Krystian Masiewicz

H.W. #14

B-Band
Due:10/23/15

A. Start of War of 1812

1. On the evening of the War of 1812 the army was untrained, undisciplined and scattered.
2. The militia was there to help them but they were even more unqualified than the regular
army and were known to quickly leave battle.
3. The generals who led America to victory during the revolution were now weak and had
bad sight.
4. America decided to invade Detroit, Niagara and Lake Champlain instead of Montreal.
This caused their offensive strategy to be weak because they didn't attack the center
(Montreal) and instead focused on other less important places.
5. The British and Canadian armies were very smart from the beginning capturing the
American Fort of Michilimackinac.
6. The opposing armies were led by general Isaac Brock.
7. When America's land invasions against Canada failed they tried to find success on the
sea. The American navy was a lot better than the British one because of their better
gunners which allowed them to take on their huge fleet.
8. Having control of the Great Lakes was important due to them being the middle of the
battle.
9. Oliver Hazard Perry captured a British fleet on the lakes, which lifted everyone's spirits
in the American cause.
10. Even with these successes Americans in 1814 had to defend their own soil against the
British instead of invading Canada
11. In 1814 the British prepared to invade along the familiar lake river route in New York
unfortunately for them they battled Thomas McDonough near Plattsburgh on September
11th 1814 which caused the invading British Army to retreat and New York was saved.
B. Washington Burned
1. On August 1814 a large British force with about 4,000 people landed in Chesapeake Bay.
They entered the capital and set fire to most of the public buildings including the White
House
2. Americans in Baltimore held firm and the British was unable to capture the city.
3. While watching the attack on a British ship Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the
words of the Star Spangled Banner. The song soon became very popular.
4. The British were too confident and they made a mistake of launching a frontal assault on
trenched American rifleman. Over two thousand were killed or wounded, compared to
only about seventy Americans. (Battle of New Orleans)

5. Andrew Jackson became a national hero, and many people praised him for the victory in
New Orleans.
6. When word got around that a treaty was signed ending the war, before the battle it didn't
matter to nobody. The war wasn't fought just to win, but more importantly for honor. The
battle gave America a lot of self-confidence.
C. Treaty of Ghent
1. Tsar Alexander I, suggested a peace treaty because he didn't want the British army
who was one of his big allies to weaken, battling in America.
2. In 1814, five peacemakers (led by John Quincy Addams) came to Ghent and were
met by ridiculous demands from Britain for control of the Great Lakes and partial
control of Maine. The Americans refused these demands.
3. When the British heard that their army wasn't doing so well in New York and
Baltimore, they were more open to a compromise.
4. The Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve of 1814. It said that both sides
will stop fighting and return any conquered territory. None of the things America
fought for were mentioned, such as Indian menace and Orders in Council.
5. The lack of anything else besides a stop in the fighting, showed that America
didn't actually defeat the British, and that it was actually a tie.
D. Hartford Convention
1. In late 1814, Massachusetts called for a convention in Hartford, Connecticut.
2. Men from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont
met in secret from December 15 to January 6 to talk about how to remedy their
problems.
3. The conventions final report was to demand financial assistance from Washington for
the lost trade, and a new constitutional law where two thirds of congress had to agree
to start a war, an embargo or impose new states.
4. The demands were made because the Federalists feared that New England will
become like the agrarian west and south
5. Three envoys carried these demands to the burned White House, but when they heard
of Ghent and New Orleans, their demands seemed unimportant and treacherous. After
realizing this, the trio sank away without saying anything.
6. The Hartford Convention was the end of the Federalist party, with their last Federalist
president being James Monroe.
E. Second War for American Independence
1. The War of 1812 was small, but had huge consequences for America. Many nations
gained respect for America's fighting abilities.

2. People regarded the War of 1812 as the Second War for Independence due to it
having to do with Britain trying to interfere with American independence, such as
having their forts on US territory. America became much more free from Britain after
the war.
3. Canadians patriotism was also lifted as they were mad about Ghent and the inability
to gain mastery of the Great Lakes.
F. Increased Nationalism
1. The most impressive outcome of the War of 1812 was the heightened nationalism.
America came out of the war as one nation.
2. This nationalism led to the beginning of national literature.
3. Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper gained recognition in the 1820s for
using American themes in their writing.
4. Textbooks were now written by Americans for Americans.
5. The new mood led to other things such as rebuilding the burned capital, even better
than before and restoring the Bank of America.
G. Economy after the war.
1. When the war ended in 1815, the British started to dump the contents of their
warehouses on the US, often cutting their prices to kill the young American factories.
2. Congress passed the Tariff of 1816 that put a 25 percent tax rate on imported goods.
3. Henry Clay started a plan called the American System. There were three main points
to the system. A strong bank system to provide a lot of credit, a tariff that would
provide funds, for roads on which good could be delivered back and forth.
4. The demands for roads by Clay spoke to the people, as they wanted roads too. They
had trouble invading Canada due to no roads.
5. Everyone wanted roads, except New England, because it would diminish their
population and start competition.
H. Beginning of the Era of Good Feeling
1. James Monroe was nominated for presidency in 1816, by the republicans.
2. Trying to secure federal funding for roads and canals, was a problem. Congress voted
to give $1.5 million to the states, but Madison vetoed the bill claiming it was
unconstitutional.
3. The states were forced to continue with their constructions on their own.
4. Monroe is said to be the weakest and the least known of the first eight presidents.
I. The Panic of 1819
1. In 1819, an economic panic started. It brought deflation, bankruptcies, bank failures,
unemployment and overcrowded pesthouses.
2. This was the first economic depression since Washington was in office.

