Chapter 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824.

Chapter 12The Second War for

Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism,

1812–1824

I. On to Canada over Land and Lakes

• War of 1812:• The regular army was ill-trained, ill-disciplined, and

widely scattered• It had to be supplemented by even more poorly

trained militias• Some ranking generals wee semi-senile heirlooms

from the Revolutionary War.

– Canada:• Important battleground because British forces were

weakest there (see Map 12.1)

I. On to Canada over Land and Lakes (cont.)

– Canada:• Americas’ offensive strategy was poorly conceived• Missed by not capturing Montreal• Instead led a three-pronged invasion• The trio of invading forces that set out for Detroit,

Niagara, and Lake Champlain were all beaten back after crossing the Canadian border.

– By contrast:• British and Canadians displayed great energy• Early they captured American fort Michilimackinac


– By contrast:• Their defensive operations were led by British

general Isaac Brock, assisted by “General Mud” and “General Confusion.”

– Americans looked for success on the water:• Man for man and ship for ship was best• The American navy did much better than the army• American craft were better than British ships• The American frigates, notably the Constitution


• Control of the Great Lakes was vital:– Energetic American naval officer Oliver Hazard

Perry managed to built a great fleet– Perry’s victory and his slogan infused new life

into the drooping American cause– The redcoats were forced from Detroit and Fort

Malden and beaten at the Battle of Thames in October 1813


• Despite successes, the Americans by late 1814 were far from invading Canada:– Thousands of Britain’s redcoat veterans began to

pour into Canada from the Continent– Assembling 10,000 troops, the British prepared

for war in 1814 against New York, along lake-river route.

– Absence of roads; the invaders were forced to bring supplies over Lake Champlain waterway


• American fleet, commanded by Thomas Macdonough, challenged the British:– The battle was desperately fought near

Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814– The results of this heroic naval battle were

momentous:• The British army was forced to retreat• Macdonough saved upper New York from conquest

– He affected the concurrent negotiations of the Anglo-American peace treaty in Europe.

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II. Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended

• A second British force of 4000 landed in the Chesapeake Bay area in August 1814:– Onward to Washington some 6000 militiamen

were dispersed at Bladensburg– They set on fire public buildings, the Capitol and

the White House– While the White House burned, the Americans

at Baltimore held firm– The British fleet hammered Fort McHenry

II. Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended (cont.)

• Francis Scott Key, a detained American, was inspired to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”

• A third British blow of 1814, aimed at New Orleans, menaced the entire Mississippi Valley:

• Andrew Jackson, fresh from victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, was placed in command (see Map 12.5 on p. 241)• His forces were about 7000 various soldiers


• The 8000 British soldiers blundered badly:– They mistakenly launched a frontal assault on

January 8, 1815• The attackers suffered the most devastating defeat of

the entire war• Losing over 2000, killed and wounded in ½ hour• It was an astonishing victory for Jackson and his men.

• News of the American victory in the Battle of New Orleans was great encouragement.


• Andrew Jackson became a national hero.• A peace treaty had been signed at Ghent,

Belgium:• Ending the war two weeks before the battle• The United States had fought for honor as much as

material gain• The Battle of New Orleans restored that honor• The Royal retaliated by way of a blockade along

America’s coast.

Map 12-1 p226

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III. The Treaty of Ghent

• Tsar Alexander I of Russia proposed mediation between the Anglo-Saxon cousins in early 1812:

• The tsar’s feelers brought 5 American peacemakers to the Belgian city of Ghent in 1814• The group was headed by John Quincy Adams• Confident about their military successes, the British

made demands for a neutralized Indian buffer state in the Great Lake region, control of the Great Lakes, and a substantial port of conquered Maine.

III. The Treaty of Ghent(cont.)

– The American flatly rejected these terms and talks stalemated:• But British reverse in upper New York and Baltimore

made London more willing to compromise• Preoccupied with redrafting Napoleon’s map of

Europe at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) and eyeing still-dangerous France:– The British lion resigned itself to licking its wounds

– The Treaty of Ghent, signed on Christmas Eve, 1814, was essentially an armistice.

IV. Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention

• Some New England extremists proposed secession from the Union:– Or at least a separate peace with Britain– Hartford Convention:• The states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode

Island dispatched full delegations• New Hampshire and Vermont sent partial

representatives• 26 men met in secrecy for 3 weeks—Dec. 15, 1814 to

Jan. 5, 1815—to discuss their grievances.

IV. Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention (cont.)

