The War of 1812 and American Expansion and

Judicial Nationalism

October 26, 2010

Election of 1812

American ProblemsAmerican Problems• The US was unprepared militarily:

– Had a 12-ship navy vs. Britain’s800 ships.

– Americans disliked a draft preferred to enlist in the disorganized state militias.

– Led by “semi-senile heirlooms” from the Revolutionary War

• Financially unprepared:– Flood of paper $.– Revenue from import tariffs declined.

• Regional disagreements.

American Plan to Invade Canada

• 3 pronged attack – stupid– 1 prong against Montreal would have cut off

everything to the west

• All three prongs beaten shortly after crossing into Canada in 1812

1813 Campaigns• Purple

attacks were lost by the US

• Blue were won by the US

• Perry’s victory on Lake Erie: “We have met the enemy and they are ours”

1814 - America was defending its own soil

• Napoleon had been exiled by mid-1814 and British turned attention to US

• British tried to invade N. New York through the lake/river route and had to ship their supplies over the lake Champlain waterway

• American fleet, led by Thomas Macdonough challenged the British and were about to lose when Macdonough swung his ship around with cables and hit the enemy broadside (September 11, 1814)

• Yay for America– Upped American morale

• British had to retreat• Affected treaty negotiations in Europe

Burning of Washington D.C.

• 4000 British troops landed in the Chesapeake in August 1814

– Advanced on Washington

– Dispersed 6000 militia

• Invaders set fire to the capital

British fleet attack Baltimore• Beaten by Fort

McHenry

• Francis Scott Key was an American detained on a British ship when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner “bombs bursting in air”

New Orleans• In late 1814, the British attacked New Orleans

to halt trade on the Mississippi• They were met by Andrew Jackson and his

rough forces (7000)– Including two Louisiana regiments of free black

volunteers ~ 400 men

• Americans entrenched themselves and were attacked by 8000 veteran English soldiers, but with a frontal assault– Attackers suffered the worst defeat of the war >

2000 killed and wounded in half and hour • Only 70 Americans died

New Orleans

• Battle happened 2 weeks after the peace treaty had been signed at Ghent

• Still made Jackson a hero

The Treaty of Ghent• Negotiated by Alexander I of Russia (who didn’t

want his ally, England, to lose its strength on this battle)

• In 1814 envoys from both nations met in Ghent, Belgium

– JQA and Henry Clay from US

• England made huge demands– Neutralized Indian buffer state in the Great Lakes– Control of the Great Lakes– Much of Maine

• Americans said no and talks stalled…until…word of reverses in upstate NY and Baltimore caused England to give in more

– England wanted revenge but didn’t want to pay the price

The Treaty of Ghent• Signed on December 24, 1814

– Ceasefire– Restore conquered territory– No real issue was

addressed• “Indian menace”,

Impressment, Orders in Council, etc.

• BECAUSE AMERICA DIDN’T WIN!

– The war and the treaty were both a draw

Federalist Grievances at Hartford• New England was still defiant and angry about their

economic losses at Hartford• Late in 1814, Hartford Convention

– MA, CT, RI sent full delegations; NH and VT sent partial ones

• Met for 3 weeks in secrecy to discuss redress for grievances. Demanded:

– Financial assistance from the gov. to compensate for lost trade– Constitutional amendments requiring a 2/3 vote in Congress before:

an embargo, admittance of a new state, or war (except in case of an invasion)

• 3 envoys took these demands to the shell of Washington, but they arrived when news of the victory at New Orleans and at Ghent arrived

– Looked like idiots; Considered treasonous by some

• KILLED THE FEDERALIST PARTY– Last election was 1816 and they lost terribly

Effects of the War of 1812• Small war: 6000 American casualties• America was not a wimp

– Street cred and proper respect in the world– Diplomatically could be seen as America’s 2nd war for

independence

• Sectionalism was shot down• War heroes emerged

– Jackson and Harrison become presidents

• Manufacturing prospered• While there was initially Anti-English sentiments in

America and Anti-American sentiments in Canada, there was never another conflict between these nations and it all worked out

Effects of the War of 1812 - Nationalism

• Truly “American” authors– Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper

• School books now written by Americans, for Americans

• American magazines• American painters• Revival of the Bank of the US in 1816• Even nicer looking Washington DC

reemerged• Kicked but against the pirates of North Africa

in 1815

Tariff of 1816

• Nationalistic Congress passed the first truly protective tariff

– Tariff of 1816 • To protect baby factories in NE from British who

were trying to undersell them• 20-25% on the value of a product• Not perfect, but helped

The American System

• Henry Clay came up with a new way to help America develop a profitable home market: The American System

