-
Period: to
President Madison Takes Office
-
President Madison Takes Office
*Tension with Britain was high.
*To most American's the country's honor was at stake.
*They felt a new sense of American nationalism.
*Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C. Callahoun of South Carolina, became leaders in the House of Representitives.
*Clay,Callahoun, and their supporters were called war hawks. -
War Hawks Take Power
*War Hawks had a strong sense of nationalism.
*War Hawks felt that Britain still thought that they owned us as a British colony.
*One of the biggest War Hawks was Henry Clay of Kentucky.
*If the War Hawks captured Florida from Spain they would have another advantage.
*Britain and Spain were ally's. -
Relations with Great Britain
*In the Spring, the British told the United States they would continue impressing sailors.
*Native Americans started new attacks on frontier settlements in the Northwest.
*In June, Congress declared war.
*Britain was still at war in Europe.
*Britain was not willing to meet American demands to avoid war. -
Congress Declares War on Britain
*President Madison gave into declaring war.
*Madison asked Congress to Declare war.
*The House voted 79 to 49 in favor of war.
*The Senate vote was 19 to13.
*The Americans realized winning is harder than declaring. -
America is not Ready for War
*The American Declaration of war took the British by surprise.
*Britain was locked in a bitter struggle with Napoleon.
*They could not spare troops to fight the U.S.
*The U.S. was not ready for war either.
*The navy only had 16 ships to fight against the British fleet.
*The army was small and ill equipped. -
Britain Blockades American Ports
*In the first days of war, the British set a blockade of the American coast.
*A blockade- is 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.
*After reinforcing their troops, the British were able to close off all American ports by war's end.
*The small Amrican navy was unable to break the blockade. -
Invasion of Canada
*American troops under General William Hull invaded Canada from Detroit.
*Hull feared he did not have enough soldiers, he soon retreated.
*The British commander, General Isaac Brock, took advantage of Hull's confusion.
*His army of British soldiers and Native American warriors quickly surrounded Hull's army and forced it to surrender.
*More than 2,000 American soldiers were captured.
*Britain won giving America a serious defeat. -
USS Constitution Scores a Victory
*The Constitution was sailing close to Newfoundland and the Captain saw the Guerie`re.
*The Gurie`re was the British ship.
*The Constitutions captain was Isaac Hull.
*For about an hour fought for position.
*The mainmast of the Gurie`re was gone when the smoke cleared. -
Battle of Lake Erie
*The Ameicans set out to take control of Lake Erie.
*Oliver Hazard Perry was their captain.
*They designed and built their own ships.
*They sailed as a tiny fleet against the British.
*British battered Perry's own ship and left it helpless.
*The American's won. -
Battle of Thames
*After losing control of Lake Erie the British and their ally Tecumseh retreated from Detroit to Canada.
*General William Henry Harrison pursued them.
*General William Henry Harrison was a veteran of Tippecanoe.
*Tecumseh died in the fighting. -
Horseshoe Bend
*Tecumseh's allies in the South fought against settlers.
*Andrew Jackson took command of American troops in the creek war.
*Andrew Jackson was a Tennessee officer.
*With the help of the Cherokees, Jackson won a crushing victory.
*Leader of the Creeks surrendered and once again, Native Americans had to give up land to whites. -
Washington, D.C. Attacked and Burned
*Britain's new strategy was o attack America's capital.
*Dolley Madison, the Presidents wife, gathered up the President's important papers and fled the White House.
*The British set fire to several government buildings, including the White House.
*The American army could not defend Washington.
*The Americans were all shocked. -
Attack on Baltimore
*The British moved on to Baltimore.
*Their first objective was Fort McHenry.
*Fort McHenry defended the city's harbor.
*Throughout the night British Warships Bombarded the fort, Key watched the attack.
*On the back of an old envelope Francis Scott Key wrote a poem called "The Star Spanngled Banner."
*It told the story of his night's watch. -
Writing of The Star Spangled Banner
*The "Star Spangled Banner" was originally a poem.
*Francis Scott Key witnessed the battle and wrote a poem about it.
*"The Star Spangled Banner" was set to music.
*So the United States adopted it as the national anthem of the United States.
*In early morning of September 14, 1814 after the fog had cleared they could still see the "broad stripes and bright stars" of the American flag. -
Hartford Convention
*A group of Federalists met in Hartford, Connecticut.
*Some delegates to the Hartford Convention suggested that the New England states secede from the United States.
*Delegates debated while news of the peace treaty arrived.
*When the war ended so did the convention.
*To some Americans, the War of 1812 was the "Second War of Independence." -
Treaty of Ghent
*The Treaty of Ghent was signed in the city of Ghent, Beligum.
*John Quincy Adams was one American in Ghent.
*Adams summed up the treaty in one sentence.
*The one sentence summary was "Nothing was adjusted,
nothing was settled."
*The treaty said nothing about impressment or newtrality. -
Battle of New Orleans
*Again and again, British soldiers marched toward the American trenches.
*More than 2,000 British fell under the deadly fire of American sharpshooters and cannons.
*Only 7 Americans died.
*American soldiers dug trenches to defend themselves.
*Americans won the Battle of New Orleans.
