Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog
,
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Most adult Americans today are unaware of what caused the War of
1812, who started it, what the outcome was, or even who the
belligerents were. If I recall correctly, my grade school / high
school History Class covered The War Of 1812 — aka America’s Second
War Of Independence, or America’s Forgotten War — for a total of
maybeone week. And what a worthless week it was. Like most
history teachers I’ve ever had, they turned an exciting story into
a dry bundle of boring crap … focusing on memorizing dates and
random events
without
getting to the real story behind the story; i.e.
whydid it happen,
howdoes the war affect us today, and
whatcan we learn from it? This is a crying shame
because the war had a tremendous impact on American political
development, territorial expansion, and national identity.
A 19
thcentury French historian said,
“History studies not just facts and institutions, its real
subject is the human spirit.”The word ‘history’ comes from the
Greek, and literally means “
knowledge acquired by investigation”. So, let us
investigate the War Of 1812, and the spirit of humanity which
caused it … and changed America forever.
OVERALL SUMMARY
There were two major reasons given for the war.
First, Britain was at war with France since 1793. For twenty
years the British claimed they had the right – as a legitimate and
necessary wartime measure — to intercept American ships on the high
seas, seize and keep their cargoes, and search the crews for
British navy deserters. The British between 1807 and 1812 seized
some 400 American ships and cargoes worth millions of dollars.
Second, was the British practice of ‘impressment’. A chronic
manpower shortage in the Royal Navy led the Brits to stop American
merchant vessels on the high seas and remove seamen. Between 1803
and 1812 the Brits captured an estimated six to nine THOUSAND
Americans in its dragnet. These men were subjected to all the
horrors of British naval discipline—enforced with the
cat-o’-nine-tails—and made to fight a war that was not their
own.
America felt this violated its rights as a neutral and sovereign
nation. So, we declared war against the Brits in 1812.
THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SEEDED THE WAR OF
1812
Isn’t that often the case … that the end of one war, and the
demands of the victor, eventually leads to yet another war? The war
for American Independence lasted until 1783 when the peace treaty
with the British was signed. Imagine the giddy feeling you would
have had at that time. Freedom! Independence! But the rational
exuberance was met with irrational naivete.
The American populace, including its politicians, assumed that
the British would continue to allow access to British ports …. as
if nothing at all happened! America assumed that the Brits needed
our wheat, the British Navy needed our timber, hemp, and tar, and
British colonies in the West Indies needed our fish, wheat, and
salt to feed their slaves. This was a big miscalculation.
Canada and Ireland delivered most of the same goods. In fact,
America needed the Brits more than they needed us as we depended on
British manufacturing goods. America had zero leverage, and it was
Britain that dictated foreign policy. They admitted American raw
materials on a case-by-case basis, excluded manufactured goods
altogether from entering England, and closed West Indian ports to
American goods. Bullocks to America! What could America do?
Nothing. We had no navy to back up our demands.
1801 – A PIVOTAL YEAR
George Washington negotiated the Jay Treaty in 1795. The Brits
negotiated from a position of strength, and conversely, America
from weakness. In a nutshell, the treaty granted the Brits
virtually unlimited access to American markets in exchange for
limited access to British markets in the West Indies. It also
allowed British creditors to recover debts owed by Americans.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected president and James
Madison was named his secretary of state. They quickly abrogated
the treaty.
Madison took a hard-line approach towards the Brits. Even back
in 1790, as a Congressman from Virginia, he championed the idea of
countering British trade restrictions with a series of
discriminatory tariffs via import taxes. George Washington and John
Adams rejected the idea. Now, however, as Secretary of State,
Madison hoped to implement what he believed was a long overdue
aggressive trade policy against Britain. But, he shot himself in
the foot big time …. by reversing the naval-building policies of
John Adams
John Adams succeeded in his priority of strengthening the United
States Navy. When he was elected in 1796, the navy had only three
battleships. Five years later, in 1801, the navy had fifty … more
than enough to defend America’s coastline and maintain a viable
presence in the Caribbean.
Jefferson, and Madison, undid all this for several reasons. They
felt maintaining a navy was too expensive. As Republicans they
believed in frugal, tax-cutting government. And they believed that
a large military posed a domestic threat in that the officer corps
could harbor aristocratic ambitions and become a tool for would-be
tyrants. Lastly, they felt navies led countries into unnecessary
foreign entanglements. As such, Jefferson invested only in small
gunboats for coastal patrols. The battleships atrophied. By 1812,
the United States had only a dozen seaworthy battleships of any
size.
Jefferson and Madison certainly were not stupid men. Yet, one
must wonder
“What were they thinking??”With no leverage (military
power) to bring to the negotiating table, did they expect the Brits
to just quietly and unquestioningly bend to American demands?
