George’s AP US Survival Blog

Announcement: These notes follow Ms. Anderson’s class. Unfortunately, if you are in Mr. C’s class, you are indeed a bit ahead…and I can’t do much about it. 😦

• War of 1812 was a divisive war and one of the challenges was getting divided and/or apathetic people to support the war effort.

On To Canada over Land and Lakes

• The army on the night before the war was in no way, shape, or form ready to fight a full blown war.
• The most important battleground was in Canada, where the British forces were the weakest.
• Had the Americans directly attacked Montreal, they would have been more successful. Instead, they chose a 3 pronged attack from Detroit, Niagara, and Lake Champlain. Bad idea, it was an epic fail. They got pushed back just as they made it over the Canadian border.
• Meanwhile the British and Canadians had captured Fort Michilimackinac which watched over the Great Lakes and Indian dwelling areas.
• Instead of the army doing better the American Navy had more success. The American navy handled things more skillfully including better gunners.
• American ships such as  The Constitution had thicker sides and heavier firepower and a larger crew including a free African-American every 1/6.
• Control of the Great Lakes was very important. Oliver Hazard Perry built a fleet of ships and captured a British fleet saying “we have met the enemy and they are ours”. This increased troop morale.
• The British were then cut off on their retreat by General Harrison and beaten at the Battle of Thames on Oct 1813.
• The original goal was invasion of Canada, the new goal was to defend against British-Canadian invasion. Napoleon was also out of power by then and the US had no more French backing in the war, they were alone.
• The British attempted a blow at New York, coming from the Lake Champlain waterway route. Thomas Macdonough, the American Navy General was able to defeat the British despite his smaller fleet.
• Macdonough caused a big boost in morale. He saved upper New York, he kept the New Englanders from getting angrier about the war and he prevented the Union from disuniting.

Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended

• Britain landed another fleet in the Chesapeake Bay on August 1814.
• This was the fleet that stormed into Washington DC and burned it.
• However, Baltimore did not give in as easily. Fort McHenry was being attacked but did not give into the British. This was where Francis Scott Key wrote the “Star Spangled Banner” on a British ship. He was captured by the British.
• New Orleans was another target because it was the gateway to trade. Andrew Jackson, after winning over Native Americans at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, was put in command of the American troops. His forces were a mix of sailors, regulars, pirates, Frenchmen, and  militiamen.
• The British stupidly launched an attack from the front. The Americans were in trench just waiting to defeat the British and they did. This was an honorable win for the Americans.
• However, the Royal Navy was angry and threw up a blockade along America’s coast ruining the economy, even after the Treaty of Ghent.

The Treaty of Ghent

• Negotiations began because Tsar Alexander I did not want her British ally to be preoccupied with America when there was the threat of Napoleon.
• John Quincy Adams headed the group that went to negotiations in Ghent, Belgium in 1814.
• Originally the British demanded an Indian Buffer State, control of the Great Lakes and parts of Maine but then backed off as they began to lose battles.
• The Treaty of Ghent was a ceasefire that did not resolve the problems the War of 1812 was set to resolve. The end slogan was “Not one Inch of Territory Ceded or Lost” which was a different tone compared to “On to Canada”.

Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention

• New England was still misbehaving. During the war, they traded with Canada and opposed the war continuously.
• Some even proposed to separate from the Union or form a separate peace with Britain. Some flashed lanterns at sea in an attempt to alert the British of American ships during the British Blockade.
• Massachusetts issued a call for a convention in Hartford, Connecticut before the British advanced on New Orleans.
• The group of men met in secret in order to discuss grievances.
• It was not a hugely radical movement. They demanded financial assistance from Washington in order to compensate for the lost trade and commerce due to the British blockade and the war and the Embargo/Non-Intercourse/Macon’s (bills and acts).
• They proposed a constitutional amendment that would require a 2/3rds vote by Congress before an embargo could be imposed.
• They also proposed the removal of the three-fifths compromise so the South did not have a disproportionate voice due to slaves. They wanted a president to be limited to a single term and to make it illegal for back to back presidents to be from the same state as an attack on the “Virginia Dynasty”.
• They sent three men from the Convention to go to Washington and bring up these demands. Instead they were embarrassed by the news of Victory at New Orleans and the treaty of Ghent. Federalists lost their credibility.

