The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge

of Nationalism, 1812-1824

The American continents…are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future

colonization by any European powers. President James Monroe, Dec. 2, 1823

On to Canada Over Land and Lakes• The War of 1812 was one of

America’s worst-fought wars. There was no real unity.

• The regular army and militia was inadequate, ill-trained, ill-disciplined, and widely scattered.

• The offensive strategy against Canada was a disaster. Instead of concentrating on Montreal, the center of population and transportation, the United States broke its army into a trio of invading forces that was fought back.

• The American fort of Michilimackinac which protected the upper lakes was lost.

• American captain Oliver Hazard Perry won sea victories on Lake Erie. His famous quote, “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”

• General Harrison beat the British at the Battle of the Thames (Canadian Border) in October 1813.

• By 1814, America was far from defeating the British in Canada. By 1814, Napoleon was defeated and exiled to the Mediterranean isle of Elba. British regulars were now pouring into Canada from Europe.

• American captain Thomas Macdonough saved Lake Champlain from defeat thus protecting upper New York, New England, and the Union. This victory played an important part in the Anglo-American peace treaty in Europe.

Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended• A British force landed in the Chesapeake

Bay in August 1814 and Burned the Capital and White House and setting fire to most of the public buildings.

• President Madison and his aides were forced to flee.

• The British fleet next appeared before Baltimore, which was a nest for privateers, but was beaten off by the defenders at Fort McHenry. There, Francis Scott Key wrote the words to what was to become, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” (“bombs bursting in air”)

• A third British attack was launched at New Orleans in 1814. The overconfident British, launched a frontal assault on January 8, 1815. The entrenched American riflemen and cannoneers slaughtered the British forces.

• The Treaty of Paris had been signed two weeks earlier. Because of slow communication, Jackson had not heard of the treaty. He however, became an instant hero.

• The American navy had much pride: more skillful crews, better gunners, non-press-gang crews, the Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) had thicker sides, heavier firepower, and one sailor in six was a free black.

• The British retaliated by throwing a naval blockade along America’s coast.

• American economic life, including fishing, was crippled.

• Customs revenue was choked off and the Treasury was bankrupt.

The Treaty of Ghent• Tsar Alexander I of Russia wanted to

negotiate a British-American treaty at the Belgian city of Ghent in 1814. Russia did not want Britain to loose its strength to America.

• News of British loses in Upper New York and at Baltimore, preoccupied with the Congress of Vienna, and eyeing still-dangerous France, Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent. The treaty was an armistice (an agreement to stop fighting). There were no real gains or losses for either side.

• There was no mention of the Indian menace, search and seizure of ships, impressment, Orders in Council, and confiscations. The war ended as a

virtual draw for both sides.

Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention

• Though the war was a draw between America and Britain, some disastrous and lasting principles were developed within the young nation.

• Defiant New England remained a problem within. It prospered during the war, owing largely to illicit trade with Canada.

• The Federalists had strong oppositions toward the war. A small minority of them proposed secession from the Union, or at least a separate peace treaty with England. The were called the “Blue Light” Federalists-New Englanders who supposedly flashed lanterns on shore so that blockading British cruisers would be alerted to the attempted escape of American ships.

• The Hartford Convention brought the most tension. With a British attack on New Orleans seeming imminent, Massachusetts issued a call for a convention at Hartford, Connecticut. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont sent representatives. Only a few actually talked of secession.

• The convention called for: financial assistance from Washington to compensate for lost trade; and second, constitutional amendments requiring a 2/3’s vote in congress before an embargo could be imposed, new states admitted, or war declared-except in case of invasion.

• This turned out to be the death of the Federalist Party. After the glorious news of the victory over New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent, the envoy from Massachusetts looked rather pitiful.

• New England’s illicit trade efforts concerning Jefferson’s embargo act and crippling the war efforts were the two most damaging acts of nullification in America prior to the events leading to the Civil War.

The Second War for American Independence• The War of 1812 had many lasting and

positive effects for America– Other nations developed a new

respect for America– Naval officers like Perry and

Macdonough commanded respect upon the seas

• In a political sense the War of 1812 could be called the Second War for American Independence since America would not be involved with another European nation for the next 100 years (World War I-1918)

• Sectionalism (sections within the country-north, south, east, west) was given a “black-eye” by the Federalist New Englanders. The Federalist Party fared the worst, thus disappearing as a political party.

• Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison emerged as war

• heroes (both would become presidents).

• The Indians had to relinquish much of their land north of the Ohio River.

• Manufacturing prospered due to the British blockade. Economically, the war could also have been called the Second War for American Independence. America became less dependent upon Europe economically.

• In 1817, the Rush-Bagot agreement between Britain and the United States limited naval armaments on the Great Lakes. Canada and the United States share the world’s longest unfortified border between any two nations.

• With European conflicts over, America could now turn its attention “West” and build their democracy

Nascent Nationalism

• The most impressive by-product of the War of 1812 was a heightened nationalism (the spirit of nation-consciousness or national oneness. America may not have fought the war as one nation, but it definitely emerged as one nation.

