WAR OF 1812

➢ The War of 1812 is popularly remembered in the United States as a war to defend
American rights and honor on the high seas and, later in the war, to protect American
cities such as Baltimore and New Orleans from British attacks.
➢ It is also known as “the second American war of independence,” in which Americans
stood up to the powerful British empire and gained a new sense of national pride and
international respect.
➢ Democratic-Republican party agitated for war and pursued it through the Madison
administration.
➢ James Madison fashioned the message just after the peace treaty was signed, telling the
world that the war had been “necessary,”. He declared,

The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had

become a necessary resort to assert the rights and
independence of the nation. It has been waged with a success
which is the natural result of the wisdom of the legislative
councils, of the patriotism of the people, of the public spirit of
the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval forces of
the country. [Source: President James Madison, Special Message to Congress on the
Treaty of Ghent (February 18, 1815)]

➢ Madison’s partisan account overrides the views of the opposition party (Federalists),
antiwar dissidents, and other governments.
➢ In fact, American citizens were sorely divided over this war. Not one of the 42
Federalist members of Congress voted to authorize the war in June 1812. Nor did one-
fourth of Democratic-Republicans in the House of Representatives, who either
abstained or voted against the war.
➢ According to the historian Charles De Benedetti, “Domestic opposition to the War of
1812 was as vehement and widespread as any in American history” [Source: Charles
De Benedetti, The Peace Reform in American History (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1980), p. 28].
➢ Dissenters argued that the war was unnecessary, dishonorable, and ruinous to the
nation.
➢ It was unnecessary because the British had not attacked the United States and because
compromise was still possible. It was dishonorable because the Madison
administration was intent on attacking America’s peaceful neighbor to the north,
British Canada, and perhaps annexing it. It was potentially ruinous because Great
Britain could blockade American ports and attack vulnerable east coast cities and
towns – which indeed happened as the war progressed.
➢ American historian Donald Hickey outlines a sober assessment of the outcome of the
war. He argued,
Far from bringing the enemy to terms, the nation [United States]
was lucky to escape without making extensive concessions
itself. The Treaty of Ghent (which ended the conflict) said
nothing about the maritime issues that had caused the war and
contained nothing to suggest that America had achieved its
 aims. Instead, it merely provided for returning to the status quo
antebellum – the state that had existed before the war.

➢ From the British point of view, the War of 1812 was an unwelcome diversion from
the main event of the era, the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, which Great Britain and its
allies eventually won. As the British historian Jon Latimer writes, “For Britain, the
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were wars of national survival and the war
in America an irritating distraction”.
➢ While Americans recall British depredations on the high seas and the burning of
Washington in August 1814, the British remember that Americans supplied Napoleon
with $15 million through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which Napoleon used to
initiate a new round of military campaigns in Europe.
➢ Native American views the War of 1812 as part of a larger struggle to stem the tide of
U.S. “western expansionism”. Shawnee leader Tecumseh is regarded as a hero for his
attempt to unite the diverse Indian nations and create a common Indian Territory in the
Trans Appalachian region.

Events of the War of 1812?

There were many events that led up to the War of 1812, beginning with France declaring war
on Great Britain in 1793. Here is a brief outline of the next major events leading up to the
War of 1812.

1794—Battle of Fallen Timbers: U.S. General Anthony Wayne, sometimes called “Mad
Anthony Wayne,” defeated the Native American forces at present-day Toledo, Ohio. Native
Americans were attempting to protect their lands in the Northwest Territory from being taken
by white settlers. This battle ended with the Treaty of Greenville and the removal and
relocation of the tribes to northwest Ohio.

1803—Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon Bonaparte sold the Louisiana territory—something

Britain and Spain did not believe he had a right to do—to the United States. This displaced
many Native American tribes and added about 827,000 square miles to the United States.

1806—The U.S. passed the Non-Importation Act, which forbade the import of some British
goods. This was in response to Britain’s impressment of American sailors.

1807—The British HMS Leopard fired on the USS Chesapeake with no provocation. The
USS Chesapeake was forced to surrender. Four U.S. sailors were taken by the British, who
believed them to be British citizens who had deserted the Royal Navy. Three of those sailors
were actually Americans. They were being taken and impressed into military service by the
British was shocking to the U.S.