• The Hartford Convention was not radical:– The convention’s final report was moderate• It demanded financial assistance from Washington to

compensate for lost trade• And proposed constitutional amendments requiring a

2/3 vote in Congress before an embargo could be imposed, new states admitted, or war declared• Most demands reflected Federalist fears• Delegates sought to abolish the 3/5 clause • To limit presidents to a single term

IV. Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention (cont.)• To prohibit the election of two successive presidents

from the same state– this was aimed at Virginia and the “Virginia dynasty”

– Three special envoys from Massachusetts carried these demands to Washington:• The Harford Convention was the death of the

Federalist party• The Federalists were never again to mount a

successful presidential campaign (see Map 12.2)

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Map 12-2 p229

V. The Second War for American Independence

• The War of 1812:– Was a small war, involving 6000 Americans killed

or wounded– If the American conflict was globally

unimportant, it had huge consequences for the United States:• Other nations developed a new respect for America’s

fighting prowess• Naval officers like Perry and Macdonough were the

most effective type of negotiators

V. The Second War for American Independence (cont.)

– In a diplomatic sense, if not in a military sense, the conflict could be called the Second War for American Independence:• Sectionalism was dealt a black eye• The most conspicuous casualty of the war was the

Federalist party• War heroes emerged—Andrew Jackson and William

Henry Harrison—both to later become president• The Indians were forced to make terms as they could

V. The Second War for American Independence (cont.)

• In both an economic and a diplomatic sense, the War of 1812 bred greater American independence.

– Canadian patriotism and nationalism received a powerful stimulus from the war:• Many Canadians felt betrayed by the Treaty of Ghent

– They were aggrieved by the failure to secure an Indian buffer state or even mastery of the Great Lakes

– In 1817 the Rush-Bagot agreement between Britain and the United States severely limited naval armament on the lakes.

– Border fortifications came down and the United States and Canada came to share the world’s longest unfortified boundary—5527 miles long.

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VI. Nascent Nationalism

– The most impressive by-product of the War of 1812 was a heightened nationalism—the spirit of nation-consciousness or national oneness:• American may not have fought the war as one nation,

but it emerged as one nation• Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper

attained international fame as the nation’s first writers• A revised Bank of the United States was voted by

Congress in 1816• A new national capital began to rise in Washington

VI. Nascent Nationalism(cont.)

• The army was expanded to ten thousand men• The navy further covered itself with victory in 1815

when it beat the piratical plunderers of North Africa

VII. “The American System”

• Nationalism manifested itself in manufacturing:– Patriotic Americans took pride in their factories– The British were seeking to crush Yankee

factories in the marketplace• Tariff of 1816—Congress passed the first tariff

– It was primarily for protection, not revenue– Its rates were roughly 20 to 25% of the value of dutiable

imports– A high protective trend was started.

VII. “The American System”(cont.)

– Nationalism was further highlighted by a plan of Henry Clay for developing a profitable home market:• The American System:

– A strong banking system—provide easy and abundant credit

– Revenue from the tariff of eastern manufacturing– A network of roads and canals, especially in Ohio, that

would met the outcry for better transportation.

• Federal funding was major issue for Republican constitutional scruples.

VI. “The American System”(cont.)

• Congress voted in 1817 to distribute $1.5 million to the states for internal improvements:– President Madison sternly vetoed this handout measure as

unconstitutional– Individual states had to venture on their own for

construction programs, including the Erie Canal, which was triumphantly completed in 1825

– Jeffersonian-Republicans choked on the idea of direct federal support for intrastate internal improvements

– New England particularly strongly opposed it because it would further drain away population and create competing states beyond the mountains

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VIII. The So-Called Era of Good Feelings

• James Monroe was nominated for the presidency in 1816:– Last time a Federalist would run– Monroe had experience, levelheaded executive– Emerging nationalism was cemented by a

goodwill tour of Monroe in early 1817– He announced that an “Era of Good Feelings”

had been ushered in.

VIII. The So-Called Era of Good Feelings (cont.)

• Era of Good Feelings:– Considerable tranquility and prosperity did exist

in the early years of Monroe– But it was a troubled one:• Acute issues of the tariff, the bank, internal

improvements, and the sale of public lands were being hotly contested• Sectionalism was crystallizing• Slavery was beginning to raise its hideous head

p233

IX. The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times

• 1819 a paralyzing economic panic descended:– It brought deflation, depression bankruptcies,

bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and overcrowded pesthouses—debtor’s prisons

– Factors contributing to the catastrophe:• Large issue was the overspeculation of frontier land• West especially hard hit by the Bank of the United

States, forced the speculative (“wildcat”) western banks to the wall and foreclosed mortgages on farms