Hardly! As should have been expected, Britain continued to apply
both its commercial and naval power to dictate — by force as
necessary — trade and maritime policy to the United
States.
MORE HALF-ASSED DECISIONS AND ERRONEOUS BELIEFS
All governments do dumb-shit things, even that of our Founding
Fathers.
So, in 1807 Jefferson tried to pressure the Brits and French by
convincing Congress to secure a radical embargo against
allforeign trade. (Embargo!!! Our government still loves
them to this very day. When will we ever learn?) American ships
were forbidden from trading overseas. The embargo only hurt
America. It was quickly scrapped.
It was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act. This act had
nothing to do with the cessation of attacking the pink fortress. It
allowed trade with all countries
exceptBritain and France. It also allowed the President to
restore trade with either country
IFeither belligerent ended its maritime harassment. That
only intercoursed the American people, and didn’t work out
either.
So, in 1810 Madison signed the ridicules Macon’s Bill No.2. Even
he didn’t like it, but he could not yet get Congress to pass a war
resolution. The bill authorized Madison to impose trade
restrictions against one offending country if the other lifted its
trade restrictions against the United States. In other words, the
United States would commercially punish country A if country B
agreed to allow America to trade freely. Pitting two countries
against each other didn’t work either.
What was the result of all these half-assed measures to
intimidate the British? They shopped elsewhere! For example,
between 1808-1812 the Canadian timber industry exploded with its
exports to England, increasing by 500%. Canadian agricultural
production also increased greatly. The Brits were eating beef,
Americans were eating crow.
Madison was getting desperate. He was conjuring up even more
rigorous measures against the British fearing that the window of
opportunity for gaining concessions through commercial pressure
would soon close forever. His conjuring included plans for war.
He figured it would be a little war, and a quick one. (How many
times have our Dear Leaders told us that? Especially since
1960?) Most of the British army and navy were bogged down in
Europe, fighting a brutal war with Napoleon. The French controlled
most of Europe, and the little Frenchie dictator assembled a
700,000-man army for an invasion of Russia. All Madison wanted was
the right to trade freely and, gain the respect owed to the United
States as an independent nation. He calculated that since he wasn’t
seeking territory or conquest, that Britain would surely be willing
to negotiate rather than have to deploy valuable ships and troops
thousands of miles away from the war in Europe. Madison
miscalculated. Madison was wrong to believe that the British would
rush to negotiate with him. The British even refused Tsar Alexander
I’s invitation to mediate in 1813.
Britain’s commitment to battle only strengthened over the first
two years of the war. Madison was even wrong about the impact of
the European war on America. He felt that when the European war
ended, that the British would send the bulk of their armies to
battle the United States. When you need popular support for a quick
and easy war, you still need a little fear-mongering.
“The British will come!!” One reason the Brits
didn’t redeploy their troops was that American military
incompetence at the beginning of the war made it unnecessary. More
fortuitously, after more than two decades of continual war, the
Brits had had enough, and by 1814 were more than happy to soften
their demands. (The British Invasion finally took place about 150
years later. But with guitars and drums.)
THE FRENCH CONNECTION — TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MACON’S BILL
The Brits had the world’s strongest navy, and couldn’t be
coerced into lifting its restrictions. France, on the other hand,
had everything to gain. Their Berlin (1806) and Milan (1807)
decrees imposed severe trade restrictions against any country
trading with Britain. But France’s navy was not sufficiently
powerful enough to enforce these decrees. So, in compliance with
Macon’s Bill, France could force the United States to restrict
itself.In other words, France repealed its restrictions
against the United States, thus forcing the United States to
suspend its trade with Great Britain. Thus, on August 5, 1810 the
French lifted the Berlin and Milan decrees. Madison, in turn, ended
all trade with Britain on Feb. 2, 1811.
The New England Federalists — who were dependent upon trade with
Britain for their economic sustenance — immediately attacked the
announcement. The claimed Napoleon could not be trusted, and that
it would lead America into war. They were correct. Napoleon refused
to release American ships already held in French ports, and
continued to harass American shipping. America would declare war on
June 18, 1812.
MADISON FINALLY GETS HIS WAR
It’s not entirely fair to say, as some do, that this was
strictly Madison’s war. He had help. The Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Henry Clay of Kentucky, his principal assistant,
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and other southern and western
representatives were collectively known as “Warhawks” and pressured
Madison into asking Congress to declare war against Great
Britain.