1807—Orders in Council: Great Britain was still at war with France. The British passed the
1807 Orders in Council, essentially creating a blockade of Europe in an attempt to interfere
with French trade. Further, it meant Britain could detain neutral ships and prevent those
neutral countries from trading with France. In response, France passed a decree that stated the
French could detain any neutral ship that had trade with the British. The U.S. was neutral, and
their trade was greatly affected by this order and the decree by France.

1811—Even though Britain and the U.S. were at peace, the USS President fired on the
HMS Little Belt, believing she was the HMS Guerriere, a frigate that had recently impressed
an American sailor.

1811—The Battle of Tippecanoe: This battle took place in November 1811 between the U.S.
and Native American warriors. The Native Americans were retaliating after being forced to
sell nearly 3 million acres of their land to the United States. Americans defeated the Native
Americans and torched Prophetstown, the native village. Sometime later, their chief leader
Tecumseh, who had been away recruiting allies, returned to find Prophetstown abandoned
and destroyed. The Battle of Tippecanoe was the catalyst for Tecumseh becoming allies with
the British during the War of 1812.

18 June 1812—U.S. declares war on Great Britain.

Major Battles of the War of 1812

July 1812—General William Hull invaded Canada from Detroit and captured the city of
Sandwich.

August 1812—General Hull surrendered Ft. Detroit and his forces to the British.

October 1812—The Battle of Queenston Heights: The Americans invaded Upper Canada,
but the British and Canadian troops fought back. This battle was considered the first major
battle of the War of 1812.

April 1813—The Battle of York: The U.S. again invaded Upper Canada, and this time they
burned the capital city, York.

September 1813—The Battle of Lake Erie: This battle was a naval engagement between the
British and American forces. The battle to control Lake Erie was won by the U.S. They
bombarded the British fleet with heavy cannon fire and the British surrendered. Gaining
control of Lake Erie resulted in cutting off British supply lines and the eventual abandonment
of Detroit.

October 1813—The Battle of the Thames: The Battle of the Thames, also called the Battle of
Moraviantown, was a U.S. victory over the British and the Native Americans. It was in this
battle that the Shawnee warrior Tecumseh was killed.

March 1814—The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: Major General Andrew Jackson led his forces
of U.S. regulars, militiamen, Cherokee, and Lower Creek against the Upper Creek called the
Red Sticks. The Red Sticks were defeated and lost more than 800 of their 1,000 warriors. The
remaining Red Sticks signed the Treaty of Ft. Jackson, which ended in the ceding of over 20
million acres to the United States. This area is part of modern-day Alabama and Georgia.

July 1814—The Battle of Lundy’s Lane: This battle was said to have been the bloodiest
battle in the War of 1812. The British met American forces near Niagara Falls in hand-to-
hand combat, and both sides fought until exhaustion. Due to high casualties, American forces
withdrew. This was the battle that finally pushed U.S. forces out of Canada.

August 1814—The Battle of Bladensburg: The British invaded the U.S. in Maryland.
Working their way inland, the British forces marched into Washington, D.C., and burned the
capitol and the presidential mansion.

September 1814—The Battle of Plattsburg: Another naval engagement, the Battle of

Plattsburg, took place on Lake Champlain. American and British ships faced off, and after
several hours of fighting, the British surrendered. Though a few more battles played out, the
Battle of Plattsburg and the American victory led to the conclusion of the War of 1812.

September 1814—The Battle of North Point: After the attack on Washington, D.C., the
British moved on to Baltimore. It was this battle and the defending of Ft. McHenry the next
day that inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner.

8 January 1815—The Battle of New Orleans: The Battle of New Orleans was a battle to gain
control of the port of New Orleans, the Mississippi River, and the interior of the United
States. British forces sailed into the Gulf of Mexico and moved their forces through the
swamps near New Orleans. U.S. forces led by Major General Andrew Jackson attacked and
drove the British forces back. The Battle of New Orleans was considered the greatest land
victory of the entire war.

