Background/European Conflict

• Great Britain and France are at war

• Great Britain and France use impressment

Solution?

• Thomas Jefferson felt that an Embargo would peacefully solve the issue of impressment

• In 1807 Congress passed the Embargo Act which made foreign trade illegal

• Did not solve the problem/Smugglers exported goods and impressment continued

Mr. Madison’s War

• James Madison takes office in 1809• Rocky relationship with Great Britain • 3 Reasons For War

1. Britain continues impressment

2. Britain arms Native Americans to keep us from moving west

3. War Hawks thought we could gain the land of present day Canada

Tecumseh

• Shawnee Chief

• Urged Native Americans to fight Americans to keep them from moving and settling in western lands

• Wanted to restore Indian Land

William Henry Harrison• US Gov’t was worried about

Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison took action

• Famous for the Battle of Tippecanoe

• Harrison and 1,000 men defeated Native Americans at Tippecanoe and at the Battle of Thames

• Battle of Thames is were Tecumseh is killed

Indiana Territory Governor

War Hawks

• Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun became leaders in the House of Representatives

• They are both outraged with Great Britain and are strongly in favor of declaring war on them

Declaration of War

• US declares war on Great Britain June 1812

• Great Britain still at war with France• US thought it would be an easy war, but

the spending cuts by Jefferson weakened the military

• To start the war the US Navy had only 17 warships and less than 7,000 men compared to 135 British war ships

Early Battle at Sea

• August 1812• The ships engaged each other for over an

hour and eventually the USS Constitution tore off the Mast of the British Guerriere

• USS Constitution defeated the British Guerriere

• USS Constitution nicknamed “Old Ironsides” because according to tradition the British fire bounced off the thick wooden hull.

USS Constitution (Old Ironsides)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRpqWP_SLb0

Burning of the Whitehousehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LgV6KIDtoE

August 24, 1814

Attack on Fort McHenry

• After attacking the Whitehouse the British moved on to Baltimore and attacked the city’s Fort McHenry

• British hit the fort with heavy fire

• An American named Francis Scott Key would write a poem about the American victory called the “Star Spangled Banner”

• Original flag from Fort McHenry that inspired The Star Spangled Banner

Treaty of Ghent

• Technically ended the war with Great Britain

• Signed Christmas Eve 1814 in Ghent, Belgium

Battle of New Orleans

• January 1815• Word of treaty had

not got back to states

• General Andrew Jackson and his men defeated the British at New Orleans

• 2000 British dead• 70 Americans dead

War of 1812 Outcomes

• The second time within 40 years that we defeated Great Britain

• No land or territory changes

• Outcomes

- The US is now considered a super power

- Great Britain stops using impressment

- Increased sense of Nationalism in America