The United States in 1812
MILITARY COMPARISONS
When the war started, the American army consisted of 7,000
regulars. (Theoretically, there were also thousands of citizen
soldiers in the militia. While the Constitution granted the
president the authority to call them into service to suppress
insurrections and repel invasions … the legal consensus was that
state militia could only be ordered to meet these duties
in their own states). Anyway, the military was poorly
trained. The army’s officer corps was a ragtag outfit …most had
never seen combat … and the ones that did were old, having last
seen service in the Revolution, thirty years earlier. West Point,
established ten years earlier, had fewer than one hundred graduates
ready to assume command. The navy, as mentioned above, was a puny
force. By 1812, the US Navy counted only twelve ships of any size,
and only three fully dressed battleships.
The Brits had 250,000 battle-hardened men in uniform. True, the
bulk of those were in Europe. Nevertheless, 6,000 were stationed in
Canada … augmented by 2,000 Canadians, and roughly 3,000 Indians.
The British Navy consisted of 500 ships …. 80 of them permanently
stationed in the West Atlantic between Canada and the Caribbean. It
should have been a rout.
THE CANADIAN DEBACLE
In the long run, the American navy could not possibly defeat
their British counterparts. American politicians concluded the most
realistic path to pressuring Britain was by targeting Canada ….
which seemed like an easy target with a population of only 500,000
compared to 7.7 million in the United States in 1812. Virginia
Congressman John Randolph even stated the conquest of Canada would
be
“a holiday campaign … with no expense of blood or treasure on
our part”. (You know … just like that quick war in Iraq
and Afghanistan which we were promised.)
Madison
grossly
miscalculated support from the Canadian populace. He believed
the Canadians wished to be liberated from Britain … that they
wanted their own 1776 moment. Why not? About two-thirds of the
Canadian population had migrated there from the United States. So,
the grand plan was to invade Canada when war broke out. The US Army
would capture British territory, quickly, and force Britain to the
negotiating table. After all, Britain certainly would not want to
lose this colony, and they certainly would not divert troops from
the European war, and therefore they would be delighted to
negotiate favorable maritime rights America had been pursuing. In
exchange, America would give Canada back (although there were some
who wanted to make Canada part of America). Sounds logical. But,
the devil is in the details, and this plan was SNAFU right from the
get go.
The correct military strategy was to attack the British at
Montreal. A concentrated force sailing up the Hudson River and over
Lake Champlain probably could have captured the city. However,
recall that the New England Federalists strongly opposed the war.
Madison greatly feared that New England’s militias, most necessary
to a concentrated attack on Montreal, would simply refuse to turn
out for battle! On to to crappy Plan B!
Madison decided to launch a three-pronged northern invasion; 1)
attack Montreal, 2) attack Fort Detroit in the far west, and 3) a
third army would leave from Fort Niagara and into Canada at the
western end of Lake Ontario. America lost the battle of Detroit
without firing a shot. The Fort Niagara campaign was divided
amongst two generals, neither had military experience, both were
appointed political dogs who argued with each other and refused
support at critical times, and out of 1,300 men, 900 were captured.
The battle for Canada ended about as soon as it started.
Yes, folks, one can make the case that Canada — with a little
help from their friends — defeated the United States in the War Of
1812. The immediate impact of the war was to strengthen Canada’s
loyalty to England. The United States still had interest in
conquering Canada – more half-assed ideas, really – but, by the
1890’s the two nations formed a permanent bond. For all practical
purposes, the War Of 1812 was Canada’s war of independence, and
they won.
A BRIEF REPRIEVE – US NAVAL VICTORIES
Old Ironsides defeats HMS Guerriere
Out-gunned and out-manned the US Navy did achieve some clear
victories, even early in the war. In 1812, the USS
Constitution —aka, “Old Ironsides” — defeated HMS
Guerrierein a ferocious battle off the coast of Nova
Scotia. In the same year, the USS United States captured HMS
Macedonian, a fully dressed 38-gun battleship. In September 1813,
the United States achieved further naval success on Lake Erie. Also
in 1813, Commander Perry’s fleet of ten ships outmaneuvered a
squadron of six British ships despite being outgunned by the much
larger enemy vessels. The same Perry who left Americans with a
memorable line:
“We have met the enemy and they are ours.”A month later,
William Henry Harrison – yes, the future president – crossed Lake
Erie and defeated the British and their Indian allies in the Battle
of the Thames. Tecumseh — leader of the pan-Indian confederation –
was killed in that battle. Many of Britain’s Indian allies
subsequently abandoned the alliance, and America’s northwest
frontier was secured.
MORE BAD NEWS ON THE POLITICAL FRONT
On the political front there was much bad news. Commander Perry
– the navy’s best field officer – was “promoted” to a desk job.
William Harrison was accused by Secretary Of War, John Armstrong,
of financial impropriety, and Harrison, another excellent field
commander, was forced to resign.
The cost of the war broke the Treasury. By 1814, $34 million
dollars (a hefty sum in its day) was borrowed to finance the
war.
