US History/Contents/War, Nationalism, and Division
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[edit] The War of 1812
[edit] Precursors to the War
By the time James Madison took office as president in 1809, the U.S. was still a young nation. Though the war for independence was fought and won, culminating in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, problems revolving around U.S. sovereignty continued to be a source of contention between the United States and Great Britain. This was especially true on the American frontier (remember, the British had agreed to recognize all of the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, except for Spanish Florida) and on the high seas, where American sailors were impressed into service in the British Royal Navy, as the British were waging war against Napoleonic France. The reason, ostensibly, for the latter was so the British could find and recover seamen who had defected from the British Navy to join (a relatively easier) life on the High Seas with the Americans. On the former, the British had incited Indians, such as Tecumseh, to aggravate American settlers and even continued to maintain forts on American soil.
The British further angered many Americans with their refusal to recognize U.S. neutrality in Britain's war with France. The British did not want the United States to engage in trade with France, though Americans believed that they had the right to trade with whomever they wished.
In addition, many Americans wanted to push the British Empire off of the North American continent altogether, and to this end, President Madison and his advisers believed a conquest of Canada would be quick and easy, believing that the British would capitulate. Former President Thomas Jefferson himself even stated that "the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent."
[edit] Politics of the War
As was stated above, former President Jefferson and current President Madison, both Democratic-Republicans, supported the war to end British aggravation on both the frontier and the high seas, with the hope of taking over Canada from the British. However, New England Federalists opposed the war, which was driven by Southern and Western desires for more land. The war was highly unpopular in New England because the New England economy relied heavily on trade, especially with Great Britain.
A Declaration of War was passed by Congress by an extremely small margin in the summer of 1812. Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, Prime Minister Spencer Perceval had been shot and killed, putting Lord Liverpool, who wanted to improve relations with the United States, in charge of the government. He repealed the orders of impressment, but by then it was already too late. The war had begun.
[edit] War of 1812
Both sides were rather unprepared to wage a war. The British had few troops in British North America at the time (some 5,000 or so), and meanwhile the British war against Napoleon waged on in continental Europe as the British blockaded most of the European coastline.
The American military was still very much in its infancy compared to the British military. The regular army consisted of some 12,000 men, but the state militias were often unwilling to fight outside state lines (and often retreated when they did). This, combined with some difficult losses early on and the war's high level of unpopularity in New England made the war effort much more difficult than President Madison originally imagined.
[edit] The Atlantic Theater
The British navy was by far the pre-eminent naval force in the world. They dominated the high seas. By contrast, the U.S. Navy was not even 20 years old yet and had a mere 22 vessels. The British plan was to protect its shipping in Canada while blockading major American ports.
However, there were a series of American naval victories on the Atlantic at this early stage of the war. On August 19, the USS Constitution engaged HMS Guerriere. In the midst of the battle, a cannonball fired from Guerriere hit the Constitution's in the side, causing one American seaman to exclaim "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!" The Guerriere, which had been instrumental in enforcing the British blockade, lost decisively. Her crew was brought on board as prisoners. When it was realized that Guerriere could not be salvaged, it was set fire and blown up. When Captain Hull of the USS Constitution reached Boston with the news, joy broke out. In October of the same year, Constitution sailed under Captain William Bainbridge and won another victory off the coast of Brazil against HMS Java, which was also rendered unsalvageable while the Constitution remained unharmed. The USS Constitution won the nickname "Old Ironsides" in some of the first victories against Great Britain on the high seas.
Captain Stephen Decatur, who gained fame during the Barbary War, was also responsible for early naval victories. On October 25, 1812, Captain Decatur, commanding the USS United States, captured the HMS Macedonian. And in January 1813, Captain David Porter sailed the USS Essex into the Pacific to aggravate British shipping in retaliation for harassment of British whaling ships on the American whaling industry. Essex inflicted some $3 million in damages to the British whaling industry before finally being captured off the coast of Chile on March 28, 1814.
Back in on the Atlantic Coast, meanwhile, Sir John Coape Sherbrooke embarked on what was known as the Penobscot Expedition in September 1814 with 500 British sailors off the coast of Maine (then part of Massachusetts), a main hub for smuggling between the British and Americans. During this period, lasting 26 days, Sir Sherbrooke raided and looted several cities and destroyed 17 American vessels, won the Battle of Hampden and occupied Castine for the remainder of the war.