The Second War for American Independence

• Small war, 6000 casualties on American side.
• Globally unimportant due to Napoleonic Wars
• Other nations respected American now that she had proved her strength.
• Inside the states though, there was lots of fire due to Federalist discontent.
• The Indians were forced to give up large amounts of land.
• Manufacturing prospered domestically due to a blockade.
• Canadian nationalism and patriotism also rose. They felt betrayed by the Treaty of Ghent. They were afraid Americans would attack again.
• Rush-Bagot Treaty was signed to limit naval armament in the Great Lakes. Eventually, US and Canada would share the longest unfortified border.
• The Congress of Vienna in Europe and the shift back to old order did not affect the United States.

Nascent Nationalism

• Nationalism was spiked due to the War of 1812.
• National literature also saw some rise such as works by Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper that rose to international prestige.
• School textbooks were now written by Americans, not British.
• North American Review became an intellectual magazine that was published.
• The army was expanded to 10000 men and the navy gained worldwide attention when it beat back the pirates of North Africa.

The American System

• Manufacturing grew because of the embargo acts.
• The British tried to sabotage the American factories by dumping their products to the US at a very cheap price.
• The Nationalist Congress passed the Tariff of 1816 which was the first tariff passed based on protection of national interests rather than just revenue.
• Henry Clay developed and backed up the American System which had three steps.
  • Strong banking system that would allow for more credit
  • Protective tariff to keep eastern manufacturing going
  • The revenues from the tariff would be used to create a system of canals and roads, esp in Ohio River Valley. The roads and canals would allow for food and raw materials to come from the South and West to the North and East. The manufactured goods would then drift back over to the South and the West.
• The public was interested in Henry Clay’s plan. The failures to invade Canada were partially because there were no roads so wagons would get stuck in mud in case of a rainy day.
• The west especially supported roads.
• Federal funding for roads was blocked by James Madison because he thought it was unconstitutional. Only the states had the right to create this measure.
• States like New York eventually completed their own construction projects like the Erie Canal.
• Jeffersonian Republicans did not like the idea of federal funding of roads either for it would drain away population and create competition among the states.

The So-called Era of Good Feelings

• James Monroe easily defeated the Federalists’ last attempt to run a candidate. Monroe was a bridge between two generations of people.
• In 1817, Monroe took a goodwill tour to see how his defenses were doing. He was even welcomed in New England and a Boston newspaper said it was an “Era of Good Feelings” although things were far from good feeling.
• Early years were peaceful but later there came issues with the bank, tariff, and internal improvements. Sale of public lands were hotly argued over and the question of slavery loomed ahead.

The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times

• Suddenly the economy was hit by deflation, depression, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and overcrowded pesthouses called debtor’s prisons. (Does this sort of sound familiar to what is happening now?)
• The primary cause for this panic was overspeculation of frontier lands. The Bank of United States had branches in the West that did just that.
• The Bank of United States issued foreclosures of farms in the West naming them the financial devil.
• There was also imprisonment for a debt.

Growing Pains of the West

• Population in the West continued to grow as people moved westward because their previous generation did. Also the soil in the East was exhausted of the nutrients.
• Small down payments were made to glib speculators.
• The recession drove people westward. So did more roads and highways in the Ohio Valley such as the Cumberland Road from Maryland to Illinois. The Indians were also out of the way.
• Still the west did not have a powerful voice.
• Land Act of 1820 authorized buyers of land in the west to purchase 80 previously untouched acres at a minimum of $1.25 per acre in cash. The west also wanted cheap transportation and cheap money (by fighting the Bank of the United States).

Slavery and the Sectional Balance

• Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state but the house passed the Tallmadge Amendment that said no more slaves can be brought into Missouri and slowly emancipated the children of slave parents. Of course the slave owners were outraged.
• Because of opposition, the bill did not pass in the Senate.
• The north grew wealthier and more populated but the amount of slave and free states were balanced so the Senate numbers did not change.
• The south was still worried that Congress would try to abolish or phase out slavery once again.

The Uneasy Missouri Compromise

• This was actually a bundle of three compromises.
• Maine and Missouri were both admitted as states, keeping the balance between slave and free states.
• Missouri came in as a slave state but no further enslaving was to be permitted above the 36* 30’ (southern Missouri border) when new states came in.
• The final result:
  • Missouri was granted as unrestricted slave state.
  • Congress could forbid slavery in remaining territories.
• Neither side was fully happy, that’s what compromises are.
• This was simply a band-aid fix to the slavery issue.
• That said, James Monroe was a popular dude and was re-elected with “unanimous minus one vote”.

