America Past; D15; War of 1812

[Music] [Sailor Character singing] "I wish I was the captain, aboard a Man-o'-War. Sam's gone away aboard a Man-o'-War. Pretty work, brave boys, pretty work I say. Sam's gone away aboard a Man-o'-War." We talked about Jefferson and his attempts to deal with the Barbary pirates. How he

sent the Navy over there. How in his heart he really didn't believe in that. That he felt it was in the national interest to do so. And he did so. Actually the Barbary pirates were not the biggest problem we had to deal with in the area of foreign affairs. The big problem was the same problem it had been for 20 years. And that was a war between England and France and how to stay out of it. That thing had started back during Washington's administration. Washington, Adams, both had to deal with it. Now Jefferson is confronted with it. You see what was happening was this. [Naval cannon fire sound] Any American ship, headed toward England, ran the risk of being stopped by the French navy. They would search it. They would take off the cargo, particularly if it contained war supplies. Well how did the English react to that? Well they react by issuing what was called Orders in Council. And these Orders in Council essentially

said that you can't trade with France or with any country that was allied with France. That left us Sweden and Turkey incidentally. Any American ship headed toward France could be stopped by an English ship. They would search it. If there were war materials on there, they would take them off. Sometimes they paid for those cargoes, sometimes they didn't. So we're really in a dilemma here. Any place we go, England or France won, seems to be stopping our ships. But that wasn't the whole of it. They were also taking men off our ships. Particularly the English would do this. You have a practice here that was called impressment. Impressment: That means taking men off of your ship and putting them into the British Navy; impressing them into the British Navy. The British Navy was famous for low pay and strict discipline. That didn't appeal to very many sailors. So if a British ship were in an American

port they sometimes would jump ship. They would just leave and get a job on an American ship. The English maintained that they had a right to stop American ships and get those men back. They needed them in the war with Napolean. This is a life or death struggle. We've got to have a navy. And if they are on your ships, then we are going to stop them and get them back. It's that simple. Well we didn't really quarrel with that. We admitted they had a right to get their sailors back. The problem was they weren't always too choosy as to who they took back. They would come on board a ship. Grab themselves a sailor. And if he couldn't prove that he was an American citizen, they would take him. Particularly if he had been born in England. Once an Englishman, always an Englishman, we will take you. This got to be a major problem, this impressment of seamen into the British Navy. Usually they stopped merchant ships and usually without much violence. There was

one occasion where they actually stopped an American warship, [naval cannon fire sound] The Chesapeake. The Chesapeake was stopped in American waters. The British, you see, they have that huge navy all over every place. They didn't try to intercept you out there in the ocean. They stopped you when you left an American port. They stopped this Chesapeake in American waters, demanded to search it. The captain said, "No." The British opened fire. Chesapeake finally got their guns out and got one shot off. And when all is said and done, the British had killed three men, wounded 18. They then boarded of the Chesapeake and took off four deserters. Americans were in an uproar; stopping an American naval ship in American waters, killing three guys, wounding 18, and finding four deserters. There was pressure right then and there to go to war. Which would have been foolish; we weren't prepared for it in any

means. Well, Jefferson is going to have to do something to deal with this problem. We're not talking here about just a few people being seized. About 9,000 men were taken off of American ships and impressed into the British Navy. Cartoons are circulated of Jefferson showing him having his pockets picked, by England on one side and France on the other. So what is he going to do? I think it's safe to say that Jefferson was certainly a pacifist at heart. So he's looking at some solution, short of warfare. Well, he remembers the revolution and what had worked back then. How had we got rid of the stamp act, of Townshend act and some of those? We had stopped buying British goods. We'd had a boycott. Maybe that would work again. Well the result, is that they passed what is called the embargo. And

the embargo said that no ship, could leave American ports to trade with anyone. Not just England or France, but with anyone. Now it was very hard to enforce this thing. We only had about 12 ships in our navy. How are they going to patrol the whole coast of the United States? Actually if you could get about one ship in three through, you could still make money as far as the owners are concerned. It was a little rough on the crew if they got impressed into the British Navy, But the owners didn't care about that. They would learn through that embargo. But the embargo was based on one idea. It's based on the hope, That England and France need our trade so badly, that they will stop harassing our seamen and ships in order to get us to trade with them. If they don't need our trade that badly, then the embargo isn't going to work.

