress and Congress had instituted a committee system to set and supervise policy.

The executive branch became weaker and Madison was left with a cabinet that reflected that.

Almost immediately upon taking office Madison had to try to get the embargo extended, something which he supported.

Instead the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 was passed which allowed the U.S. to trade with every nation except Great Britain and France and gave the president the authority to lift trade restrictions with whichever belligerent lifted their resurrections against the U.S. first.

Many American ships, under the guise of sailing for neutral ports, attempted to trade with the belligerents and with Britain controlling the seas they made sure to be the only belligerent nation that could still receive American goods thus the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 ended up benefiting Britain.

Unable to raise revenues from trade and unwilling to raise internal taxes Madison sought a form of navigation acts.

The first was Macon’s Bill No. 1 which allowed British and French goods to enter American ports so long as it was on American ships but this was defeated by Republicans who wanted war and Federalists who feared the act.

The second was Macon’s Bill No. 2 which opened up trade with Britain and France and stated that if either nation rescinded it’s restrictions on American shipping then the U.S. would reimpose non-intercourse with the other.

The French foreign minister issued an ambiguous letter stating Napoleon would lift commercial restrictions if the U.S. first reintroduced non-intercourse with Britain (not the process required by Macon’s Bill No. 2) Madison pushed forward accepting the proposal in the hopes it would pressure Britain to make a deal.

Madison’s plan didn’t work, especially considering France continued to seize American shipping and Britain, seeing this, refused to lift restrictions so now war seemed inevitable.

Leading up to the war as Republican diplomacy failed and Americans felt as if their sovereignty and honor were at stake any actions seen as Anglophilic were viewed as a threat.

Thus Federalists were seen as dangerous especially as rumors of New England possibly seceding spread.

In this environment the war was seen as an act to not only save republicanism, American honor, and American sovereignty, but also to save the country.

Because the war was to be fought to save republicanism the war had to respect republican principles.

With the republican fear of large standing armies Republicans debated in 1810 on whether or not it would be best to reduce the size and expense of the army (if not get rid of it) while simultaneously arguing about reducing the size of the navy (if not get rid of it) because it was hopeless to try to fight the Royal Navy.

Ultimately Congress decided to just reduce the size of both military branches.

The election of War Hawks to the Twelfth Congress in 1810 led to the eventual addition of 25,000 regular troops to the army and the authorization for the president to call into service 100,000 members of the states’ militias.

Congress still agreed that expanding the navy was hopeless.

The buildup of the army would never really come to pass as there were about 6,700 soldiers at the start of the war in June 1812 and a little less than 10,000 in November 1812 which was 10 months after the expansion to 25,000 soldiers was authorized by Congress.

Additionally the officers corp was largely unprepared and many individuals declined their commissions or left service shortly after joining.

Congress and the country was ill-prepared for the war in other ways not involving preparing the military.

Congress wanted to go home for spring recess in 1812 as the U.S. was on the brink of war and even though the recess was denied many went home anyways making it difficult to gather a quorum.

The War Department was severely understaffed and Republicans opposed a bill which would provide two assistant secretaries of war.

For many Americans the war provided and opportunity to deal with the Indians in the Northwest.

The Shawnee chief Tecumseh and his half brother Tenskwatawa (known as the Prophet) had since 1805 attempted to build a confederacy of tribes to push back against white settlers.

Fearing a widespread conspiracy William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, set out with federal troops and volunteers to destroy Prophet’s Town in what became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

Even after Tippecanoe fears of the Indians were still widespread and so not surprisingly an invasion of Canada became a main focus of the War of 1812.

The plans for invasion involved three prongs focussing on Detroit, Niagara, and Montreal but the invasions were defeated not really due to British and Canadian resistance but mostly due to American incompetence.

At the end up the campaign the U.S. had lost control of key forts including Detroit and Dearborn (modern day Chicago).

Initial battles on land may not have gone well in 1812 but the U.S, did have a surprising string of victories at sea which, while not having a major strategic impact did boost morale, helped to convince Congress to invest in shipbuilding, and potentially helped Madison win reelection.

In 1813 with Britain controlling U.S. territory and having successfully defended Canada Republicans had to let go of some of their philosophical scruples due to the exigencies of war.

Building of new ships were authorized, expansion of the army by 22,000 and pay raises for the troops were authorized, and new internal taxes were levied.

1813 also saw the U.S. focus on controlling the Great Lakes as that had been a major reason for the failure of the invasion of Canada a year prior.

Fighting over control of Lake Ontario was deadlocked though it did see the U.S. plunder and burn York (present day Toronto) and capital of Upper Canada.

Fighting over control of Lake Erie went much better for the U.S. and their defeat over the Royal Navy there made British forces in the Michigan Territory required to withdraw to Canada with their Indian allies.

The Americans pursued them and ended up killing Tecumseh in the Battle of The Thames

Another aspect of the War of 1812 was the war against the Creeks in the South.

Tecumseh had made inroads with Creeks known as Res Sticks who clashed with the U.S. as Americans annexed most of West Florida in 1810 and the remaining piece, the district of Mobile, during 1813.

After a massacre of Americans at Fort Mims in 1813 and several inconclusive battles Andrew Jackson was able to defeat the Creeks and forced them to sign a treaty forfeiting 22 million acres of land even though this went against instructions from Washington.

When Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 the British were now able to dedicate more resources to North America and set out to invade the U.S.

British forces invaded New York from Canada but had to withdraw after the U.S. navy gained control of Lake Champlain.

The British were more successful invading the Chesapeake and burned Washington D.C. but were unable to take Fort McHenry at Baltimore and had to withdraw from the Chesapeake as well.

While the U.S. was able to push back the British invasions in 1814 all was not well for the U.S.

The U.S. was unable to borrow money to finance the war and ended up defaulting in 1814.

Growing opposition in New England to the war threatened not only the war effort but the Union.

Radical Federalists talked of making peace with Great Britain and seceding from the Union and even moderate Federalists, meeting in a secret convention in Hartford, proposed new amendments to the Constitution and condemned the Republicans for the war and their leadership.

The report from the convention would not arrive in Washington until after the peace treaty had been signed and sealed the fate of Federalists who were now widely seen as traitors.

The war ended with a peace treaty signed on December 24, 1814 that restored the status quo ante bellum.

News of the peace didn’t reach the U.S. in time to keep fighting from breaking out in New Orleans as Andrew Jackson decisively defeated the British there.

The peace treaty along with Jackson’s victory thoroughly discredited the Federalist Hartford Convention.

While the War of 1812 was officially over the U.S. still had fights to focus on.

In March 1815, Congress declared war on Algiers due to the Barbary States continuing to attack American shipping while the U.S. was preoccupied with fighting Great Britain.

Algeria capitulated and signed a treaty with the U.S. and Tunis and Tripoli soon followed.

The U.S. demanded not just the release of American prisoners but all foreign prisoners which did a great deal to paint the Americans as a force for good on the international stage.

While the Treaty of Ghent made no mention of impressment the point was moot given the Europeans were no longer at war and attacking neutral shipping and as such the Americans were able to credibly view the outcome of the war as an American victory cementing their sovereignty and republicanism.

Madison came out of the war extremely popular.

Though he was very sanguine about the disasters and setbacks the U.S. faced, like the burning of the capital, he did not given up on his republican principles.

He sought to influence Congress but not control it, did not use patronage to win influence, and there weren’t any trials for treason or prosecutions for libel.