The War of 1812

The War of 1812 was fought between both the United States and Britain from June 18, 1812, to February 17, 1815, regarding British breaches of American territorial waters. It came to an abrupt end only with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The Treaty of Ghent had been signed on December 24, 1814, at Ghent, Belgium, by American and British delegates, putting an end to the War of 1812. All seized land was to be restored under the terms of the agreement, and panels were to be formed to determine the US-Canada border. The War of 1812 is among the most neglected events in American history.

Relations with Britain deteriorated significantly after Jefferson became president in 1801. Regular administration of the Rule of 1756 resumed after 1805. The overwhelming British naval triumph of Trafalgar, as well as British attempts to blockade French ports, pushed Napoleon to shut Britain off from European and American commerce. Napoleon's Continental System was founded, which interfered mostly on the United States' impartial privileges by classifying ships that entered British ports as enemy vessels.

The British responded with Orders in Council on November 11, 1807 which required neutral vessels to get licenses before dealing with France or French colonies at British harbors. In response, France issued the Milan Decree on December 17, 1807, which expanded the Continental System by allowing the seizure of any impartial vessel that had agreed to a British inspection. As a result, American ships that followed British orders risked being captured by the French in European ports, but if they followed Napoleon's Continental System, they risked being captured by the Royal Marines.

Great Britain's unwillingness to renounce neutral rights originated from more than just the urgency of the European war. The Royal Navy was essential to British industry and shipping interests. Also to develop and maintain British trade against American competitors. Many Americans believed they were being forced to a colonial position as a result of the program. Englishmen, on the other hand, condemned American efforts that essentially registered the US in Napoleon's Continental System.

The United States eventually caused damage to Indian agriculture and much of British commerce, which resulted in Britain cancelling all commerce between the nations on June 16, 1812. Some have interpreted the timing of this compromise as a missed opportunity for reconciliation, citing the month-long delay in getting the news to Washington due to delayed transatlantic connection. However, because Britain's colonial expansion policy remained in effect and frontier Indian warfare continued, the repeal of commerce would not have been enough to avoid war.

Neither the English in Canada nor the Americans were war-ready. In 1812, Americans were wildly optimistic. “We can capture the Canadas without soldiers,” said US Secretary of War William Eustis, “we have to send officers into the province and the people...will rally round our standard.” O nly the militia of Kentucky is capable of placing Montreal and Upper Canada at your feet, Henry Clay stated.

Primarily concerned with the War in Europe, the British government considered American actions as an irritating distraction, leading in a scarcity of manpower, equipment, and naval assets until later in the event. The sole comfort for the English in Canada was an American military weariness as they executed operations under the shadow of shortages. Michigan territorial governor William Hull led American troops into Canada from Detroit, but Isaac Brock and Tecumseh's soldiers chased Hull back over the border and terrified him into abandoning Detroit without firing a shot on August 16, 1812. This was behavior that Americans and even Brock's officers found shameful.

Following this, Native attacks and British expeditions commanded by Maj. Gen. Henry Procter decimated the Northwest. William Henry Harrison, Hull's successor, could hardly maintain a few isolated posts. With the stubborn New England militias, US Brig. Gen. Henry Dearborn was unable to invade Montréal on the northeastern frontier. On October 13, 1812, American forces led by Stephen van Rensselaer breached the Niagara River to capture Queenston, but were stopped by a tenacious British resistance led by Brock, who'd been killed in the battle. The following invasion attempts on the Niagara by US Gen. Alexander Smyth were such a disaster.

Officers including Isaac Hull, Stephen Decatur, and William Bainbridge commanded large warships in remarkable single-ship actions early in the war, boosting declining American morale. The British Admiralty retaliated by ordering commanders to avoid individual battles with Americans, and within a year, the Royal Navy had blockaded key American harbors, stranding American warships. Raids on the Chesapeake Bay coasts were also carried out by British Adm. George Cockburn. Britain's block was expanded throughout New England to Georgia in 1814, and forces led by John Sherbrooke captured swaths of Maine.

The British justified their actions as punishment for the previous year's American burning of Toronto, Upper Canada's capital. The British invasion on Baltimore was delayed when the Americans resisted an invasion at Northpoint and held off a fleet shelling of Fort McHenry, which prompted Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner.  The British departed Chesapeake Bay to organize an attack on New Orleans after Ross was murdered at Baltimore.

Meanwhile, New England Federalists assembled in Hartford, Connecticut, to propose solutions to their concerns over the war's impact on trade. The Hartford Convention, which met from December 15, 1814, to January 5, 1815, passed modest resolutions, but its sheer existence caused other areas of the country to doubt New England's loyalty and Federalist devotion, securing the party's collapse.

The Russian tsar offered to mediate as soon as the war broke out. Although London declined, early British attempts for an armistice demonstrated a determination to compromise in order for Britain to focus solely on Napoleon. The talks began in August 1814 in Ghent, but the British hesitated while awaiting the results of a decisive win in America. Most Englishmen were enraged that the United States had become Napoleon's unintentional friend, but that anger was calmed among a nation who'd been at war in Europe for much more than 20 years. 

As a result, the British government decided to negotiate peace after hearing of Plattsburgh and Baltimore, and on the advise of the Duke of Wellington, commander of the British army at the Battle of Waterloo. The British abandoned intentions to modify the Canadian border and build an Indian barrier state in the Northwest, while the Americans abandoned efforts to end impressment.

On December 24, 1814, the delegates concluded a treaty. The Treaty of Ghent did not resolve the problems that had led to the war based on the pre-war status quo, but Britain became too tired to fight it at the time, and the US administration deemed avoiding losing it a tolerable replacement for triumph. Despite this, many Americans believed they had won the competition.

Without knowing about the treaty, British forces led by Edward Pakenham approached New Orleans, and were severely destroyed by Andrew Jackson's disorganized army, adding to the perception of US glory. The Treaty of Ghent's unanimous approval by the US Senate and the following festivities disguised the fact that the US had failed to achieve any of its goals.

Disputes in the United States delayed the war effort, and domestic dissatisfaction endangered the Union, but a wave of nationalism motivated Americans to pursue ideological goals after the war. Despite American intentions, Canada remained British and eventually formed its own cultural identity, partially as a result of its success in repelling American conquests. Meanwhile, Britain's influence among all the northwest Indians was permanently lost, and American expansion remained unchanged. The Creek War in the South allowed for the colonization of a significant portion of the territory and led to the events that led to Spain's ceding of Florida to the United States in 1821.

The arbitration clauses of the Ghent Treaty, possibly the treaty's most essential element, were by far the most lasting international effect of the conflict. Its plans for resolving ongoing problems provided methods that could adapt to altering US governments, British ministers, and global events. There were the roots of an Anglo-American friendship formed, which would survive upcoming conflicts to maintain the world's longest unguarded border.