James Madison4th President

War of 1812

I. The Road to War

- Madison is President #4

- Americans and the Native Americans kept fighting over ppl pushing west

- Britain started to supply guns to the N. Americans

- We didn’t like this… lead to War Hawks(group in Congress that wanted a war with Britain)

- Other reasons to go to war…

1. stop Britain from seizing American ships

2. Seize Canada, a Britain colony

3. Seize Florida from Spain, a British ally

4. Show strength of the US

5. End British aid to N. Amer in the West

- Congress declares war in 1812

II. We fight!!

- US has small army and only 16 navy ships while Britain was bigger and well trained

- British burn most of Washington DC including the White House

(Dolly Madison, First Lady, saw the British coming and grabbed all the important documents and loaded them into wagons to preserve them. Washington’s portrait was one of the items saved.)

- War ended with the Treaty of Ghent

Dolly Madison saving the Declaration of Independence & George Washington’s portrait.

Event 2: The Battle at Fort McHenry – September 13-14, 1814

After British forces burned Washington, D.C., they made their way towards Maryland to

capture Baltimore Harbor. If the British were to accomplish this feat, they would have a

stronghold on the war, something Americans sought desperately to prevent.

The British first tried to attack Americans at North Point in their attempt to take

Baltimore, however a tough and determined group of Maryland militia members were

able to hold them and fend them off. After this rather unexpected setback, British naval

forces set their sights on Fort McHenry, surrounded by water on three sides. The British

ships were unable to pass Fort McHenry and penetrate Baltimore Harbor because of its

defenses, including a chain of 22 sunken ships. Yet, they were able to come close

enough to fire rockets and mortars at the fort.

On September 13, 1814, nineteen British ships aimed their cannons and guns on the fort,

firing between 1,500 and 1,800 cannonballs at the fort. The British bombardment of the

fort lasted close to twenty-five hours and brilliantly lit up a dark night sky. Due to the

poor accuracy of the British weapons, very little damage was done before the British

ceased their attack on the morning of 14 September due to a lack of ammunition. The

Battle of Fort McHenry was a key battle and a major turning point in the War of 1812 as

at its conclusion, the United States had the clear upperhand over Great Britain in the

war.

A View of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry, by J. Bower, 1816

When the British withdrew after their temporary occupation of Washington, D.C.,

they took an American physician, Dr. William Beanes, of Upper Marlboro,

Maryland with them. Attorney Francis Scott Key was asked to obtain the release of

Dr. Beanes and traveled with a U.S. agent for prisoners to the British fleet in

Chesapeake Bay to arrange for Beanes' freedom.

While Key was with the fleet, the British began their attack on Baltimore by

bombarding Fort McHenry on the night of September 13, 1814. The following

morning when Key saw the U.S. flag still flying over the fort, he wrote a poem that

would become known as "The Star-Spangled Banner." When he was released from

the British fleet, his poem was printed in the form of a handbill entitled "Defense of

Fort M'Henry." It quickly became popular and was set to the music of the British

drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven.” Source: http://starspangled200.org/History/Pages/Key.aspx

Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key

O say can you see by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

By a law signed on March 3, 1931 by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled

Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States of America.

Quick Facts about the Fort McHenry Flag

• Made in Baltimore, Maryland, by flagmaker Mary Pickersgill

• Commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry

• Original size: 30 feet by 42 feet; Current size: 30 feet by 34 feet

• Fifteen stars and fifteen stripes (one star has been cut out)

• Raised over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, to

signal American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore

• Inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”

• Preserved by the Armistead family as a memento of the battle

• First loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907; converted to

permanent gift in 1912 Source: http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/starflag.htm

- Military leader Andrew Jackson had not heard about the treaty yet

- Fought and won the Battle of New Orleans against the British

III. Results of War

- Mixed feelings because…

- Relations between the US and Britain returned to the way they had been before the war

- US invasion into Canada failed

- Relations with N. Americans were strained

- Many felt pride in their country