• A distinctive national literature emerged. Most literature up to this time was English literature. Now American authors were becoming popular: Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. They were the nations’ first writers of importance to use American scenes and themes. School textbooks were being written by Americans for Americans. Magazines such as the North American Review-1815 were popular. American painters were painting American landscapes.

• Nationalism even revived the Bank of the United States. A newer national capital was being built. The army was expanded to 10,000 soldiers. The navy gained enormous recognition for having beaten the pirates off of the Barbary Coast in North Africa. Stephen Decatur, naval hero of the War of 1812 and in the Mediterranean made a famous toast, “Our Country!”

Washington Irving’s Home

“The American System”• A nationalist Congress, out-

Federalizing the old Federalists (who were for protective tariffs) passed the Tariff of 1816. This tariff raised rates on imports from 20 to 25 percent.

• Henry Clay proposed the American System– Strong banking system which

would provide easy credit– A protective tariff to protect

businesses– Revenues from the tariffs

would provide fund for roads and canals, especially in the Ohio Valley.

• A transportation would allow goods to flow from the

• South and West to the North and East. This knitted the country together economically and politically.

• The Erie Canal was completed by New York. Jefferson’s Republicans did not like the idea of federal funds going to states. Thus President Madison, vetoed the measure as being unconstitutional since it would further empower the National government. New England also did not like the improvements of transportation since it would drain away population and create competing states.

The So-Called Era of Good Feelings• James Monroe became president

in 1816. The Virginia dynasty of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and now Monroe continued.

• The Republicans were practically a one-party rule since the Federalists were dying out.

• Nationalism was further cemented by a goodwill tour Monroe undertook early in 1817, to inspect military defenses. Even in New England, he was received well. A Boston newspaper announced that an “Era of Good Feelings” had been ushered in.

• This phrase has been used to characterize Monroe’s administration.– Nationalism was high– Internal improvements– Free from European wars– Manufacturing

• However, not all was well:– Issues over the tariff, the

bank, internal improvements, sale of public land were being hotly contested.

– Sectionalism crystallizing and the conflict over slavery was beginning to rise

The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times• A lot of the goodness went out of the

“good feelings” in 1819, when a paralyzing economic panic descended. It brought deflation, depression, bankruptcies bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and “debtors’ prisons.”

• Causes: overspeculation in frontier lands; The Bank of the United States, through its western branches, had become involved with this type of outdoor investing.

• When the depression came, the Bank of the United States forced the wildcat western banks to foreclose mortgages on countless farms. In the eyes of the western debtor, the nationalist Bank of the United States soon became a kind of financial evil.

• Imprisonment for debt demanded changes in the states.

Growing Pains of the West• Between 1791 and 1819 nine frontier

states had joined the original thirteen. In order to preserve the balance between free states and slave states, most of the new states had been admitted alternately.

• Reason for increased expansion:– A continuation of the westward movement– Cheap land-”the Ohio fever” had taken an

appeal to European immigrants– Land exhaustion in the tobacco states – Land speculators accepted small down

payments, making it easier to buy new holdings

– Economic distress during the embargo years

– Crushing of the Indians in the Northwest and South by Generals Harrison and Jackson

– Building of highways improved routes to the Ohio Valley-the Cumberland Road (1811) ran from western Maryland to Illinois

• The West, however, was still weak in population and influence. The west had to ally itself with other sections.

• It was demanding:– cheap acreage and partially

achieved its goal with the Land Act of 1820-80 acres at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash.

– Cheap transportation– Cheap money issued by

“wildcat” banks (banks that issued cheap loans) many farmers defaulted on these loans and caused western financial crisis.

Slavery and the Sectional Balance• Sectional tension, involving rivalry

between the slave South and the free North over control of the virgin West, were reveled in 1819. In this year the territory of Missouri wanted admission as a slave state.

• The House of Representatives passed the Tallmadge amendment which stipulated that no more slave should b brought into Missouri and provided for the gradual emancipation of children born to slave parents already there. Those who argued against this:– Southern slave holding states– Pioneers who favored unhampered

expansion of the West– Northerners, especially Federalists

who were eager to see slavery opened in the west to break the “Virginia dynasty”

• Though the southerners defeated the Tallmadge amendment in the Senate, the saw it as a threat to sectional balance. More wealth and population increased in the North, thus giving the northern states the advantage in the House of Representatives.

• There were 11 free states and 11 slave states-Missouri would off balance the issue. Missouri was the first state west of the Mississippi be carved out of the Louisiana Purchase.

• If Congress could abolish the “peculiar institution” (slavery) in Missouri, then could it abolish slavery in the already established South?

• A small but growing group of antislavery agitators in the North took the occasion to raise an outcry against the evils of slavery.

