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4. THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC GETS UP AND RUNNING

MADISON AND THE WAR OF 1812 (ACTUALLY 1812-1815)

CONTENTS

James Madison

The young republic goes to war (1812)

1813

1814 ... and the Treaty of Ghent (December 1814)

The Battle of New Orleans (January 1815)

The textual material on this webpage is drawn directly from my work
        America's Story – A Spiritual Journey © 2021, pages 114-117.
JAMES MADISON

Jefferson's ever-faithful ally James Madison had served as Secretary of State under Jefferson.  And with Jefferson's move to leave office after eight years, the Republicans looked to Madison to head up their party – and run for the office of President.  The Federalists were easily defeated and Madison entered the White House in 1809 – to head up a nation that was up in arms about a rise in Indian attacks (headed by Tecumseh) – made easier for the Indians because of Jefferson's weakening of the American military.

Madison was a man who learned to compensate for his small stature and frail health by taking on huge intellectual challenges.  He started out life as the oldest son of a typical aristocratic tobacco planter-family of Virginia, well-schooled in math, the sciences and classical languages.  But he chose to go to the College of New Jersey (the future Princeton University) rather than the College of William and Mary.  There he eventually took up even post-graduate studies under the college's president, the Presbyterian minister John Witherspoon – and developed a strong worldview based on the philosophy of the European Enlightenment (with Christian touches here and there!).

Madison eventually became self-taught in the law.  But being of an aristocratic background, Madison never felt the need to take up law as a profession.  Instead he simply served as a strong supporter of Virginia's political interests locally, and ultimately, with the outbreak of the war in 1775-1776, in the Continental Congress as well.  Key to his own future, both in Virginia and in Philadelphia, he found himself working closely with Jefferson.

After the war he continued to pursue his political interests, eventually being the author of the Virginia Plan that got the Constitutional Convention off and running in 1787, at the same time keeping excellent notes of the entire event.  And he used his sense of political dynamics to write insightful follow-up articles in defense of the ratification of that new Constitution (his contribution to the Federalist Papers).  And he authored and supervised the passage in Congress of the Bill of Rights as the first ten amendments to that Constitution.

But he was also empowered by both his very active wife, Dolly and his friend Jefferson, and joined with Jefferson in opposing Hamilton's Federalists because of the way Hamilton was "over-building" (as he and Jefferson now saw things) the power of the central authority through Hamilton's strong economic measures.  This was what impelled Madison ultimately to form the Democratic-Republican (or just "Republican") Party, and thus also what led him to be called to serve as Jefferson's Secretary of State during Jefferson's eight years in office (1801-1809).

And now Madison was President of the country, and had to take on the young nation's challenges on his own (with the "First Lady" Dolly's considerable help!).

THE YOUNG REPUBLIC GOES TO WAR (1812)

The biggest problem at the time seemed to be the British, who not only continued their seizure of American ships and crew but also armed Tecumseh's warriors, infuriating the Americans.  Indeed, British arrogance had succeeded in stirring a younger American generation among even the Republicans into the status of being "War Hawks" – eager to take on both the Indians and the British – to restore America to peace.  Thus finally in June of 1812, under the sway of the Republican War Hawks (led by Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina), Congress declared war on the British.

How they intended to win that war without a navy or an army was not given much thought.  At first the Americans made a move on Canada – with the goal in mind of expelling Britain from the last of its American holdings.  The results were disastrous for the Americans – being defeated by unwilling Canadians, crushed by encircling British troops at Detroit, and slaughtered by vengeful Indians who set upon surrendered Americans at Fort Dearborn (Chicago).

1813

The next year, an effort in January to retake Detroit ended up with nearly 400 Americans killed in the action and 500 taken away as prisoners – with the rest slaughtered by Indians.  In reply, in April a vengeful America attacked the Canadian capital of York (Toronto) and burned and plundered it – inspiring the thoughts of revenge among the British and Canadians.  That August "Red Stick" Creek Indians attacked Fort Mims (Alabama) and slaughtered those who had taken refuge there.  On the other hand, the Americans authorized the building of six new frigates (the British possessed some 175 such ships!) – which conducted themselves admirably – as well as American "privateers" who did the same.  Also, a huge victory came to the Americans in defeating a British army in Ontario and killing the Indian leader Tecumseh – shattering the huge Indian coalition he had put together.  This gave much needed courage to the Americans – although it hardly shifted the war in America's favor.

1814 ... AND THE TREATY OF GHENT (DECEMBER 1814)

1814.  The following year, the war did go in America's favor in the West, when in March, American General Andrew Jackson delivered a smashing blow to the Red Stick Creeks in Mississippi.  But it went devastatingly against America in the East when, having defeated and imprisoned Napoleon in Europe, the British felt free to march on the new American capital at Washington, D.C. in August of that year and burn it to the ground – payment for the burning of Canada's capital at York.

The Treaty of Ghent (December 1814).   But with Napoleon finally defeated and imprisoned on the Island of Elbe, the British found themselves very tired of all the fighting that had consumed them over the past decade or more.  Also, British revenues were running low because of the Napoleonic wars – and now this war with the Americans as well.  Likewise, the British now no longer saw the need to grab American sailors to fill their own ranks – a major American grievance against the British.  Consequently, both sides were ready for peace.  Thus it was that British and American envoys gathered in Ghent (Belgium) to negotiate a peace treaty.

At first the terms that the British were offering the Americans were harsh – and the Americans refused to accept them.

However, fighting still going on back in America now began to turn in the American favor.  British efforts in September to take Baltimore failed completely[1] – and the Americans' naval victory on Lake Champlain (New York) at the same time stopped the British attempt to march on America from the North.  Thus before the end of the year, American and British diplomats finally agreed to a peace treaty based on much more equitable terms – largely returning things to the way they were prior to the war.

[1]A witness to this British failure at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry was Francis Scott Key, who wrote a poem about the flag remaining aloft through the night of heavy British bombardment.  The poem was eventually put to music and became the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS (JANUARY 1815)

But news of the treaty signing had not yet reached either the American forces (under Jackson) or the British forces gathering for a huge battle at New Orleans.  But the British attack on the well-defended American position (behind a huge wall of cotton bales) led to a humiliating defeat for the British:  291 British killed, 1262 wounded, and 484 captured or missing – with only 13 Americans killed and 39 wounded.

Although the battle was unnecessary (for it changed none of the peace terms), it fueled a huge sense of national pride among the Americans, made Jackson a national hero, and in a way gave the announcement to the world that America was a rising player in the game of international politics.



Go on to the next section:  Expansion

  Miles H. Hodges