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The War of 1812
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President Madison Takes Office
War had not started but tension between countries began when James Madison became president. America was angry at Britain for giving Native Americans in the Northwest weapons. They were angry that the British were impressing American sailors. -
War Hawks Take Power
John C. Calhoun of S.C and Henry Clay of of Kentucky became leaders of the House of Representatives. Clay and Calhooun were both war hawks. One issue, England did not want war. They did not because their opinion was that it would hurt trade. -
Relations with Great Britain Worsen
The British threatened that they would not stop imppressing American sailors. Things were not looking all so good with the Native Americans either. Native Americans in the Northwest were attacking frontier settlements. There is only one thing these conflicts can lead to. -
Congress Declares War on Britain
Great Britain was finally starting to get on America's nerves. Some Americans did want to go to war with Britain some did not. Congress finally made the tough decision that they are hoping not to regret, declare war on Britain. -
America Isn't Ready For War
America had a poor military because of Thomas Jeffersons spending cuts. America's navy had only 16 warships ready to fight. Their army was small (7,000 men). Clearly, America was not ready for war after all. -
Britain Blockades American Ports
On the American coast Britain placed a blockade. By 1814 the British navy had 135 warships blockading American ports and by the end of the war they had closed off all the ports. Turns out, New Englanders were right after all. -
Invasion of Canada
General William Hull led an invasion of American troops from Detroit to Canada. They soon withdrew. When they did British Commander, General Isaac Brock took his army and surrounded General Hull and his men. They were forced to concede. The British seized 2,000 American soldiers. -
USS Constitution Scores a Victory
In the North Atlantic Ocean two ships closed in on eachother for around an hour and one of those ships was American. The American ship was later named the Constitution and the other ship was called the Guerriere. The Constitution had the first shot and it's fire damaged the Guerriere's masts. Then the Guerriere fired, the cannonball just bounced off the Constitution. That is why the American ship was later named the Constitution, because the Americans thought of it as powerful and indestructable -
Battle of Lake Erie
The Battle of Lake Erie was on they western side of Put-in-Bay. Commander Oliver Hazard Perry's flagships were badly damaged during the battle. He ended up switching shipsbecause of it. Perry ended up getting us an American victory. The fight was lasted around three hours. -
Battle of Horseshoe Bend
Creek warriors attacked many southern American settlements. In Georgia, Andrew Jackson took control of American forces. Jackson beat the Creeks who were then forced to give up millions of acres of land. -
Washington DC Attacked and Burned
A British force hiked up to Washington and set fire to many government buildings including the White House. James Madison was president at the time and his wife was Dolley Madison. She grabbed his most imported papers and ran. On her way out Dolley grabbed a famous painting of George Washington. Today the painting could be found in a museum. -
Writing of the Star Spangled Banner
British warships bombarded Fort Mchenry, Baltimore. Francis Scott Key was there to watch the entire scene. After a whole night of attacking, in the morning Key looked up and noticed that the American flag was still hanging and waving proudly. He then wrote a poem about his observations and named it the, "Star Spangled Banner." The poem soon got its own music and became well known to people. In 1931, the Star Spangled Banner became the National Anthem decided by Congress. -
Hartford Convention
Federalists met in Hartford, Conneticut and spoke about New Englanders withdrawing from the U.S. New Englanders had been complaining about war since the moment it started. They disliked war because of how it hurt trade. The Hartford Convention quickly ended when they saw the Treaty of Ghent. -
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent was the treaty that officially ended war. In Ghent, Belgium talks about peace started. On Christmas Eve, Great Britian and America signed the treaty. It took many weeks for the news of the peace to reach America. So by then, America had fought and won another amazing battle. -
Battle of New Orleans
Since, back in the 1800's there was not many ways for different countries to communicate with eachother, The Treaty of Ghent took several weeks to reach American people. They didn't know at the time but the war was actually over. General Andrew Jackson defeated the British yet again.
