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Jefferson and the
War of 1812
Thomas Jefferson
 Although Thomas
Jefferson (17431826) had already
retired from
politics by the time
the war began,
policies that
developed during
his presidential
term influenced the
timing and the
outcome of the
war.
 In the early 1800’s, U.S. trading ships were
caught in the crossfire between the British and
French. Americans were outraged when U.S.
ships were seized and American sailors were
impressed. Jefferson's administration retaliated
with the Embargo Act in 1807. Congress agreed
to close American ports to foreign goods and
kept American ships in ports. This hurt England,
France, and American merchants most of all.
 The failed Embargo
Act was repealed in
March 1809 and
replaced with the
Non-Intercourse
Act. This new act did
not allow trade with
England and France,
but allowed for
trade with all other
nations.
 Various American,
English, and French
laws, embargos, and
seizures continued.
James Madison 1808
 During the first year of Madison's
Presidency, the United States
prohibited trade with both Britain
and France; then in May, 1810,
Congress authorized trade with
both, if either nation would respect
American neutrality then we would
only trade with that nation.
 France’s Napoleon pretended to
comply. Late in 1810, Madison
stopped trade with Great Britain. In
Congress some were demanding
war. A group including John C.
Calhoun and Kentucky’s Henry Clay,
were called the "War Hawks," and
they pressured the President to go
to war.
 In America there was also fighting breaking out with Native
Americans who were supplied with guns and ammunition by
the British. This also caused worsening relations with England.
 The British impressment of American sailors and the seizure of
cargoes impelled Madison to give in to the pressure. On June
1, 1812, he asked Congress to declare war.
WAR !!
 "Mr. Madison's War"
 "The Second American Revolution."
 June 18, 1812
 Despite losing to George
Washington and the
American revolutionaries
twenty-five years earlier,
England did not take the
United States that
seriously.
 U.S. forces were not
ready for war. The Navy
and Army were both
small and untrained. The
powerful British Navy
kept American ports
blockaded. Some small
naval victories made
Americans proud but did
little to win the war.
Conquer Canada ?
 American hopes of conquering Canada
collapsed in the campaigns of 1812 and 1813.
 The plan called for a three-pronged attack
across Canada. The attacks were
uncoordinated and all failed. American
attempts to invade Canada in 1813 were again
mostly unsuccessful.
 The Americans won control of the Detroit
frontier region when Oliver Hazard PERRY's
ships destroyed the British fleet on Lake Erie
(Sept. 10, 1813). This victory forced the
British to retreat eastward, and on Oct. 5,
1813, they were defeated by an American
army under the command of Gen. William
Henry HARRISON. In this battle the great
Shawnee chief TECUMSEH was killed while
fighting on the British side.
TECUMSEH – Shawnee who helped unite
Indians to aid the British in the War of 1812
Captain Oliver Hazard Perry
The first to defeat an entire
British squadron and bring back
every ship to his base as a prize
of war.
Gen. William Henry Harrison
Defeated British and killed Tecumseh. Elected as
9th President but before he had been in office a
month, he caught pneumonia. On April 4, 1841,
he died--the first President to die in office
Final Battles
 The British and their Indian
allies continued to fight in the
South. General Andrew
Jackson and Cherokee allies
defeated the Creek Indians at
the Battle of Horseshoe bend.
 In Europe, the English
defeated Napoleon and sent
more troops and ships to
America.
 The British appeared near success in the late
summer of 1814. American resistance was so
weak that the
British
marched
into
Washington, D.C., and burned most of the
public buildings. President Madison had to
flee into the countryside. The British then
turned to attack Baltimore but retreated after
they met stiffer resistance and the American
defense of FORT MCHENRY, which inspired
Francis Scott KEY to write the words of the
"Star-Spangled Banner."
August 24-25, 1814 - The British burn
Washington, D.C. and Madison flees the
White House.
Battle of New Orleans
 Major General Andrew
Jackson led United
States forces in the
Gulf campaign against
Britain. An ardent
expansionist and
charismatic leader,
Jackson inspired his
men and the local
populace to fight and
defeat the British.
 In addition to his regular U.S. Army units,
Jackson counted on dandy New Orleans
militia, a sizable number of black former
Haitian slaves fighting as free men of color,
Kentucky and Tennessee frontiersmen armed
with deadly long rifles and a colorful band of
outlaws led by the pirate Jean Lafitte. This
hodgepodge of 4,000 soldiers, crammed
behind narrow fortifications, faced more than
twice their number of trained British soldiers.
 The main British columns had no choice but to
advance across the open fields toward the
Americans, who waited expectantly behind
their mud and cotton-bale barricades
 The British made perfect targets as they marched
across a quarter mile of open ground. Hardened
veterans of the wars in Spain fell by the score.
Both senior British generals were shot early in the
battle, and the commander himself suffered two
wounds before a shell severed an artery in his
leg, killing him in minutes. His successor wisely
disobeyed dying instructions to continue the
attack and retreated. More than 2,000 British had
been killed or wounded and several hundred more
were captured. The American loss was eight killed
and 13 wounded.
 Jackson's victory had saved New Orleans, but it
came after the war was over. The Treaty of Ghent,
which ended the War of 1812 had been signed in
Europe weeks before the Battle of New Orleans.
Treaty of Ghent
 The Treaty of Ghent, in effect, meant that
thousands of people had died for nothing:
nobody won the war of 1812. The United
States, though it achieved none of its stated
war aims, did achieve the less openly stated
aim of pushing the native Americans off their
lands, which were now open for white
settlement.
 The resounding defeat of the British at New
Orleans ended any question of America
rejoining Britain and established American
Independence, power, and strength.
 The victory also catapulted Andrew Jackson
into the White House as our 7th President.