Causes of War

➢ Maritime issues and territorial expansion cannot be understood without reference to the
Napoleonic wars in Europe (1803-1815). British impressments and restrictions on
American maritime trade were products of a titanic struggle between Great Britain and
France.
Impressment
➢ Great Britain’s humiliating policy of searching U.S. merchant vessels and seizing
British-born seamen and deserters was directly related to its need for seasoned sailors
in the war.
➢ The Royal Navy was the backbone of the British war against France as well as the
protector of British trade. To meet its need for manpower, the British government
employed naval press gangs to forcibly conscript every available young man
throughout the British Isles. The Royal Navy also stopped both British and foreign
merchant ships at sea and impressed any British-born sailor.
But why Britain was looking for Deserters?
A sizable proportion of these deserters found employment in higher-paying U.S.
merchant ships. The loss of these trained seamen was intolerable to the British
government. Especially galling was the fact that the U.S. government did nothing to assist
in the recapture of British deserters nor prevent their employment on American ships.
“Had the United States created a credible and effective system for removing British subjects
from American ships,” writes the American historian Troy Bickham, “Britain probably
would have backed down and stopped aggressively seizing men on merchant vessels”.
The impressment issue was complicated by the fact that U.S. and British law denied
American citizenship differently. U.S. law allowed immigrants to become naturalized
American citizens after five years of residence. British law recognized that American
citizenship is only for those residing in the U.S. before 1783 or those born in the U.S. since
then. All others who were born in Great Britain or its colonies were deemed British
subjects forever.
Had the issue of impressments been the sole motivation for war against Great Britain,
the war would likely have begun in June 1807, when the British warship, H.M.S.
Leopard, red on the American warship, U.S.S. Chesapeake, killed three and wounded
eighteen. The British obtained their four deserters, of whom three were American-born; the
fourth was British-born – and later hanged.
As war talk gained momentum in Washington in the fall of 1811, Great Britain attempted
to placate the U.S.
▪ First, it settled the Chesapeake affair by returning the remaining two American
seamen and offering to pay reparations.
▪ These attempts at conciliation were brushed aside by the Madison administration
and Democratic-Republicans.
▪ According to Donald Hickey, “Republican leaders were so blinded by their distrust
of Great Britain and so burdened by the ideological legacy of the Revolution that
they saw significant British concessions as meaningless gestures.
▪ Federalists pressed for a diplomatic solution, while Democratic-Republicans
pressed for stronger measures against Great Britain.
Trade Restrictions
According to the historian Troy Bickham, “American merchant shipping boomed during
Britain’s wars with France to become the world’s second-largest carrier, not only transporting
American and French products but also making sizable inroads into routes between Britain and
its colonies in Asia and the Caribbean….”
With ‘free trade’ as their slogan, Americans gained access to an unprecedented number of
ports and routes.” As Britons struggled under a heavy burden of taxation and debt to maintain
their war against France, many came to view American traders as “profiteers of the worst
possible kind,” and thus supported measures to limit American trade expansion and sustain
British dominance in global trade.
The Jefferson administration passed up an opportunity to resolve many of the trade tensions
plaguing U.S.-British relations when it dismissed a treaty signed by U.S. envoys James
Monroe and William Pinckney in late 1806.
According to the terms of the treaty,
1) U.S. merchant ships would be allowed access to the British East Indies and to re-export
goods
2) duties would be lowered at British ports
3) proper notice of blockades would be given to avoid unwarranted captures of U.S.
vessels
4) compensation would be paid in the event of illegal captures
5) Royal Navy would not interfere with American vessels within five miles of the
American coast.
6) U.S. in exchange, would deny the use of American harbors to French ships, preventing
Americans from joining the armed forces of Great Britain’s enemies.
Jefferson rejected the treaty, citing a lack of guarantees on the impressment issue and
perhaps believing that he could get a better deal if the French were to gain ascendancy in the
European war. Historian Donald Hickey commented: The rejection of the Monroe-Pinckney
Treaty was a great turning point in the Age of Jefferson.
Jefferson’s administration and its allies in Congress also passed a series of embargo laws
between December 1807 and January 1809, which prohibited American ships from trading