The Uneasy Missouri Compromise• Henry Clay of Kentucky, known

as the “Great Compromiser” devised a plan in 1820. This was known as the Compromise of 1820 or the Missouri Compromise. Clay proposed:– Missouri would be a slave state– Maine would be admitted as a

new “free” state” -the balance would be kept at 12 for the North and 12 for the South

– All future slave bondage would be prohibited in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36/30-the southern boundary of Missouri. Missouri would be above the line but it would be the exception.

• The Missouri compromise would last for only 34 years in which it kept the republic together. It was only a temporary solution to the slave issue.

• The panic of 1819 and the Missouri Compromise did not mar President Monroe’s presidency. Since the Federalist party was so weak, Monroe received every electoral vote in the election of 1820 except one. A unanimous honor was reserved only for George Washington.

John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism

• Nationalism of the post-Ghent (War of 1812) years was further reinforced by the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice John Marshall.

• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) was a very important decision that bolstered the power of the federal government at the expense of the states.

• The state of Maryland wanted to destroy a branch of the Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on its notes. Jefferson stated that:

– the bank was constitutional by invoking the Hamiltonian doctrine of implied powers (necessary and proper clause -or the elastic clause) Congress can make a law that it feels is necessary and proper.

– A state could not tax a federal bank since, “that the power to tax involves the power to destroy” and “that a power to create implies a power to preserve.” In other words a state could destroy of federal bank by taxing it to death. Since the federal government was supreme, federal institutions could

– not be destroyed by a state.

• Marshall believed in “loose construction” the constitution can be interpreted according to the times. He stated that the Constitution derived from the consent of the people and thus permitted the government to act for their benefit. Marshall also stated, “Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.” In other words, if a law is necessary to make and it is not in violation of the Constitution, it can be made.

• Cohens v. Virginia (1821) defended federal power. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Virginia court. This appalled “state-righters” since the ruling implied that the Supreme court could review decisions of state supreme courts.

• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) stated that Congress had the power to control interstate commerce (trade) whether on water or on land.

• Fletcher v. Peck (1810) this set the precedence that allowed the Supreme Court to invalidate state laws conflicting with the federal Constitution.

• Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)-Contracts are constitutionally protected against state violations. This decision also safeguarded business enterprises from state control. This did have a negative effect on later years when chartered corporations escaped the need of public control (the Gilded Age Period-late 1800’s).

• John Marshall was a Molding Father of the Constitution while

• Daniel Webster was a Expounding Father. Many times he left his seat in the Senate, stepped downstairs to the Supreme Court and expounded his Federalist and nationalistic philosophy. Webster gave powerful speeches in the Senate challenging states’ rights and nullification

• John Marshall’s Legacy:– Promoted national supremacy– Helped create a stable, national

environment for business– Checked the excesses of popularly

elected state legislatures– Checked the tendency of the new

spirit of white manhood suffrage (freedom to vote for all white males). He was more conservative in checking the powerful rule by the individual people in favor of rule by the Constitution.

• Adams and Hamiltonian Federalists triumphed through John Marshall and Daniel Webster

Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida

• Nationalistic President Monroe teamed with his nationalistic secretary of state, John Quincy Adams.

• Monroe negotiated a very important treaty, the Treaty of 1818. This permitted Americans to share the coveted Newfoundland fisheries with their Canadian cousins. It also fixed the vague northern limits of Louisiana along the forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods (Minnesota to the Rock Mountains.

• General Andrew Jackson, who was a hero of the South during the War of 1812 swept across Florida in 1818 and overzealously defeated the Indians and British still in Florida. In the Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded Florida and claims in Oregon to America. America ceded claims to Texas

The Menace of Monarchy in America

• After the Napoleonic reign, rethroned autocrats in the European countries returned to power and wanted to crush any forms of democracy, including French and Spanish colonies in the new world.

• Americans feared that the European powers would cause republicanism to suffer from the invasions.

• British foreign minister, George Canning, in 1823 proposed that the United States combine with Britain in a joint declaration, renouncing any interest in acquiring Latin American territory, and specifically warning the European despots to keep their hands off the Latin American republics.

• John Quincy Adams detected the deception of this proposal. England was fearful that America would one day take lands in Latin America. This alliance would keep America from expanding territorially.

Monroe and His Doctrine• In 1823 President Monroe

issued what was to become the Monroe Doctrine.

• This was a stern warning to the European powers to avoid:– Colonization in the

Americas– Intervention in the

AmericasThe Monroe Doctrine stated

that European colonization in the Americas had ended. Countries could keep territories that it had already acquired but could not expand to new areas.

Monroe’s Doctrine Appraised

• The monarchs of Europe were angered at Monroe’s doctrine.

• The Monroe Doctrine had little practical impact at the time. The Doctrine did not really apply until mid century.

• The Russo-American Treaty of 1824 fixed the Russian southern most boundary line at 54/40-the present tip of the Alaskan panhandle.

• The doctrine was often noted that it was as big as the nation’s armed forces -and no bigger.

• The Doctrine would emerge being very important to American status.

• The Doctrine also deepened the idea of American Isolationism