Madison sent a delegation (including John Quincy Adams) to meet
with Czar Alexander in St. Petersburg, but the British left before
the delegation arrived and the whole thing was an
embarrassment.
Madison probably suffered a severe anxiety attack on May 30,
1814 — the day the French signed a peace treaty with Britain and
its allies. Madison strongly believed that a good portion of
Britain’s 250,000 troops would make their way to Canada.
THE HOUSE, THE HOUSE, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!!
Madison didn’t have wait long for some of his fears to come to
fruition. Two months after the French-British peace treaty Royal
Navy ships carrying about 6,000 British regulars sailed into
Chesapeake Bay. Secretary of War, John Armstrong, did not believe
the Brits would attack the swampy and forest-shrouded city of
Washington … that the British had more interest in the coastal
cities. Bad call, muchacho! American forces actually outnumbered
the Brits. However, poor intelligence – such as Americans being
badly deployed – and a multitude of errors, and many American
deserters, led to the British marching virtually unchallenged into
the city. Then the Brits burned all public buildings except the
Patent Office …. and the White House.
BASTARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!
[
Worthy Of Further Study:
Dolley Madison, the greatest First Lady of them all
.Thomas Jefferson
spent few resources on the presidential mansion, believing it would
detract from the emphasis of a simple and frugal government. He
also avoided elaborate social gatherings at the White House, as he
believed they
“stank”of the aristocratic courts of Europe. As such, when
the Madisons moved into the White House in 1809, the building
itself was in disrepair. Dolly established a new philosophy … that
the White House should be decorated in a manner appropriate to the
dignity of the office it represented. So, she completely
refurnished the White House and transformed it into a compelling
symbol for the new nation — not nearly as ostentatious as found in
European palaces, but rather a quiet dignity within the framework
of American political ideology. But, it was more than just a
symbol. Dolly also turned it into an arena of governance. The many
social events she planned were done with the intention of placing
the White House at the center of Washington society … with her
husband at the center of policy decisions and deal making. And as
her beloved White House burned to the ground, she risked her life
gathering up critical White House documents … as well as the great
Gilbert Stuart portrait of President George Washington, and carried
them away to safety.]
SIZE MATTERS!!
To his credit (I suppose) Madison never wavered that the United
States would eventually achieve victory. Where did that confidence
come from? Let’s recap:
—— the Treasury is depleted, the Canada campaign was a disaster,
the Navy which actually won battles has its best commanders sitting
behind a desk, military desertions are significant, military
ineptness abounds, New England not only won’t help the cause but it
threatening to secede while at the same time trying to negotiate a
separate peace deal with the Brits, even as 7,500 British soldiers
were headed towards New Orleans, and now his capital is burned!
Hooahhh!!
To understand the source of his confidence one must look thirty
years earlier. During debates over the suitability of a republican
form of government to a country as large as America, Madison argued
that
America’s size would
prevent any faction or narrow interest group from dominating the
government.Now he believed that the United States could
absorb battles lost at Detroit, Niagara, and even Washington, and
that it could prevail despite the disloyalty of the Federalists in
New England. The United States was simply too large, and
consequently, too resilient, to be defeated. In other words,
America was too big to fail!
HOW DID THE SUPERIOR BRITS MANAGE TO F*** THIS UP?
It seems, at least in this instance, that Madison was right
about America’s size. British fortunes suddenly turned for the
worse.
After burning (and looting) the capital, the Brits marched to
Baltimore … and met a different fate at the hands of a more
skillfully deployed American force of both militia and army
regulars. American sharpshooters picked off one-by-one the British
division approaching the city from the south. Meanwhile, the big
guns at Fort McHenry prevented the British fleet from entering the
city’s harbor. By September, the British were forced to withdraw
and abandon their campaign in the Chesapeake. Simultaneously,
American forces stationed on Lake Champlain turned back a British
invading army and 11,000 British troops were forced to retreat back
into Canada. Mid-1814 ended relatively well for the Americans.
More importantly, back in England, British leaders lost the
hearts & minds of their subjects. After 20 years of fighting
France, and before that, fighting in the American Revolution …
well, the people were simply fed up with war. The British became
much more preoccupied in rebuilding Europe after the final defeat
of Napoleon. A London newspaper even harshly criticized the burning
of Washington. On top of all that, even military leaders were
questioning whether victory was possible. The Duke of Wellington,
the hero of Waterloo, was offered command of the British force in
North America … and, he
declined
,saying the American continent could never be subdued. The
loud drums of war fell deadly quiet.
WE WON! WE WON!!! Ummmmmm …. WHAT DID WE WIN?
This combination, military defeats in America and the loss of
will to fight back in England, led to a peace treaty being signed
in Ghent, Belgium on Dec. 24, 1814. The war would officially end in
February 1815 after ratification by both governments.