in all foreign ports. The embargo was meant to deprive Great Britain of needed goods and
markets, but the larger effect was to create economic hardship. This act did little more than
raising popular fears of governmental authoritarianism. In March 1809, Congress replaced the
Embargo Act with the Non-Intercourse Act, a watered-down version that forbade
commerce only with France and Great Britain. This, too, was routinely evaded.
Soon after taking the presidential oath on March 4, 1809, James Madison met with the British
minister in Washington, David M. Erskine, who had an American wife and felt sympathetic
toward the United States. Eager to resolve the tensions between the two
countries, Erskine put forth a proposed agreement to end the British Orders-in-Council
and Madison readily signed it. Unfortunately, Erskine went beyond his instructions and
London repudiated the agreement. Deeply embarrassed and publicly mocked, Madison was
obliged to reinstate the Non-Intercourse Act on August 9. The experience seems to have
hardened Madison toward future compromise.
The British government was not inclined to rescind its Orders-in-Council, but it did make a
conciliatory gesture in May 1812 by offering the U.S. an equal share of the licensed trade
enjoyed by the British on the European continent. This would have opened the continent
to U.S. trade again but under rules set by Great Britain. The Madison administration declined
the order, believing that accepting it would be tantamount to surrendering American
independence.
Finally, on June 23 1812, the British made the concession that the Madison administration had
demanded, repealing its Orders-in-Council, but the news did not reach the U.S. until August
13. President Madison suspected that the repeal was “a trick to turn America from war,”
according to American Historian Bradford Perkins, but it was not a trick. It was a sincere
attempt to avoid war as well as to repair the economic damage wrought by American
trade restrictions.
British officials, in fact, believed that the U.S. had been tricked by Napoleon into demanding
accommodations from Great Britain that France itself had not made. London expected
Washington to retract its war declaration, but the Madison administration was intent on the
war. The only change was in American propaganda, as “free trade” could no longer be
used to justify the war.
Territorial Expansion
The U.S. was growing rapidly in population at the time and small groups were pushing beyond
white-settled areas into areas already settled by Native American tribes – the First Nations. The
U.S. population expanded from 5.3 million in 1800 to 7.2 million in 1810, to 9.6 million in
1820.
Tribes included the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles in the southern
part, and moving further to the north, Shawnees, Delawares, Mingoes, Ottawas, Wyandots,
Miamis, Potawatomis, Kickapoos, Chippewas, and others. None of these tribes were
consulted when the British transferred “ownership” of their lands to the United States in
1783. William Henry Harrison, the governor of the Indiana Territory and superintendent of
Indian affairs convinced leaders of the Miami, Potawatomi, and Delaware tribes to transfer
three million acres to the United States in exchange for payments to the tribes.
Tecumseh warned Harrison not to allow American settlers into the area. He and his brother
Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, had a vision of establishing a permanent pan-Indian
homeland in the Old Northwest Territory and reviving Native ways of life. On November 7,
1811, while Tecumseh was away on a recruiting drive, Harrison led a force of 1,000 men on a
mission to destroy Tecumseh’s camp at Prophetstown, located in Indian territory. As Harrison
and his men neared the town, Tenskwatawa led a surprise attack against the invading
force. Harrison’s men suffered heavy casualties but still managed to burn the town as well as
stores of food, imperiling the Indians’ survival in the coming winter. Harrison’s attack was
meant to throttle Tecumseh’s confederacy in its infancy, but the effect was rather to encourage
more tribes and warriors to join it and take up arms against encroaching Americans. Fighting
spread to the west, with Indian raids taking place in present-day Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, and
Iowa.
The Madison administration commended Harrison for his attack and blamed the British
for
supplying arms and ammunition to the various tribes. Once the U.S. declared war against
Great Britain, however, Tecumseh cemented an alliance with the British and provided critical
support in battles around Lake Erie. He died in the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813.
The War of 1812 pitted the U.S. against Great Britain, but it encompassed a number of
Indian wars as well.
U.S. forces engaged Native Americans in the Upper Mississippi Valley led by Shawk chieftain
Black Hawk, Red Stick Creeks in the Mississippi Territory (which had little to do with the
British), Seminoles in Spanish East Florida, and First Nation allies of the British in Upper