IX. The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times (cont.)

• Panic of 1819:– Hit the poorer classes hard– Hard times directed attention to the inhumanity

of imprisoning debtors– Mounting agitation against imprisonment for

debt bore fruit in remedial legislation in an increasing number of states

X. Growing Pains of the West

• The West:– Nine frontier states joined the 13 original

between 1791 and 1819– To keep the balance between North and South:• They were admitted alternately, free and slave (See Admission of States in the Appendix.) There was a continuation of the generation-old

westward movement• Also because the land was cheap

X. Growing Pains of the West(cont.)

• Other causes of the growing West:• Eager newcomers from abroad• Acute economic distress during the embargo years• The crushing of the Indians in the Northwest and

South by Generals Harrison and Jackson• The building of highways improved the land routes to

the Ohio Valley-the Cumberland Road in 1811• The use of the first steamboat on western waters• 1811 heralded a new era of upstream navigation

X. Growing Pains of the West(cont.)

• The west was still weak in population and influence:– Allies demanded cheap acreage– The Land Act of 1820:

• Authorized a buyer to purchase 80 virgin acres at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash

– The West demanded cheap transportation and slowly received it• (see “Makers of America: Settlers of the Old Northwest,”

(pp. 236-237).

XI. Slavery and the Sectional Balance

• Sectional tensions were revealed in 1819:• Missouri was asking Congress for statehood:– Tallmadge amendment—• No more slaves could be brought to Missouri:• Provided for the gradual emancipation of children

born to slave parents already there• A roar of anger burst from slaveholding Southerners:

– Southern saw the Tallmadge amendment as a threat to sectional balance.

– The future of the slave system caused profound concern.

XI. Slavery and the Sectional Balance (cont.)

• If Congress could abolish the peculiar institution in Missouri, it might attempt it in the older states of the South.

• Other issues were political and economic balance:– Northerners seized the occasion to raise an

outcry against the evil of slavery and determined not to spread it further into the untainted territories.

p234

XII. The Uneasy Missouri Compromise

• Deadlock in Washington was broken by three compromises:– Henry Clay played a leading role:• First, Congress decided to admit Missouri as a slave

state and at the same time admit Maine as free state• The balance between the North and South remained

for fifteen years• All future bondage was prohibited north of the line of

36 30’—the southern boundary of Missouri (see Map 12.3).

XII. The Uneasy Missouri Compromise (cont.)

• The Missouri Compromise lasted 34 years:– A vital formative period in the life of the young

Republic, at the same time, preserving the compact of the states

– The Missouri Compromise and concurrent panic of 1819 should have dampened the Era of Good Feeling• But James Monroe received every electoral vote

except one—unanimity still an honor for George Washington.

Map 12-3 p235

p236

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XIII. John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism

• The Supreme Court continued nationalism:• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) bolstered the power of

the federal government at the expense of the states– The suit involved an attempt by the State of Maryland to

destroy a branch of the Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on its notes.

– John Marshall declared the bank constitutional by invoking the Hamiltonian doctrine of implied power (see p. 185).

– He strengthened federal authority when he denied the right of Maryland to tax the bank.

– Gave the doctrine of loose construction its most famous formulation.

XIII. John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism (cont.)

• The Cohens v. Virginia (1821):– This gave Marshall the greatest opportunities to

defend the federal power• Cohen brothers found guilty by the Virginia courts of

illegally selling lottery tickets, they appealed to the highest tribunal• Virginia won since the conviction was upheld

– In fact Virginia and all others states lose, since Marshall asserted the right of the Supreme Court to review all decisions of state courts in all questions involving powers of the federal government.

XIII. John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism (cont.)

• The Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)– Grew out of an attempt by the State of New York

to grant to a private concern a monopoly of waterborne commerce between New York and New Jersey• Marshall sternly reminded the upstart state that the

Constitution conferred on Congress alone the control of interstate commerce (see Art. I, Sec. VIII, Para. 3).• He struck a blow at states’ rights while upholding the

sovereign powers of the federal government.

XIV. Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses

• Marshall’s decisions bolstered judicial barriers against democratic or demagogic attacks on property rights:

• The 1810 notorious case of Fletcher v. Peck:• A Georgia legislature granted 35 million acres in the

Yazoo River country (Mississippi) to private speculators:• The next legislature canceled the transaction.

– The Supreme Court decreed that the legislative grant was a contract (even though fraudulently secured).

XIV. Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses (cont.)

– And that the Constitution forbid state law “impairing” contracts (Art. I. Sec. X, para. 1)

– It further protected property rights against popular pressures

• It asserted the right of the Supreme Court to invalidate state laws conflicting with the federal Constitution.

• Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819):– Best remembered of Marshall’s decisions


• Dartmouth College v. Woodward (cont.):– Dartmouth appealed the case, employing Daniel

Webster (‘01 alumnus)• Marshall ruled that the original charter must stand• It was a contract—and the Constitution protected

contracts against state encroachments• The Dartmouth decision safeguarded business

enterprise from domination by the state governments• It created a problem that in the future chartered

corporations to escape needed public control


– If John Marshall was a Molding Father of the Constitution, Daniel Webster was an Expounding Father.• Webster expounded his Federalistic and nationalistic

philosophy, challenged states’ rights and nullification.• Marshall decisions are felt even today:– His sense of nationalism was the most tenaciously enduring

of the era.– He buttressed the federal Union and helped to create a

stable nationally uniform environment for business:– And checked the excesses of popularly elected state

legislatures.

XIV. Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses (cont.)• John Marshall’s contributions:

– Marshall almost single-handedly shaped the Constitution along conservative, centralizing lines that ran counter to the dominant spirit of the new country

– Through him the conservative Hamiltonians partly triumphed from the tomb

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XV. Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida

• Anglo-American Convention (1818):– It permitted Americans to share Newfoundland

fisheries with Canadians– It fixed the vague northern limits of Louisiana along

the 49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods (Minn.) to the Rocky Mountains (see Map 12.4)

– It provided for a ten-year joint occupation of the untamed Oregon Country, without a surrender of the rights or claims of either America or Britain.

XV. Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida (cont.)

• Semitropical Spanish Florida:– Americans already claimed West Florida, ratified

by Congress in 1812:• The bulk of Florida remained under Spanish rule (see

Map 12.5)• Uprising in South America forced Spain to remove her

troops from Florida to assist the rebels• Jackson secured a commission to enter Spanish

territory

XV. Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida (cont.)

• Jackson swept across Florida taking revenge against the Indians and those who assisted them• Jackson had exceeded his instruction• Monroe consulted with his cabinet and all wanted to

discipline overzealous Jackson, except John Quincy Adams

• Florida Purchase Treaty (1819):– Also known as the Adams-Onis Treaty:• Spain ceded Florida and shadowy Spanish claims to

Oregon, in exchange for abandonment of Texas.

Map 12-4 p240

Map 12-5 p240

p241

XVI. The Menace of Monarchy in America

• Autocrats of Europe:– Stated that the world must be made safe from

democracy – They smothered the embers of rebellions in Italy

(1821) and in Spain (1823)– Americans were alarmed• If Europeans interfered in the New World, the cause

of Republicanism would suffer irreparable harm • The physical security of the United States, the mother

of democracy, would be endangered

XVI. The Menace of Monarchy inAmerica (cont.)

• Russia push from Alaska had begun when the tsar in 1821 issued a degree extending Russian jurisdiction over 100 miles of the open sea to the 51st degree, an area that included most of present-day British Columbia• Russia already had trading posts as far south as San

Francisco Bay• Fear among Americans was that Russia would cut

California from the Republic and have a prospective window on the Pacific.

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XVII. Monroe and His Doctrine

• England, under foreign minister George Canning (August 1823), wanted the United States to join in a joint territorial integrity of the New World– A self-denying alliance with Britain would

hamper American expansion, concluded Adams, and it was unnecessary• He suspected correctly

XVII. Monroe and His Doctrine(cont.)

• The Monroe Doctrine 1823:– In his annual message to Congress Dec. 12,

Monroe incorporated a stern warning to the European powers:• It had two basic features: (1) colonization and (2)

nonintervention:– Aimed at Russia’s advancement in the Northwest, he

proclaimed that the era of colonization had ended– He warned against foreign intervention, especially in the

South

• The European powers were deeply offended

XVIII. Monroe’s Doctrine Appraised

• Russo-American Treaty (1824):– Russia had already retreated– The treaty fixed Russia’s southern line at 54

40’—the present southern tip of Alaska panhandle (see Map 12.6)

• The Monroe Doctrine might more accurately be called the Self-Defense Doctrine:– Monroe was basically concerned about the

security of his own country, not Latin America

XVIII. Monroe’s Doctrine Appraised (cont.)

– The United States never permitted a powerful foreign nation to secure a foothold in her territory:• The Monroe Doctrine has never been greater than

America’s power to eject the trespasser• It was never law—domestic or international• It was merely a simple, personalized statement of the

policy of President Monroe• But it was largely an expression of the post-1812

nationalism energizing the United States

Map 12-6 p243

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Chapter 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824.

Documents

british fleet

british army

american fleet

british forces

invading canada

british ships

british blow

lakes war