John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism

• Supreme Court was dominated by Chief Justice John Marshall. These cases established federal government power over state powers:
• Primary case McCulloch V. Maryland:
  • Attempt by Maryland to destroy a part of the Bank of the United States by taxing the bank notes.
  • Marshall declared the Bank constitutional under the necessary and proper clause and rejected Maryland’s proposal to tax the notes.
  • This was the foundation of “loose constructionist”.
  • Marshall said the constitution was to last forever and subject to adaptation for different cases.
• Cohens v. Virginia
  • Cohens was found guilty of selling illegal lottery tickets in Virginia and he appealed up to the Virginia Supreme Court. Virginia upheld the decision.
  • But then Marshall came in a said the USSC had the final say and the right to review any decision of the state Supreme Court.
• Gibbons v. Ogden
  • New York tried to grant a monopoly over trade between NY and NJ.
  • Once again Marshall upheld the power of the federal gov’t by reminding NY that interstate commerce was a federal issue.

1. Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses

• Marshall also had cases where he had to uphold and beef up judicial barriers against democratic or demagogic attacks on property rights.
• Fletcher v. Peck
  • Georgia legislature was bribed into granting 3.5 million acres in the Yazoo River country (Mississippi) to private speculators.
  • The following legislature tried to cancel this.
  • Marshall declared the agreement a contract (though secured fraudulently) and said the constitution prohibited state laws from stopping contracts. This was a clear case that also gave the USSC power to interpret the constitution to invalidate state laws.
• Dartmouth College v. Woodward
  • Dartmouth College was granted a charter by George III. New Hampshire tried to change the charter.
  • Daniel Webster represented Dartmouth in this case saying “It is sir, as I have said, a small college. Yet there are those who love it.”
  • It was once again a contract and state law cannot conflict with that contract.
  • This protected future businesses from being thwarted by their state governments
  • But the side effects were also bad since chartered businesses could run away from any public control.
• Webster and Marshall were almost equal among their political views and policies.
• Outcomes of Marshall’s decisions:
  • stable nationally uniform gov’t  for business
  • Checked the power of popularly elected state legislatures.

Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida

• John Quincy Adams proved to be one of the greatest Secretaries of State, setting aside his Federalist tendencies.
• Treaty of 1818 negotiated with Britain permitted Americans to share the Newfoundland fisheries.
• Northern borders of Louisiana also established by the same treaty. The treaty also established that the Oregon country was to be joint occupied by Britain and the United States.
• Many revolutions occurred in South America in mostly Spanish territory.
• At the same time Spain left Florida undefended because of the conflicts. Andrew Jackson went into Florida under the pretext that hostile Seminole Indians and runaway slaves were in Florida while promising to leave Spanish posts untouched.
• He hanged two Indian chiefs and executed two British subjects saying they helped Indians.
• He put the Spanish governor out of power and the governor escaped from hanging.
• Everybody in Adams’ cabinet said Jackson should be punished for overstepping his line. All but Adams himself who demanded concessions from Spain.
• The Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819 caused Spain to cede Florida and some Oregon territory to the U.S in exchange for U.S. forgetting about the claims in Texas.

The Menace of Monarchy in America

• Remember the Congress of Vienna.
• The idea was to restore the legitimate monarchs back into power so the countries (France, Prussia, Russia, and Austria) came in to crush the rebellions in Spanish territory in America.
• The Americans were afraid of monarchs in America obviously because they advocated democracy. They were also afraid that Russia would try to threaten the US by expanding down from Alaska.
• Only country that did not participate in Congress of Vienna activities was Great Britain. George Canning, minister of GB came to the minister of the US asking for an alliance in order to renounce any interest in Latin American territory and to tell the European countries to lay off Latin America. The minister went back to Washington as he did not know what decision to make.

Monroe Doctrine

• Adams thought it was strange that Britain, with a powerful navy, needed help of little United States.
• The real reason was that Britain was afraid the US would take Latin America territory as it would threaten the West Indies claims of Britain.
• Adams also knew that the European countries had no plans to invade America.
• Monroe Doctrine was born in late 1823. Monroe gave the European powers a stern warning. The Main points were:
  • noncolonization
  • nonintervention
• Monroe first said (aiming this particularly at Russia) that America was no longer open for colonization and that what’s been settled can be kept but no Old World governments can take more land.
• Monroe also warned the European powers to keep the hated monarchs out of America. If that was the case, the America would not intervene with the war between the Greeks and Turks fighting for independence.

Monroe Doctrine Appraised

• The Europeans hated the warnings but could not do a thing about them. They had their hands tied and also could not invade America without running into British Naval Forces.
• The southern republics were not thrilled either. They knew that US was only protecting them so that US would not get invaded or have to worry about invasion.
• Basically it was a self-defense doctrine loaded with nationalist interests but it did not make much significance at that stage. It was later revived by President Polk.