Canada. These associated Indian wars all played into U.S. expansionist ambitions. The Creeks
were forced to cede 23 million acres to the United States in 1814. Following the War of
1812, the U.S. signed treaties of cession with eighteen different tribes between 1816 and 1823.
Understanding the expansionist motive in the War of 1812 requires an appreciation of both
the wider geographical context and the deeper historical context. The wider context places
the war in relation to the Napoleonic wars in Europe and the opportunity it provided for
extending U.S. control over the North American continent. The deeper context places the war
in a longer time frame of American “western expansionism” and Native American resistance.
Hemispheric Superiority- Expansionism
❖ On to Canada
Ridding the continent of European powers was equally important in gaining control over the
continent. Between 1810 and 1850, the U.S. forcefully deprived Spain and Mexico of large
land holdings in North America – Florida, Texas, and the American Southwest. In
1812, U.S. expansionists focused on Spanish Florida and British Canada. “Americans
fully realized the many advantages that might accrue from the acquisition of Canada,” writes
Donald Hickey.
“It would remove Great Britain, a powerful rival, from the nation’s northern part; it would put
an end to foreign influence over American Indians and leave Americans in control of the still
lucrative fur trade; it would eliminate trade barriers on the northern frontier and secure an
invaluable east-west transportation route that included the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence
River; and it would open vast new expanses of farmland to American settlers.” The goal was
not simply to gain new lands for American farmers and investors immediately, but also to
establish American control over the continent in the future. From a geopolitical
perspective, the War of 1812 was a contest between an emerging empire, the United States,
and an established one, Great Britain.
1) As of June 1812, British forces were engaged fighting on the Iberian Peninsula for five
years.
Americans knew that Great Britain could ill-afford to divert its troops and warships to
protect its Canadian provinces – and Canada was the only realistic military target for
the U.S. The minuscule U.S. Navy had no capacity to launch an attack on Great Britain
or even its Caribbean colonies.
2) Also, U.S. quest for Canada dated back to the outset of the War for Independence when
American forces attacked Quebec. Expansionists were intent on taking over
Canada. They believed this would reduce Indian resistance to American expansion by
depriving hostile tribes of British arms and Canadian refugees across the border.
3) Americans would also benefit by taking over the Canadian lumber and fur trades,
obtaining additional lands for settlers, and securing permanent shing and whaling rights
in Newfoundland.
 4) Many aggressive expansionists envisioned U.S. dominion over the whole of North
America.
President Thomas Jefferson thought similarly, writing to a friend on
June 28, 1812, ten days after the war began,
Our present enemy will have the
sea to herself, while we shall be
equally predominant on land, and
shall strip her of all her
possessions on this continent.
Leading “war hawk,” Representative Henry Clay of Kentucky, was likewise intent on mastery
of the continent. Representative John C. Calhoun of South Carolina countered the idea that
the U.S. was unprepared, telling his colleagues, “So far from being unprepared, sir, I believe
that in four weeks from the time that a declaration of war is heard on our frontiers the whole of
Upper and a part of Lower Canada will be in our possession.
Opposing all of the expansionists were the dissenters. “Opponents charged that the war was
not a defense of maritime rights but an aggressive grab for territory,” according to the historian
Jerald A. Combs.
The idea of attacking Canada was particularly loathsome. Why attack a peaceful neighbor
because of British abuses at sea? The point was raised by Congressman Josiah Quincy, a
Federalist from Massachusetts and future president of Harvard University. “If you had a field
to defend in Georgia,” he said, “it would be very strange to put up a fence in
Massachusetts. And yet, how does this differ from invading Canada for the purpose of
defending our maritime rights?
President Madison, in his war message of June 1, 1812,
He made no reference to his plans to invade Canada or to the
actual invasions of Spanish Florida already underway. Instead, he
kept the focus on British abuses of American maritime rights and
alleged British intransigence in negotiations, making war appear to
be the last resort in defense of American sovereignty and honor.
Madison also made numerous references to international law,
citing the “law of nations,” the “acknowledged laws of war,” the
“unlawfulness” of British actions on the high seas, the British “war
against the lawful commerce,” and British “lawless violence.