However, the Ghent talks actually started earlier in the year in
August 1814. Madison sent five delegates – including John Quincy
Adams and John Clay – and amongst American demands were the end of
impressment …. and turning over Canada to the United States.
Madison had balls! The Brits made even more ridicules demands; a
new Canadian border located farther to the south, the creation of
an independent Indian state in the northwest, British navigation
rights on the Mississippi River, the exclusion of American fishing
boats from the Grand Banks and the the exclusion of the American
Navy from the Great Lakes. The Brits had no brains!
But, in Ghent by December 1814 all parties dropped their
aggressive demands. A simple ceasefire was proposed, prisoners of
war would be exchanged, and captured territories from both sides
would be returned.
STUNNINGLY, impressment – one of the two major reasons for going
to war in the first place — was not even mentioned. Maritime issues
and trade policies – the other major reason for going to war – was
mentioned, but only that it would be addressed at some future
conference
1.
Strangely, the American diplomats were ecstatic. Why??? After
all that bloodshed and destruction, the Ghent Treaty insured that
both sides gained absolutely nothing …
as if the war never
happened. A Canadian historian wrote;
“It was as if no war had been fought, or to put it more
bluntly, as if the war that was fought was fought for no good
reason. For nothing has changed; everything is as it was in the
beginning save for the graves of those who, it now appears, have
fought for a trifle.”
[
1NOTE: By Dec 1814 the British practice of impressment
had all but ended. And, since France was no longer an enemy of
Britain, the Royal Navy no longer needed to stop American shipments
to France. Nevertheless, the United States and Britain would argue
about trade restrictions and access to markets for the next fifteen
years after Ghent! By 1830, the West Indies were far less
important to American exporters than new markets in Latin America.
Also by 1830, Britain’s commitment to mercantilism had been
replaced internally by support for free trade.
In other words, the
issues that so bothered Madison would have been resolved of their
own accord in due time … WITHOUT A WAR.The War of 1812
wasn’t concluded at Ghent …. it died of old age.]
INJUN INTERLUDE #1: UP A CREEK
Worthy of much further study than I have room for here, is the
significant victory by Jackson over the Creek Nation. At one time
or another the Brits, French, Spanish, and even other Indian
Nations (Tecumseh and his Shawnee) aligned with various factions
within the Creeks to make war against the United States. The war
against the Creeks officially ended in the Treaty of Fort Jackson
just five months before the war’s final battle at New Orleans.
A couple staggering statistics; 1) about 15% of the Creek
population was decimated and, 2) the treaty resulted in an enormous
land grab as the Creeks lost 36,000 square miles of their territory
(half of Alabama, and southern Georgia).
The Creeks, and to a lesser extent other Indian tribes, were to
play a significant role in the British alliance to attack New
Orleans. Had the Creeks won their war, the combined forces might
very well have overcome Jackson’s army, and New Orleans might have
been lost.
INJUN INTERLUDE #2: TECUMSEH, THE GREAT SHAWNEE
WARRIOR
Tecumseh was sick and tired of seeing the social and cultural
deterioration, inter-tribal conflict, and white encroachment on
Indian lands. So, he developed a plan. Indians needed to restore
control over their lives. The only way to do this, he said, was to
be unified, to overcome tribal differences, rebuild their
integrity, and create a Pan-Indian alliance strong enough to defeat
the military forces supporting white expansion. Starting in 1807,
he and his brother (Tenskwatawa – “The Prophet”) traveled
throughout the interior of America building this alliance of Indian
tribes. The obstacles were huge, especially overcoming the decades
of inter-tribal prejudices, fears, and wars. But, Tecumseh was a
powerful and compelling orator.
In village after village he preached unity to a dispirited
people. He urged them to reject the pollutants of the white man;
alcohol, European dress, Christianity. He also preached great
patience. He said they must avoid all confrontations with the
whites until the confederation was large and strong enough to
effectively resist the power of white armies. Isolated skirmishes
would only weaken them. They must wait until the time was
right,
Legend has it that Tecumseh said he would send a message when
the time was right.
He would stamp his foot—and when he did, the earth would shake,
the buffalo would stampede, the skies would become dark with birds
taking flight, huge cracks would open in the earth’s surface, and
the great river would flow backwards.
But, his brother, the Prophet, couldn’t wait. He launched into a
fiery oratory and convinced his followers of his own bullshit –
that the white man’s bullets could not harm them. So, in Nov. 1811
the Prophet battled an American force led by William Henry Harrison
at Tippecanoe Creek. The Prophet lost, and the dream of a
Pan-Indian alliance died with it. Tecumseh would go on to align his
small remnant of the Indian confederation with the British, fought
in the battle of Detroit, and was killed at the Battle of the
Thames in 1813, disbanding the alliance forever.