Well, apparently they didn't need it that badly. The embargo hurt us worse than it hurt them. Americans were infuriated at this. That their own government seemed to be interfering with their economic well-being. Three days before Jefferson left office. They gave up on the embargo and it was repealed. Actually there is some evidence now that if we had stayed with it, even six months longer, it might have worked. But it actually was hurting England more than we realized at the time. Anyway, it was repealed. It seems like in time of crisis that Americans take time out and have an election. We did that in 1808. James Madison, a fellow Virginian, was elected President. He had a good background. He was a lawyer. He had been at the Continental Congress, been at the Constitutional Convention,

and served as Jefferson's secretary of state. He was elected. He attempted to continue the economic pressure. They had various laws, that we won't go into the names of them, but essentially they said we'll trade with everybody but England or France. Or if France will stop seizing our ships then we'll trade with them but not England. They didn't work. The impressment, the seizing of ships went on. Well that's usually given as one of the major causes of the War of 1812. But from that standpoint we had almost as much reason to go to war with France as we did with England. They were seizing our ships too. So if impressment and the seizing of ships wasn't the major cause, what was? Well some historians think the answer to that question is to be found in the West. [fiddle music]

But in the West, we had a long gripe with the English. It concerned their forts. The British supposedly after the revolution got out of the United States, or what is now the United States. They hadn't done that. In the Northwest Territories and areas like northern Michigan There was the British forts. British officers are in there. British troops are there. We negotiated Jay's treaty and they eventually will pull out of that. But, Westerners still weren't satisfied. They were convinced that the British simply moved a little ways north into Canada and that from there they were stirring up the Indians to raid the frontiersmen. There may be some truth to that, it's hard to prove it one way or the other. But many Westerners are sort of itching for

a war with England because they felt the British were stirring up the Indians. For their part, the Indians had a very eloquent and very capable leader of their own. His name was Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnees. Well-educated, a good speaker, who really understood the problem of the Indians. One of which, was their lack of unity. The tribes had always had difficulty in uniting against the frontiersmen. Tecumseh will put together a united effort to push the colonists out of the Northwest Territories. In a speech to the government of the Northwest Territory he expressed the Indian's position. [Tecumseh actor voice] "My people were once a happy race, but they have been made miserable by the white people who are never contented but all ways encroaching. They have driven us from the great salt

water, forced us over the mountains, and have pushed us into the lakes. But we will go no further." [sound of gunshot] Now the United States Army is going to attack Tecumseh, or at least the followers, and his brother, at the Battle of Tippecanoe. At Tippecanoe, William Henry Harrison, he attacked the Indians. Harrison lost about 60 men killed and over 100 wounded. The Indians didn't lose hardly anyone, but they left. And the Americans claimed that as a great victory. Harrison later runs for president billing himself as Old Tippecanoe. But there was still hard feeling in the west toward the British over this Indian situation. But there were also a group of Westerners who are interested in war with Britain for another reason, to take Canada. This would be an ideal time to move north and take Canada. Maybe we could go south and take Florida as well. Florida belonged to

Spain, who was a friend of Britain's, temporarily. You have a group of westerners called war hawks; the term hawk being applied to somebody who is in favor of war. John C. Calhoun from South Carolina, Henry Clay from Kentucky was probably the best known. And they see a major reason for going to war with England as a chance to get Canada. Ideal time! What's England doing? They're their fighting Napoleon. The most democratic nation on earth, or at least in Europe, is fighting this great dictator. Let's jump on her back and steal Canada. An Eastern newspaper said that a war hawk was a bird found in the western part of the United States whose call was Canada, Canada, Canada. Well, what was the major cause of the war? Was it this desire for Canada or was it because we were genuinely upset about the British stopping our ships and seizing our seamen?