[edit] The Great Lakes/Canadian/Western Theater
[edit] Chesapeake Campaign
[edit] The Southern Theater
Connected to the War of 1812 was the Creek War in the South. The Creeks were supported by the British, and in March 1814, General Andrew Jackson and General John Coffee led a force comprised of about 2,000 Tennessee militiamen, Choctaw, Cherokee, and U.S. regulars in a war against the Creek Indians. Out of 1,000 Creeks, led by Chief Menawa, 800 were killed at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Only 49 of Jackson's forces were killed. Jackson pursued the remaining Creeks until they surrendered.
At the end of the year 1814, General Jackson was on the move again, this time to New Orleans, Louisiana, to defend against invading British forces. In one of the greatest battles of the war, Jackson decisively routed the British forces. The British army took a hit of 1,784 killed; the Americans lost merely 210. The British forces left New Orleans, and the battle propelled General Jackson to hero status, despite the fact that the war was over. Word had not yet reached the combatant forces that a peace had been signed.
[edit] Hartford Convention
New England merchants and shipper had already been upset about the trade policies of the Jefferson administration (Embargo Act of 1807) and the Madison administration (Non-Intercourse Act of 1809), and had wholly opposed going to war with Great Britain in the first place due to the potential damage to New England industry. Thus, the Federalist Party, which had been weakened at the end of the Adams administration, found resurgence in popularity among the citizens of New England states.
With trade illegalized and a British blockade, New England states, particularly Massachusetts and Connecticut, felt the brunt of President Madison's war-time policies. This includes what many New Englanders may have perceived as an attack on their states' sovereignty, as Madison maintained executive control over the military defense of New England rather than allowing governors to take control.
On October 10, 1814, the Massachusetts legislature voted to for delegates from all five New England states to meet on December 15 in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss constitutional amendments pertaining to the interests of New England states.
Twenty-six delegates gathered in Hartford. The meetings were held in secret and no records were kept. The Hartford Convention concluded with a report stating that states had a duty and responsibility to assert their sovereignty over encroaching and unconstitutional federal policy. In addition, a set of proposed Constitutional amendments was established, including:
- Prohibition of trade embargos lasting longer than 60 days;
- 2/3rds majority in Congress for declaration of offensive war, admission of new states, and interdiction of foreign commerce;
- Rescinding 3/5ths representation of slaves (perceived as an advantage to the South);
- One-term limit for the President of the United States; and
- A requirement that each succeeding president be from a different state than his predecessor.
While some delegates may have desired seccession from the Union, no such proposal was adopted by the Convention.
Three commissioners from Massachusetts were sent to Washington, DC, to negotiate these terms in February 1815, but news that the war had ended and of General Jackson's victory at New Orleans preceded them. The act was perceived by many as disloyal, and the commissioners returned to Massachusetts. The Hartford Convention added to the ultimate decline of the Federalist Party.
[edit] Treaty and Aftermath
[edit] Second Barbary War
Following the First Barbary War, the United States focused on the situation developing with Great Britain, giving the pirate states of the Barbary Coast opportunity to not follow the terms of the treaty ending that war. The U.S., not having the military resources to devote to the region, was forced to pay ransoms for the crew. The British expulsion of all U.S. vessels from the Mediterranean during the War of 1812 further emboldened the pirate states, and Umar ben Muhammad, the Dey of Algiers, expelled U.S. Consular Tobias Lear, declaring war on the United States for failing to pay tribute. Again, the situation went unaddressed due to the lack of U.S. military resources in the area.
After the end of the War of 1812, however, the U.S. was able to focus on American interests in North Africa. On March 3, 1815, Congress authorized use of naval force against Algiers, and a force of ten ships was deployed under the commands of Commodores Stephen Decatur, Jr. and William Bainbridge. Decatur's squadron was the first to depart to the Mediterranean on May 20.
Commodore Decatur quickly led the squadron to decisive victories over the Algiers, capturing two Algerian-flagged ships en route to Algiers. By the end of the month of June, Decatur reached Algiers and demanded compensation or threatened the Dey's destruction. The Dey capitulated, and a treaty was signed in which the Algerian ships were returned in exchange for American captors (of which there were approximately ten), several Algerian captors were returned in exchange for several European captors, $10,000 was paid for seized shipping, and guarantees were made to end the tribute payments and grant the United States full shipping rights.
[edit] James Monroe Presidency and The Era of Good Feelings
Opposition to the War of 1812 and the Hartford Convention terminally damaged the Federalists as a viable political party, even portraying the party as traitorous. The last serious Federalist candidate Rufus King ran for the presidency in 1816, losing to James Madison's Secretary of State James Monroe. The party disbanded in 1825.
