Jefferson and the War of 1812

1. Jefferson and the War of 1812

2. Thomas Jefferson • Although Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) 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.

3. 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.

4. The failed Embargo Act was repealed in March 1809 and replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act.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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. WAR !! • "Mr. Madison's War" • "The Second American Revolution." • June 18, 1812

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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."

13. August 24-25, 1814 - The British burn Washington, D.C. and Madison flees the White House.

14. 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.

16. 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

17. 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.

19. 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.