Well it was both. There were not enough Westerners in Congress to pass a declaration of war. It had to take some eastern votes. So I guess it depends on who you talk to as to what was their major motivation was. But the two big causes: sailor's rights, stop impressment of sailors, and the desire for Canada. Oddly enough New England, who had the most ships and the most sailors, and the most sailors being seized always oppose this war. War was bad for business. It would cut off trade with Britain altogether. The way it was before was bad, but at least it existed somewhat. It's a little curious why we got dragged into this war as unprepared as we were. We had an army of about 7,000 men. The Secretary of War referred to our officers as "decayed gentleman." Our Navy, well, 12 ships. The British had around a 1,000.

The British press referred to our sailors as a handful of outlaws and bastards. Nevertheless, Americans were extremely confident, except for New Englanders, and extremly enthusiastic about this war. So they get into it. Well how did things work out? [military music] If one of the major purposes of the war was to get control of the Great Lakes Region, solve the problem of the British and Indians of that region, and to capture Canada, then the War of 1812 would have to be considered a failure because we didn't manage to do that, at least not the Canadian part. So, since we've been talking about invading Canada, we did it right away. But it was a miserable flop. Well this sort of thing happened for example,

at Niagara, which is on the New York-Canadian border, the New York troops, the New York militia refused to leave the state. They stayed in New York and watched the American army get wiped out right across the border. We're fighting for New York not the United States. They recruited us. They're paying us. We don't go to Canada. We stay and defend New York. That sort of attitude. Detroit, we surrender Detroit without firing a shot. Whether that was cowardice or just incompetence, you can't really say. That's sort of the story of the whole Canadian business. We were unsuccessful in capturing Canada. Now the Navy has a little better luck. Have a great deal of luck on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes, well, they're extremely important to the United States in this war. If the British control these, if they're able to put gunboats on these things, and control them, they're in a position to launch an attack right down into the United States very easily.

We want to prevent that. And one of the major victories of the war and one of the major heroes of the war emerges from a battle on Lake Erie, A Battle called Put-In-Bay. The British had gunboats there. An American naval commander named Oliver Hazard Perry met the British on Lake Erie and defeated them. Sent back a very famous victory message. Famous because it's so short. All it said was, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." He then listed what they'd captured. But in the first years of the war we had success with the Navy. We had some pretty good new ships: Old Ironsides, called the Constitution, the Constellation, United States, the Hornet, the Essex, and they will begin raiding British shipping. In fact, they capture about 1,300 British ships. The time all of a sudden done. A writer for The

London Times couldn't believe it. [English speaker] "Can these statements be true and can the English people hear them unmoved? Anyone who had predicted such a result of an American war at this time last year would have been treated as a madman or a traitor. He would have been told, if his opponents had condescended to argue with him, that long as seven months had elapsed the American flag would have been swept from the sea and their contemptible Navy annihilated. Yet down to this moment, not a single American frigate has struck her flag." That was in the early years of the war. Unfortunately for us, in the last years the British with their larger navy clamped a blockade down the East Coast and only four or five ships were able to get out onto the high seas. Now of course the British had some plans of their own for winning this war. Their main

concern had to be with Napoleon and he was closer to home. They had to worry about him, not over here. But they don't want to lose this thing. They have a scheme for winning it. They're going to conduct a series of raids along the East Coast. People living in those cities are terrified. Every time they saw a sail on the horizon they knew it was the British coming to get them. And they did show up in a couple places. Baltimore - when it came sailing in there to try to capture Baltimore, but you can't do that without going right under the guns of Fort McHenry. You have to pass along a fairly narrow piece of water. And when you do that, the people in the fort are in a position to cause you a great deal of trouble. The guns here were pointed right down the bay at the British Navy. They weren't these guns. They were added later. But in September, on a rainy day, the British decided to start bombarding this fort to see if they can force their way into the city. And they

bombard it for 24 hours. While they were doing that, a young lawyer was on board a British ship. Aa young American lawyer. He was there to negotiate the release of a prisoner. His name? The lawyer's name? Francis Scott Key. For here he is, standing on a British ship, watching the bombardment of an American fort. How does he know that the fort is surrendering or if it's holding out? You know how he knew. He says in his song. When the rockets would explode, he could tell whether the American flag will still flying. Suppose he took out an envelope--it seems like countless numbers of great things have been written on envelopes--and wrote the words of the Star Spangled Banner. Very soon it was set to music. It became a fairly popular song. It didn't actually become the national anthem until the 1930's. Another city the British attacked on the East Coast was Washington. It would be a