Indeed following the war, a new wave of nationalism spread across the United States. Previously, citizens of the United States tended to view themselves as citizens of their individual states (i.e. New Yorkers or Georgians) before they viewed themselves as Americans.
The wave of national pride and the lull in partisanship in the wake of defeating the British Empire led to what journalist for Boston's Columbian Sentinal Benjamin Russell perceived to be an Era of Good Feelings as the newly elected President Monroe came through on a good will tour in 1817.
[edit] American System
Riding on the wave of newfound national pride, politicians such as Henry Clay of Kentucky, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and John Q. Adams of Massachusetts, following in Alexander Hamilton's footsteps, pushed an agenda to strengthen and unify the nation. The system, which came to be known as the American System, called for high tariffs to protect American industry and high land prices to generate additional federal revenue. The plan also called for strengthening the nation's infrastructure, such as roads and canals, which would be financed by tariffs and land revenue. The improvements would make trade easier and faster. Finally, the plan called for maintaining the Second Bank of the United States (chartered in 1816 for 20 years) to stabilize the currency and the banking system, as well as the issuance of sovereign credit.
Although portions of the system were adopted (for example, 20-25% taxes on foreign goods, which encouraged consumption of relatively cheaper American goods), others met with roadblocks. Namely, this was true of the infrastructure proposals. The Constitutionality was called into question on whether or not the federal government had such power. Despite this, two major infrastructure achievements were made in the form of the Cumberland Road and the Erie Canal. The Cumberland Road stretched between Baltimore and the Ohio River, facilitating ease of travel and providing a gateway to the West for settlement. The Erie Canal extended from the Hudson River at Albany, New York, to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, thus vastly improving the speed and efficiency of water travel in the northeast.
Opposition to the American System mostly came from the West and the South. Clay argued, however, that the West should support the plan because urban workers in the northeast would be consumers of Western food, and the South should support it because of the market for the manufacture of cotton in northeastern factories. The South, however, strongly opposed tariffs and had a strong market for cotton, anyway.
In short, the American System met with mixed results over the 1810s and 1820s due to various obstacles, but in the end, American industry benefited, and growth ensued.
[edit] Industrial Revolution
[edit] Panic of 1819
Following the War of 1812, in addition to the relative absence of partisanship, the United States experienced a period of economic growth. However, around the same time the partisanship returned to Washington, the U.S. economy began to experience its first major financial crisis. Unlike the downturns of the 1780s and 1790s, this downturn originated primarily in the United States, and caused foreclosures, bank failures, unemployment, and reductions in agricultural and manufacturing output.
[edit] The Missouri Issue
[edit] Monroe Doctrine and Foreign Affairs
On December 2, 1823, President Monroe introduced the most famous aspect of his foreign policy in his State of the Union Address to Congress. The Monroe Doctrine, as it came to be called, stated that any further attempts by European powers to interfere in the affairs of the nations of the Western hemisphere (namely Latin America) would be seen as an act of aggression against the United States, requiring a U.S. response. The Monroe Doctrine came about as a result of U.S. and British fears the Spain would attempt to restore its power over former colonies in Latin America. President Monroe essentially sent notice that America, both North and South, was no longer open to colonization by European powers.
The fact that the U.S. was still a young nation with very little naval power meant that the warning went largly ignored by the major powers. Despite this, the British approved of the policy and largly enforced it as part of the Pax Britannica, whereby the British Navy secured the neutrality of the high seas. It was mainly through this support, rather than the Monroe Doctrine exclusively, which secured and maintained the sovereignty of Latin American nations.
Even so, the Monroe Doctrine was met with praise by Latin American leaders, despite the fact that they knew that the United States realistically could not enforce it without the backing of the British. In 1826, Latin American revolutionary hero Simón Bolívar called for the first Pan-American conference in Panama, and an era of Pan-American relations commenced.
[edit] Seminal War
Chief Neamathla of the Mikasuki at Fowltown engaged in a land dispute with the commander at Fort Scott, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. The land had been ceded by the Creek at the Treaty of Fort Jackson, however the Mikasuki did not consider themselves Creek and so wished to exhert sovereignty over the area, believing the Creek did not have right to cede Mikasuki land. In November 1817, a force of 250 men was sent by General Gaines to capture Neamathla, but was driven back. A second attempt in the same month turned out successful, and the Mikasuki people were driven from Fowltown.