Most interestingly though, on Dec. 16, 1811, just over a month
after the disaster at Tippecanoe, a great earthquake shook Arkansas
and was felt throughout the Mississippi Valley, from Canada to the
Gulf of Mexico – the New Madrid earthquake. According to
eyewitnesses,
buffalo stampeded, the skies became dark with birds taking
flight, huge cracks opened in the earth’s surface, and the great
Mississippi River flowed backward.
Tecumseh’s prophecy had come to pass …. just not the way he
expected.
WHAT THE HELL …. LET”S HAVE ONE MORE BATTLE IN NEW
ORLEANS
The popular opinion amongst historians is that there simply
wasn’t enough time to cross the oceans to stop the British attack
on New Orleans. I don’t buy it.
The Ghent Peace Treaty was signed on Dec.24, 1814. On Dec. 13th,
a British fleet had landed about forty miles east of New Orleans.
It must have taken at least a month to get there. The Brits
commenced fire on January 8, 1815. The British Commanders and
Generals
surelymust have known that peace talks were in process.
So, a prudent thing to do would have been to at least
waitto see the
results.
And don’t forget that the Ghent talks were initiated way back in
August. Even
duringthose negotiations the dastardly Brits had four
invasions planned or underway; 1) the destruction of Washington, 2)
the destruction of Baltimore, 3) the Battle of Plattsburgh – where
10,000 British troops tried to cut off New England, and 4) and the
Battle Of New Orleans. The treacherous British had an Olive Branch
in one hand, and a Murderous Dagger in the other.
Two things made this battle so important. First, a victory in
New Orleans would have been a major boon for the British giving
them access to the interior of the U.S. via the Mississippi River.
Secongly, it would have given the Brits greater ability for their
desire to seal off the United States from the Gulf of Mexico,
further isolating the nation. (Furthermore — and this is my pure
conjecture — it could have led to a reversal of the Louisiana
Purchase, cutting the size of the United States in half.) But, this
much is absolutely certain; it would have given the Brits a major
trump card in negotiating the Ghent Treaty.
A popular opinion is that the British would have honored the
Ghent Treaty even if they won the battle. Of course, we’ll never
know but, I find that opinion enormously preposterous. The Brits,
still butt-sore about the beating they took in the Revolutionary
War – a war they still would not admit they lost in 1814 – hated
America and wanted revenge and destruction. And what history is
there of Britain – or any country – winning a huge major battle and
then just walking away from it? None. A major victory such as New
Orleans would absolutely have resulted in the United States being
forced into major concessions. If fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if
it would have led to an outright abrogation of the treaty. The
Brits were ruthless bastards when it suited them, and never forget,
they really
hatedAmerica.
What should be crystal clear is that far from being a senseless
battle, a British victory at New Orleans would have drastically
changed the future of America. But, they didn’t win.
They were
annihilated.
Let’s look at some interesting details.
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS …. ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST IMPORTANT
VICTORIES EVER
On the other hand, if you want to skip this section, just watch
this 3 minute song by Johnny Horton — he does a fine job ‘splaining
it! Nice pics too!
The British force consisted of roughly 8,000 troops — including
Royal Fusiliers, Highlanders, Light Infantry, and Light Dragoons —
disciplined troops with plenty of battle experience, having just
defeated the French.
Why capture New Orleans? Lord Castlereagh, the British foreign
secretary, said that once the large seaport towns of America were
“laid in ashes”and New Orleans captured, that the British
would have command of
“all the rivers of the Mississippi valley and the Lakes … the
Americans would be little better than prisoners in their own
country.”The Brits also intended to prevent America from
having
any
access to all of the Gulf Of Mexico.
General Andrew Jackson first had to prepare the city’s defenses
… not an easy task. New Orleans had a very diverse population and
resisted organization. So, Jackson threatened to blow up the
provincial legislature if it did not comply with his demands, one
of which was to suspend
habeas corpus. So, he declared martial law, turned the
city into a military camp, and took over complete control of the
city’s resources. This got their attention.
He organized all available manpower—frontiersmen, militiamen,
regular soldiers, Indians, slaves, townspeople including the city’s
unusually large population of free blacks and even the famous river
pirate, Jean Lafitte — about 4,000 in total. And then he built the
“Jackson Line” –a defensive line between the city and the
approaching British forces. Rodriguez Canal was a ten-foot-wide
millrace located just off the Mississippi River. Using local slave
labor, Madison widened the canal into a defensive trench. He then
built an eight foot tall earthen rampart, twenty feet wide in
parts, buttressed with timber, and protected by eight artillery
batteries When completed, it stretched nearly a mile from the east
bank of the Mississippi to a nearly impassable marsh. Jackson told
his men
“Here we shall plant our stakes and not abandon them until we
drive these red-coat rascals into the river, or the
swamp.”