– Strong Banking System to provide easy credit– Protective tariff to allow eastern manufacturing to

flourish– Revenues from the tariff would fund the building

of roads and canals (especially in the Ohio Valley) to ship agricultural goods from S and W to the N and E and ship manufactured goods back

Transportation demands• Transportation was a

major problem during the War of 1812

• Congress tried to pass money to provide funding for the states to build necessary transportation in 1817

– Madison vetoed it as unconstitutional

• States had to take it on as their own project– Erie Canal (1825) by NY

Election of 1816

“Era of Good Feelings”

• James Monroe was elected to office in 1816, soundly defeating the last Federalist opponent

• Bridged the old and new generations

– Last to wear an “old style” hat

• Serene, but not intellectually or leadership-ly distinguished

• He had a sober administration which was needed then

“Era of Good Feelings” • Monroe took a goodwill tour in 1817 to inspect

defenses– New England and then Detroit– Even in “enemy” NE, the Boston paper

announced that an “Era of Good Feelings” had been ushered in

– Phrase used to describe Monroe’s administration• Should only be applied to the first years• Panic, Tariff, the Bank, and Sectionalism were

all causing problems at this time– Also used to describe one-party America

• Federalists were dead

The Panic of 1819

• 1st large scale national panic since founding of US

• Many causes – but overspeculation in Western Lands was the main one

• BUS called in loans to wildcat western banks– Foreclosed farms– Westerners hated BUS

Growing Pains in the West• Nine frontier states added from 1791-1819

– Cheap land– Immigrants– Exhausted soil in the East– Improved transportation– Subdued Indians…

• Still small in population and representation– Demanded cheap land

• Land Act of 1820: 80 acres for $1.25 per acre– Cheap Money – Wildcat Banks

American Expansion

Slavery and the Sectional Balance

• Previously states had been admitted equally as free or slave

• South felt it was important to keep up political strength

• What to do about Missouri?– Tallmadge Amendment – gradual

emancipation – not passed by Senate– Beginning of real sectional issues

The Missouri Compromise

• How to deal with land in the Louisiana Purchase

• Drew a line at 36° 30’– Above the line would be free states

• Except Missouri would be slave and Maine would be admitted as free (even balance)

– Below the line would be slave states

The Missouri Compromise

Election of 1820

• Monroe only president to be re-elected after being president in a term in which a major financial panic began

• Federalist opposition too weak

John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism

• John Marshall was still the Chief Justice and he reflected his Federalist (and therefore strong federal gov) beliefs in his rulings.

• Major proponent of loose construction: – Constitution derived from the consent of the

people and the government was permitted to act for their benefit

• These were court cases that set precedent

McCulloch v. Maryland:

• States don’t have the power to tax or infringe upon the federal bank

• Declared bank constitutional by invoking loose construction

Cohens v. Virginia:

• Marshall asserted the right of the Supreme Court to review the decisions of state supreme courts in questions involving powers of the federal government

Gibbons v. Ogden

• State of NY tried to grant a monopoly to a company to operate the shipping of commerce between NY and NJ, but this was a federal power

• Struck out at states’ rights and upheld power of federal government

Judicial Dikes against Democratic Excesses

• Marshall protected property rights from state governments– Secured a lasting conservative track for the country

• Right of the Supreme Court to invalidate unconstitutional State laws.

• Businesses are protected from domination by state governments.– Created a precedent that businesses wouldn’t be

messed with – which caused some problems with corporations in need of reining in later.

Fletcher v. Peck

• Georgia tried to get out of a contract, but Marshall upheld that a contract could not be impaired by the states

Dartmouth v. Woodward

• Dartmouth had been granted a charter by King George III, but NH tried to change it. Marshall upheld that the charter was a contract and was protected.

• Daniel Webster led the case for Dartmouth

Sharing Oregon with England• Nationalism spurned

expansion

• Treaty of 1818– Americans share

fishing rights off of Newfoundland

– Louisiana Purchase would run across 49th parallel

– 10 year joint occupation of the Oregon territory

Sharing Oregon with England

Fighting for Florida

• Spain removed troops from FL during South American revolutions 1816-1818

• Native Americans, runaway slaves, and whites from Florida began to terrorize those across the border

• Jackson was commissioned to punish the outlaws, but he instead took over the area

• JQA said make the best of it…

Adams-Onis Treaty

• AKA “Florida Purchase Treaty”

• America got Florida

• Spain gave up claims on Oregon

• America gave up claims on Texas– Rewrote LA Purchase Boundary

The Monroe Doctrine - 1823

• In reaction to European worries about Democracy and England’s fear of American expansion

• Era of colonization in the Americas was over, whatever you had you could try to keep, but you couldn’t take more– Couldn’t actually act against a European

power wanting more with our measly Navy– No one cared at the time, but later…