A week after the attack on Fowltown, a military boat transporting supplies, sick soldiers, and the families of soldiers (whether or not children were on board is not clear) to Fort Scott was attacked on the Apalachicola River. Most of the passengers on board were killed, with one woman captured and six survivors making it to Fort Scott.
General Gaines had been ordered not to invade Spanish Florida (save for small incursions). However, after word of the Scott massacre reached Washington, DC, Gaines was ordered to invade Florida in pursuit of Seminoles, but not to attack Spanish installations. However, Gaines had been ordered to eastern Florida to deal with piracy issues there, so Secretary of War John C. Calhoun ordered General Andrew Jackson, hero of the War of 1812, to lead the invasion.
General Jackson gathered his forces at Fort Scott in March 1818. The force consisted of 800 regulars, 1,000 Tennessee volunteers, 1,000 Georgia militia, and 1,400 friendly Creek warriors. Jackson's force entered Florida on March 13, following the Apalachicola River and constructing Fort Gadsden. The Indian town of Tallahassee was burned on March 31 and the town of Miccosukee was taken the next day. The American and Creek forces left 300 Indian homes devestated in their wake, reaching the Spanish fort of St. Marks on April 6, capturing it.
The American force left St. Marks and continued to attack Indian villages, capturing Alexander George Arbuthnot, a Scottish trader who worked out of the Bahamas and supplied the Indians, and Robert Ambrister, a former Royal Marine and self-appointed British agent, as well as the Indian leaders Josiah Francis and Homathlemico. All four were eventually executed Jackson's forces also attacked villages occupied by runaway slaves along the Suwannee River.
Having declared victory, Jackson sent the Georgia militia and Creek warriors home, sending the remaining army back to St. Marks, where he left a garrison before returning to Fort Gadsden. On May 7, he marched a force of 1,000 to Pensacola where he believed the Indians were gathering and being supplied by the Spanish, against the protests of the governor of West Florida, who insisted that the Indians there were mostly women and children. When Jackson reached Pensacola on May 23, the governor and the Spanish garrison retreated to Fort Barrancas. After a day of exchanging cannon fire, the Spanish surrendered, and Colonel William King was named military governor of West Florida. General Jackson went home to Tennessee -- and prepared for his presidential run in 1824.
[edit] The 1824 Election and Presidency of John Q. Adams
With the dissolution of the Federalist Party, there were no organized political parties for the 1824 presidential election, and four Democratic-Republicans vied for the office. The Tennessee legislature and a convention of Pennsylvania Democratic-Republicans had nominated General-turned-Senator Andrew Jackson for president in 1822 and 1824, respectively. The Congressional Democratic-Republican caucus (the traditional way to nominate a president) selected Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford for president and Albert Gallatin for vice president. Secretary of State John Q. Adams, son of the former President Adams, and House Speaker Henry Clay also joined the contest. It is widely believed that Crawford would have won had he not suffered a debilitating stroke during the course of the election.
When the electoral votes were cast and counted, it turned out that no candidate had a majority of votes. Jackson had won the most votes, but Constitutionally, a plurality was not good enough, and the vote for the top three candidates went to the House of Representatives. Clay, with the least amount of votes, was ineligible, but still wielded a lot of power as speaker of the house. And since Clay had a personal dislike of Jackson and supported many of Adams' policies, which were similar to his American System. Clay threw his support to Adams, and Adams won the presidency, much to the chagrin of Jackson, who had won the most electoral and popular votes. After Adams appointed Clay as secretary of state, Jackson's supporters protested that a corrupt bargain had been struck.
The 1824 helped in the resurgence of political parties in America. Jackson's followers, members of the Democratic Party, were known as Jacksonians; Adams, Clay, and their supporters established the National Republican Party. Partisan politics was back in style in Washington, DC.
During Adams' term as president, he undertook an ambitious domestic agenda, implementing many aspects of the American System, such as extending the Cumberland Road and several canal projects like the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, the Portland to Louisville Canal, the connection of the Great Lakes to the Ohio River system, and the enlargement and rebuilding of the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina. He worked diligently to upgrade and modernize infrastructure and internal improvements, such as roads, canals, a national university, and an astronomical observatory. These internal improvements would be funded by tariffs, an issue which divided the Adams administration. While Secretary Clay most certainly supported tariffs, Vice President John C. Calhoun opposed. This turned out to be a source of contention within the administration.