blow to our morale if our capital city were captured. We had gone up earlier and burned the capital of Canada, what was then called York, is now Toronto. So the British come into Washington. The defenders didn't make much of an effort. apparently they fired two volleys and they took off. The British came in and they burned the city; burned most of public buildings including the White House. It wasn't called the White House until then. It had been called the President's House or the Executive Mansion. It was only called the White House after they painted it white to cover up the marks where the British had burned it. It's on that occasion that the president's wife became one of the heroines of the war. The president was Madison, his wife, Dolly Madison. She stayed in the White House until the British were virtually coming in the front door. Then she took off, taking with her Gilbert Stuart's famous painting of George Washington.

By far the best known battle in the war was the Battle of New Orleans and it's interesting from at least two or three stand points. One, it makes Andrew Jackson a national hero. He's later going to be elected president of course, partially on his reputation as a military leader. Secondly, it's the only battle we won in the war, the only land battle. And thirdly, it was fought after the peace treaty had already been signed. That was signed over in Belgium, the Treaty of Ghent. They didn't know about it over here. So we went ahead and fought and won the only battle we won in the war after the peace treaty had been signed. The battle here was fought on January the 8th 1815. The peace treaty had been signed on Christmas Eve in 1814. Over there, coming off through those plains, you have the British about 10,000 of them, maybe only 5-7,000 at one time, and they're trying to capture the city of New Orleans. Behind these ramparts here and on the other side of them is a canal. But in here was Andrew Jackson with a few regular troops,

a bunch of riffraff frontiersman, some pirates, loaned in by Jean Lafitte. And they're here waiting. Not behind cotton bales, as you sometimes hear. Cotton burns and there's nothing sadder than being crouched behind a defensive work than have it burned down in front of your eyes. So they're behind wood and earth filled in here. The British come marching across there, bagpipes playing the British Grenadiers. We're doing this properly. And the Americans just sit here and wait. And when all is said and done, 2,000 of the British are dead and seven Americans here. Now if you count the fighting that took place in the whole area that number goes up somewhat. But you're looking at about 2,000 to, at most, 70 Americans, so it was really a one sided victory. [battle of New Orleans song] What is the significance of all this? We said the peace treaty was already signed. What's the

significance of the battle? Well there are couple of things there. One, the average american heard the news of this battle just before we heard the news of the peace treaty. They heard about the big victory in New Orleans, then they heard the news of the peace treaty. So in their mind, Andrew Jackson had kicked the daylights out of the British and they had surrendered. That's the way they viewed it. Secondly, if the British had won this battle, would that have affected the ratification of the treaty? But they decided the peace negotiations maybe aught to go back to them and get a little better deal since we won that battle. That's a possibility too. This war had some important results, but not for the peace treaty. The peace treaty just kind of returned things the way they were. The British had been fighting Napoleon for years. They're sick of it. They finally defeated the Napolean. They just aren't interested in America. The Duke of Wellington was given the power to make peace if he wanted to, and he wanted to. So they just said, "Let's just return everything the way it was. Just take everything back and

call it off." That's all the legal results of the war. But you have in the United States a terrific growth of national pride. To them it was a Second War of Independence and we had won it. It wasn't the Second War for Independence, for heaven's sake. There was no independence at stake. It was a war for sailor's rights and to gain more land. But Second War for Independence, of course, sounded better. We've beaten those British twice. Bring them over here and we will beat them again. The Americans have a great feeling of pride. They start using national symbols like the American eagle for example, and Uncle Sam. They start celebrating the Fourth of July. They also realized the need to have more industries. That you could not depend upon Europe for manufactured goods if you're going to be fighting that country, if you're going to be fighting a European country. So you get a real shot in the arm for manufacturing and

industry as a result of the war. You also begin to see the need for improving the Navy. So while the war accomplished nothing on paper it did affect Americans attitudes toward themselves and toward the need for industrialization.