3. The panic was caused by the banks giving out too many loans, and later having to
mortgage many farms.
J. Opinions on slaves.
1. There was a lot of tension between the slave free north and the south.
2. In 1819, Missouri asked congress to become a slave state. Congress denied their
request saying no more slaves should be brought into Missouri (Tallmadge
amendment)
3. This angered the south and they managed to defeat the Tallmadge amendment in the
senate by threatening sectional balance.
4. Since in the senate each state gets two votes, and there were eleven slave holding
states and eleven free states, it was a tie.
5. After a while congress gave in and made Missouri a slave state, but added Maine as
its own separate state. This evened out the states again. Now with twelve states that
had slaves, and twelve that didn't. This compromise lasted thirty-four years.
6. The south and north weren't happy, but they weren't unhappy either, they knew the
Missouri compromise was not going to last and the union would break apart.
7. Both the Missouri compromise and the panic of 1819 made Monroe's career fall. Yet,
his popularity and smooth talking got him elected in 1820, with only one electoral
vote not being for him.
K. John Marshall
1. Marshall dominated the Supreme Court.
2. One of his most famous cases was McCulloh v. Maryland. (1819)
3. Maryland wanted to destroy a branch of the Bank of the United States by imposing a
tax on it.
4. Marshall said the bank was constitutional and that the states could not impose taxes
on federal government.
5. Another case was the Cohens v. Virginia. Cohens found Virginia guilty for selling
lottery tickets. Virginia won because Cohens' conviction was upheld.
L. Old Northwest
1. After the War of 1812, the Northwest welcomed settlers. With the transportation
boom of 1820, steamboats opened up a flow of western movement.
2. The first wave of settlers were from Kentucky and Virginia. Most of the settlers were
white farmers who wanted to buy land.
3. The Northwest was an escape to some farmers from the low social positions they had
previously.
M. Acquiring Florida
1. At the south lay Spanish Florida, Americans beloved that its geographic position was
destiny for it to join the United States.

2. Americans claimed West Florida when they came in uninvited and tore down the
Spanish flag in 1810.
3. After many revolutions broke out, Spain had to clear Florida of troops, to be able to
fight the rebels.
4. General Andrew Jackson took the opportunity and seized the two most important
Spanish posts. (St. Marks, and Pensacola)
5. In the Florida purchase treaty of 1819, Spain gave Florida to America in exchange for
Texas.
In the war of 1812, the United States took on a huge naval force, which was the British.
They had the biggest navy and most powerful navy and were a tough power to defeat. The end of
the war made a huge impact on America's future. The war is sometimes referred to as the second
war of independence, due to America trying to stop Britain from attempting to control them. The
United States went into the War of 1812 to again fight for their independence, but also to make
sure Britain stops taking away their ships, and forcing American sailors to work on British ships.
Britain was in a war with Napoleon and both the British and the French tried to stop
America from trading with the other. Jefferson imposed an embargo act, but was later just
changed to stopping trade with only Britain and France. Britain also took American sailors and
forced them to work on British ships. This of course made the Americans very angry. They didn't
want Britain to control them still, like they used to. They were also mad about the embargo
policies that happened due to Britain and France pressuring us to choose sides. The British
wanted to make sure cargo wouldn't get into the French hands, so they seized it in the middle of
the sea. This also angered the Americans and they wanted Britain to stop doing this, and to let go
of them. Britain didn't want to, and instead went into war because they felt it was an extension of
the revolutionary war, which they lost. All America wanted was to just get their men back and to
get their ships back. For Britain it was about a lot more than just hurting America. America didn't
want to be just partially free, they wanted to be completely free from Britain that's why they
fought the war of 1812, so that they could stop being treated like a younger child. They fought
the war because of the embargo acts that Britain had caused, and because of all the impressments
of American sailors