The British commander, Cochrane, felt the area could be taken
with minimal forces with the help of the Spanish, Indians, and even
the people of New Orleans who he felt would welcome the British as
liberators. In retrospect, fairly idiotic assumptions.
The bottom line; it was a hopeless tactical situation for the
British with a swamp to the east of the American lines, and the
Mississippi River to west. This left the British with only one
route of attack—straight into the guns of the American forces
tucked inside a dry canal.
Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen laid withering fire against the
advancing British lines, killing or wounding more than 2,000
British soldiers, including three generals and seven colonels, in
less than an hour. One British veteran of the Napoleonic Wars
claimed it was
“the most murderous fire I ever beheld before or
since.”American casualties were about 13 killed, and 39
wounded.
[NOTE: Considerably more Americans were killed in the skirmishes
leading up to the final battle. For example, 6,000 British troops
snuck into the British headquarters at Villeré’s plantation.
Jackson resolved to attack immediately before the British advance
was reinforced and organized. He assembled 1,800 men in a battle
called “Night Attack”, and repelled the British, but not before
suffering 215 casualties.)
New Orleans was a tremendous victory—one which made Andrew
Jackson a national hero, and propelled him into the office of
President. And, regardless of the reason for the battle, whether or
not it was necessary, Madison certainly knew the fine art of
Presidential spinning; — necessary war, reluctantly entered,
rights, patriotism, and heroes – all in one brief sentence. (He
might as well have been talking about Iraq.)
“the late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had
become a necessary resort to assert the rights and independence of
the nation. It has been waged with a success which is the natural
result of the wisdom of the legislative councils, of the patriotism
of the people, of the public spirit of the militia, and of the
valor of the military and naval forces of the country Peace.”
A good detailed account of the battle can be found here:
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2014/10/10/the-battle-f...
* * *
THE AFTERMATH AND LEGACIES: 10 LESSONS
1)- First and foremost, let’s be brutally frank about the
REAL reason for this war; PRIDE and PATRIOTISM!The Brits
didn’t respect our independence. The French didn’t. Spain didn’t.
Most of the world thought it was just a fluke. Madison was
convinced the country had to prove to the rest of the world, as
well as to itself, that this new experiment in republican
government was a permanent fixture in the family of nations. And
the way to go about that was to confront Britain – the world’s most
powerful nation – that violating American rights would not go
unchallenged or unpunished. Unbridled Patriotism …so sweet in the
Revolutionary War, souring in the War Of 1812, and look where it
got us today.
2)- The war reinforced the Executive branch’s de facto
monopoly over foreign policy.When all’s said and done,
this was Madison’s war. Another example: John Quincy Adams would
defend Gen. Andrew Jackson’s invasion of Spanish Florida in the
undeclared war on the Seminoles. Dissenting members of Congress
could do nothing but gripe.
3) A NEW way of looking at the Constitution
emerged.Henry Clay said (emphasis mine); —
“
A new world has come into
being since the Constitution was adopted.Are the narrow,
limited necessities of the old thirteen states …
as they existed at the
formation of the present Constitution, forever to remain a rule of
its interpretation? Are we to forget the wants of our
country? I trust not, sir. I hope for better and nobler
things.”Evidently, the concept of a Living Constitution took
root a long, long time ago.
4)- The war changed how Americans viewed the
military.The Army and Navy became professional. The State
Militia took a back seat. Now the nation embraced military spending
as a necessity … even during times of peace.
“The most painful, perhaps the most profitable, lesson of the
war was the primary duty of the nation to place itself
in
a state of permanent
preparation for self-defense” —— future President John
Quincy Adams
Many learned that connection with the military is great for
one’s political career. Of the eleven presidents between Madison
and Lincoln, seven of them got their start in public life or
boosted their public careers during the War of 1812.
It only took 29 years after the end of the Revolutionary War for
America to declare its first war. Strangely enough,
this war was a complete and utter waste of human and capital
resources. The precedent was set. It wouldn’t be the last such
time America fought such a war.
5)—Politicians learned that with proper spin and
propagandizing the people can be rallied to LOVE A GOOD
WAR.Precious few citizens were in strong favor of the war
when it first started. But, at war’s end, the people were ecstatic.
A common refrain throughout the country is depicted in this piece
written in 1815 by a group known as “republican citizens of
Baltimore” stating that the war;
“ … has revived, with added luster the renown which brightened
the morning of our independence: it has called forth and organized
the dormant resources of the empire: it has tried and vindicated
our republican institutions: it has given us that moral strength,
which consists in the well earned respect of the world, and in a
just respect for ourselves. It has raised up and consolidated a
national character, dear to the hearts of the people, as an object
of honest pride and a pledge of future union, tranquility, and
greatness.”
