"While the western War Hawks urged war in the hope of conquering Canada, the people of Georgia, Tennessee, and the Mississippi Territory entertained similar designs against Florida, a Spanish possession. By 1812, the westerners were convinced that their problems could best be solved by forcing the British out of Canada. Stories were circulated after every Indian raid of British Army muskets and equipment being found on the field. "The seat of anti-British fever was in the Northwest and the lower Ohio Valley, where the land-hungry frontiersmen had no doubt that their troubles with the Indians were the result of British intrigue. (Students can look for these names as they read documents from Congress.)Īccording to American Military History: The War of 1812 on The United States Army website, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet Pubic Library: Johnson of Kentucky Felix Grundy of Tennessee Langdon Cheeves, William Lowndes, John C. 30) Among the legislators Hickey lists as War Hawks are Henry Clay and Richard M. 1548-1549)Īccording to Donald Hickey's The War of 1812 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press), "By directing debate and interpreting the rules, by packing key committees and acting forcefully behind the scenes, he insured that the War Hawks dominated the 12th Congress." (P. Madison was no tool of the war party (see Theodore Clark Smith, 1931), although he ultimately supported its program." (P. would not have been involved in war had it not been for maritime and commercial issues. "Despite expansionist pressures, the U.S. The Southerners wanted to wrest Florida from Spain, Britain's ally. Those from the Northwest, eager to destroy the frontier Native American menace they attributed to British intrigue and incitement, equated security with land hunger and demanded the conquest of Canada. Northern and Southern War Hawks found common ground in expansionism, (J.W. "Most of the War Hawks came from the agrarian areas of the South and West whose people were hardly affected by maritime issues (although some Westerners claimed that the orders in council had crippled their markets for agricultural produce) yet they chose to view maritime seizure and impressments as outrages upon national rights and honor. "The prowar feeling that swept the country in 1810-11 left its mark on the congressional elections. According to The Encyclopedia of American History: Secondary accounts offer slightly different versions of the importance of the War Hawks in the run up to the War of 1812.Help your students understand the reasons the president gave for going to war, while heightening their appreciation of the value of archival sources. EDSITEment resources offer primary documents that illuminate key points in President Madison's War Message. He also explained his decision not to recommend war with France at that time. In it, he listed a series of transgressions Great Britain had committed against the U.S. On June 1, 1812, President Madison sent a letter-later dubbed his war message-to both houses of Congress. The decision to go to war is one of the most serious an American president faces. The announcement had conditions attached, and France continued to interfere with American shipping. But in 1810 Napoleon's announcement that France would no longer seize American ships convinced President Madison to allow trade with France. A state of war that began in 1803 and would continue until after Napoleon's abdication in 1814 resulted in a loss of commerce that devastated the American economy while doing little to change the policies of France and Britain.Ībuses to American commerce on the part of Britain and France continued. The act restricted trade with foreign nations. Between 1805-07, a large number of American ships were seized and impressments of American sailors into service on British ships increased, leading Congress to pass an extreme measure, the Embargo Act of 1807. shipping rights actually began while George Washington was president and grew during Thomas Jefferson's term in office (1800-1808), when Madison served as Secretary of State. According to the essay James Madison, 'Creating the Balance' on the EDSITEment resource The American President, "Madison's presidency was dominated by a crisis with Great Britain, which for years had been grossly violating American shipping rights." This crisis over U.S.
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