Unfortunately for President Adams, his agenda met with many roadblocks. First of all, Adams' ideas were not very popular, even from within his own party. But a major reason Adams had a tough time enacting his agenda was because the Jacksonians were still quite upset about the 1824 elections. In 1827, the Jacksonians won control of Congress, making it even more difficult. In addition, Adams did not believe in removing administration officials from office, except for incompetence, including those who may be political opponents. As a result, many administration officials were, in fact, supporters of Andrew Jackson. Adams' generous policy towards Indians further served to not endear him to some, such as when the federal government sought to assert authority on behalf of the Cherokee, causing Georgia to take up arms. The final nail in the coffin of the Adams administration would turn out to be when President Adams signed the Tariff of 1828 into law, which intended to protect northern industry, while the South saw it as an economic blow. The "Tariff of Abominations," as it was called, was highly unpopular in the South, and virtually crippled the administration in its final year.
The campaign was brutal, bitter, and personal, with even Jackson's wife attacked, accused of bigamy. In the end, Adams lost handily: 178-83 in the electoral college. Adams, like his father, chose not to attend his successor's inauguration ceremony. In 1830, he would go on to be the first former president elected to Congress after serving as president.
[edit] The People's President -- The Era of Andrew Jackson
[edit] Election and Inauguration
The three week journey from Nashville, Tennessee, to Washington, DC, was filled with jubilation, as crowds swarmed to catch a glimpse of the new president-elect Andrew Jackson. The inauguration ceremonies of former presidents were all indoor affairs, invite only. On March 29, 1829, however, there was a sense that this new president was a man of the people. The ceremony was held on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol, where 21,000 people eventually gathered to view the swearing-in.
The new president left through the west front of the capital and proceeded to the executive mansion for the reception on a white horse. By the time he arrived, the White House had already been invaded by supporters, as the festivities had been opened to the public. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story noted, "I never saw such a mixture. The reign of King Mob seemed triumphant."
The new president was forced to sneak out of the White House before heading to Alexandria, Virginia. The crowd remained, however, until the liquor was moved to the front lawn. The White House was left a mess, including thousands of dollars in broken china.
[edit] Petticoat Affair and the Kitchen Cabinet
[edit] Nullification Crisis
One of the early crises faced by the Jackson administration was the issue of nullification. In response to the Tariff of 1828, the State of South Carolina asserted that states had the right to declare void any federal law which it deemed went against its interests, a claim which Vice President John C. Calhoun agreed. While President Jackson sympathized with the South's position on the tariff, he believed in a strong union with central power. As a result, a deep rivalry developed between Jackson and Calhoun. The rivalry can be epitomized in an incident at the Jefferson Day dinner, April 13, 1830, in which South Carolina Senator Robert Hayne made a toast to "The Union of the States, and the Sovereignty of the States." President Jackson added (and clearly directed towards the vice president), "Our federal Union: It must be preserved!" To this, Vice President Calhoun responded: "The Union: Next to our Liberty, the most dear!"
In 1831, the first ever Democratic National Convention was held, and former Secretary of State Martin Van Buren (who was still playing a vital role in the President's "kitchen cabinet") was selected to replace Calhoun as the nominee for vice president in the 1832 election. The vice president resigned in December 1832 to run for the South Carolina U.S. Senate seat.
President Jackson continued to oppose nullification, stating that "The Constitution... forms a government not a league... To say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union is to say that the United States is not a nation." He asked Congress to pass a "force bill," authorizing the use of military force to enforce the tariff law. The bill was held up in Congress until Henry Clay and the protectionists agreed to a Compromise Tariff bill. Both bills passed on March 1, 1833, and the president signed both. South Carolina subsequently rescinded its nullification ordinance, and the crisis was averted for another day.
[edit] Indian Policies
[edit] Second Bank of the United States
[edit] Panic of 1837
[edit] Reform and American Society
[edit] The Second Great Awakening
[edit] Temperance
Throughout the late 1700s and 1800s, alcoholism became an increaing problem, and as a result, temperance groups began forming in several states to reduce the consumption of alcohol. Although the temperance movement began with the intent of limiting use, some temperance leaders such as Connecticut minister Lyman Beecher began urging fellow citizens to abstain from drinking in 1825. In 1826, the American Temperance Society formed in a resurgence of religion and morality. By the late 1830s, the American Temperance Society had membership of 1,500,000, and many Protestant churches began to preach temperance.