War is good for slogans and jingoes.
“Don’t give up the ship”and
“We have met the enemy and they are ours”and
“Uncle Sam”and cute names for war equipment
“Old Ironsides”,and populist songs abounded. Symbols,
slogans, songs and sayings; that’s how you condition people’s minds
as to what it means to be an American. Mold ‘em like clay into
whatever form you want. At least there’s no record of Madison
proclaiming
“America is the greatest country in the world!!”.
6)- The war permanently changed America’s economic
model.Previous presidents, especially Jefferson,
championed an agrarian economy. He hoped that commerce would not
dominate America or its politics since that preoccupation would
inevitably draw the country into perpetual international turmoil.
Shortages caused by the various embargos, as well as the war
itself, led to the fast growth of the manufacturing sector in the
United States. Manufactures wanted protection from foreign
competition once peace was restored, even forming the
‘American Society of the Encouragement of American
Manufacturers’, a pro-tariff group. Active promotion of
commerce required further expansion of American military strength.
In other words, America would promote
“free trade”with the government’s help in aggressively
opening foreign markets ….. and threatening retaliation in the case
of uncooperative regimes by displaying the military card. It wasn’t
all that long before “free trade” gave way to mercantilism — a
special-interest economic protectionism.
7)- The devious and greedy amongst us started to notice
that war is damn good racket. Shortly after the war, in
1817, the New York Stock Exchange was founded … born in a bubble
created by the war. One year later the bubble burst in The Panic Of
1818. The war showed that hard money was for weenies. Paper money
was the way to go, and reams of it was printed so the government
could borrow it and finance the war. Note-issuing banks spread like
wildfire. Once the war ended, imports swelled which led to falling
commodity prices which led to big trouble for war-grown
manufacturers. Businesses went bust while simultaneously some
became filthy rich. See book —- >
https://mises.org/library/panic-1819-reactions-and-policies
8)- Politicians learned that war makes government more
powerful … and a great way to increase taxes. Albert
Gallatin, secretary of the Treasury from 1801 to 1814, said that
because of the war, the “
people are more American; they feel and act more as a nation
….. the war has laid the foundation of
permanent taxes and
military establishments, which the Republicans had deemed
unfavorable to the happiness and free institutions of the
country.”
9)- The war ended a political party.The Federalist
Party, the party of Washington and Adams, the party that had
dominated national affairs during the 1790s, was all but dead after
the war. They were staunchly against the war. They were even ready
to introduce legislation requiring a two-thirds vote of approval
for all future declarations of war, and that legislation
restricting trade, such as the embargo, should also require a
two-thirds vote. That is, until the stunning news of Jackson’s
victory at New Orleans arrived in Washington. They picked the wrong
cause. The country was in no mood for an anti-war party. And,
within a few years of the war, they just faded into oblivion.
10)- Expansionism.The victory over not only the
Brits, but also over the Indians in the Northwest and Southwest,
opened up the West as never before, and resulted in huge
territorial gains. Westward expansion, in turn, indirectly led to
the Civil War forty six years later because it was bitter
disagreement about the
expansion of
slavery
, rather than its existence in the Old South, which was a key
reason for the War of Northern Aggression.
GOOD, BAD, or UGLY?
I originally titled this article
“1812: The War That Changed America Forever For Worse”.
I’m not sure whether or not that conclusion is 100% accurate.
The “inconsequential” war certainly and drastically changed
America, of that there is no doubt. Whether for the good, or bad,
you’ll have to decide for yourself.
On the positive side, the war did cement American
independence. It proved that to defeat America on its home ground,
a very, very large army, and a great commitment to prolonged and
bloody war, was going to be needed. At the start of the war even
Americans wondered whether the republic could survive a real
crises. Many felt with Governor Morris did, that
— ‘it was as vain to expect the permanency of democracy as to
construct a palace on the surface of the sea.’Now they had
their answer.
Americans would no longer be oriented towards Britain. We
achieved freedom from Europe. We would turn to developing our own
vast resources, and forget about Europe. Our National Government
was here to stay.
The end of the war led to a burst of patriotism in the USA as
evidenced, in part, by the immediate and widespread popularity of
“The Star Spangled Banner” The Nile Register wrote —
“Who would not be an American? Long live the republic! All
hail! Last asylum of oppressed humanity!” Such a
comment would have never been made before the war. A whole new
national identity arose in
“the dawn’s early light”.
On the negative side; the war left the country
with constitutional revisionism, centralized power, protectionism,
mercantilism, expansionism, blind patriotism, and militarism. That
decentralist small-government thingy conceived by the Founding
Fathers didn’t last very long, did it? One must wonder
“War, what is it good for? Was it all worth it?”
* * *
Most excellent resource —
War Of
1812 Website