While Republicans, for the most part, still backed Jefferson's foreign policies, new elections were transforming the party. Older politicians who molded the Republican Party policy and put Jefferson and Madison in power were replaced by daring young go-getters, such as Henry Clay of Kentucky, who were intent on defending America's honor. These new leaders, called "War Hawks" by their Federalist opponents, were the primary force behind Madison's decision to call for war with Britain.
The War Hawks, who were interested in expansion westward and into Canada, were angry at British leaders for closing trade channels with America and considered Britain's treatment of American sailors illegal. They believed retaliation was necessary to gain respect from European leaders. In 1812, the United States entered into war with only a fraction of the manpower and weapons that Britain claimed.
To lead the Americans into battle, Madison relied on several veterans who served in the Revolution. However, these soldiers were now much older and far removed from battlefield experience. They lacked the training and discipline necessary to undertake a military campaign. An attempt to invade Canada failed when a large number of British troops, and a group led by Indian chief Tecumseh, overwhelmed American forces that were spread too thin.
As the war waged on, the American military became hardened by the experience of battle. In the fall of 1813, a fleet led by Captain Oliver Hazard Perry defeated British forces that controlled Lake Erie. As English troops retreated from Detroit, William Henry Harrison gave chase and defeated them at the Thames River. The battle was a turning point for the Americans because among the dead was Chief Tecumseh. Without their powerful leader, the Indians lost their will to fight, and the British military was forced to reconsider its strategy.
During the spring of 1814, British leaders launched a plan to end the war once and for all. An army of 11,000 men marched southward from Montreal while another group sailed from Jamaica to New Orleans to control the waterways. When the British troops reached Washington, they encountered little resistance and set the Capitol and the White House on fire. President Madison watched helplessly as Redcoats took souvenirs before the blaze grew out of control.
The group then moved on to Fort McHenry, where they fired more than 1,800 shells in just over 24 hours. Witnessing the continuous bombing was Francis Scott Key. Just before the attack, Key had sneaked on board a British ship in search of a captured doctor. Key kept his eyes on Fort McHenry, and on the American flag that flew over the fort, as rockets lit up the night sky. When daylight arrived, Key peaked out from his cover to see the Stars and Stripes still waving. The Americans had successfully defended their ground. Moved by the scene, Key scribbled his thoughts on the back of an old letter. Eventually, the notes became "The Star Spangled Banner," a song the United States would adopt as its national anthem.
Later that year, the British planned another attempt to overtake New Orleans. An armada of 60 ships and 11,000 men, led by Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, set out from Jamaica to the mouth of the Mississippi. As the fleet sailed through swamps and bayous before approaching the city from the east, American farmers saw the ships and raced to inform General Andrew Jackson, who was in charge of defending the Gulf Coast. Jackson quickly rallied his troops and ambushed the British fleet. The battle raged for weeks before Pakenham ordered his soldiers to advance on the Americans who had dug in just outside New Orleans. The American army, which consisted of soldiers, sailors, pirates, militiamen, and freed slaves, used a strategy of revolving firing lines to make sure that guns were always firing at the Redcoats. The British army was forced to retreat after it suffered more than 300 fatalities, including Major General Pakenham. The Battle of New Orleans was an overwhelming success for the Americans and made General Andrew Jackson a hero.
While fighting occurred across the United States, many defiant Federalists continued to protest against the war. Some extremists participated in illegal trade with British troops stationed in Canada; others went even further. The Hartford Convention was the meeting of radical New England Federalists who considered seceding from the Union. Some members proposed the creation of a New England Confederacy that would establish peace with England so trading could be reinstated. As the group planned its strategy to strike against the Republican-led Union, the leaders received news about a peaceful resolution to the war. Rumors about the plan to secede from the Union spread throughout the states, and Federalist support declined drastically.
In 1814, during the same time that England carried out its plan to defeat General Jackson and take control of New Orleans, an American delegation met with English representatives in the small Belgian city of Ghent to discuss the possibility for peace. Members of the American group included former secretary of the treasury Albert Gallatin; Speaker of the House of Representatives Henry Clay; former senator James Bayard; Jonathan Russell, minister to Sweden; and John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams and minister to Russia.
Confident that their army would be victorious, the British made several heavy-handed demands. For example, Britain wanted the United States to give nearly all of the Northwest Territory to the Indians and relinquish control of the Great Lakes and portions of Maine, but the Americans refused. After several days of negotiating, the British envoys received word of several defeats the English army had suffered in the United States and reconsidered their bargaining position.
The Treaty of Ghent, signed on Christmas Eve in 1814, was essentially a draw. It called for both the British and Americans to quit fighting and return conquered territory. It made no reference to the complaints that prompted the United States to declare war on Britain. Search and seizures, Orders in Council, and the impressment of American sailors were basically ignored, and both parties were content to agree to a truce. After the treaty was signed, ships were free to sail to any port, goods could be traded with any customer, and Royal Navy warships no longer patrolled the American coastline.
The War of 1812 began and ended on an ironic note. It began while American and British diplomats were on the verge of reaching accord, and its peace treaty was signed before America’s great victory at New Orleans had been fought. Even more ironic was the fact that the most meaningful consequence of this divisive conflict was an upsurge of nationalism that united Americans and led to the development of a national identity and agenda in the postwar years.