❖ Covert action against Spanish Florida
Some historical accounts of the War of 1812 exclude U.S. efforts to take possession of Spanish
West and East Florida, deeming them separate affairs. They are included here because they
were part of the overall U.S. expansionist drive that was partly responsible for the War of
1812. American expansionists desired Spanish Florida for a variety of reasons: economic trade
would be enhanced by the full possession of the navigable rivers that opened into the Gulf of
Mexico; American settlers would have access to more land; escaped slaves and hostile Indians
would lose their Florida sanctuaries; and military security, as well as trade, would be enhanced
by the acquisition of ports in Pensacola and Mobile.
The Treaty of San Ildefonso that ceded the Louisiana Territory from Spain to France in 1800
did not include the Florida colonies. What it did include was a proviso that France could not
transfer or sell the Louisiana Territory to a third power. That, of course, is exactly what
Napoleon did in 1803, and why Spain and Great Britain deemed the Louisiana Purchase illegal.
In 1804, the Jefferson administration commissioned James Monroe to negotiate the cession
of East and West Florida to the United States, but the Spanish Crown adamantly refused. The
impetus to military action came when Napoleon took over the Spanish government in May
1808. Spain was in no position to protect its Florida colonies.
President James Madison moved first against Spanish West Florida. In 1810 he instructed
his agents to encourage American residents living near Baton Rouge to rebel against Spanish
authority, form a provisional government, and request annexation by the United States. The
resident Americans carried out the plan, capturing a small Spanish fort at Baton Rouge – and
killing two soldiers and wounding three in the process – then proclaiming the independent
“Republic of West Florida” and requesting annexation by the United States along with
protection from any Spanish counterattack. On October 27, 1810, he issued a formal
proclamation taking possession of West Florida (from the Perdido River to the Mississippi
River) on behalf of the United States. The Madison administration’s plan for taking over East
Florida followed along the same lines as that for taking West Florida, but the operation proved
more difficult. On Jan. 15, 1811, Congress authorized the president to “take possession” of
East Florida if requested by a “local authority” or in the event of occupation “by any foreign
government. The plan involved recruiting a mercenary army of American “Patriots” by
offering each man forty acres of land, persuading or intimidating as many East Florida
residents as possible to rebel against Spanish authority, then establishing a base from which to
declare allegiance to the U.S. and request annexation.
News of the U.S. invasion spread quickly through U.S. newspapers. Federalist-leaning papers
such as the New York Evening Post decried the American seizure of Fernandina, calling it “an
outrageous act of depredation, or, if countenanced by the government, an act of open war on a
nation with whom we are at peace.” The American incursion into East Florida drew sharp
protests from both Great Britain and the Spanish government in exile. The British instructed
their consul in Washington, Augustus Foster, to “protest against any attempt to seize that
Province from our Ally.” On June 18, 1812, the U.S. formally declared war on Great
Britain. One day later, Democratic-Republican “war hawks” in Congress introduced a bill to
formally authorize U.S. military occupation of East and West Florida. The bill passed easily
in the House, 70-48, but it was unexpectedly defeated in the Senate. Although the pretense of
a “rebellion” had been exposed and legislation to permit U.S. occupation had been defeated,
the Madison administration still carried on with the occupation of Spanish East Florida.

In July 1812, the Seminoles joined the battle on the side of the Spanish, having
heard that the Patriot leaders were handing out generous land grants in their territory. Seminole
warriors ambushed U.S. supply wagons and Patriot raiding parties. Although the Seminoles
evaded their opponents, they lost much of their subsistence. The Americans recorded setting
burning of 386 houses, seizing 1500-2000 bushels of corn, and taking 300 horses and 400 head
of cattle. Unlike the invasion of Spanish East Florida, few Americans objected to the
invasion of Seminole country, as wars against Native Americans were deemed allowable
under almost any circumstances.
In mid-January 1813, with the war against Great Britain well underway, the “war hawks” once
again tried to move a bill through Congress authorizing a formal U.S. takeover of East
Florida. Federalists once again denounced the idea. A vote was taken in the Senate on February
2 and the bill failed, 16 ayes to 19 nays. With the defeat of this second bill, President
Madison decided that he could no longer maintain the ruse of supporting a Spanish
rebellion. On March 7, he ordered U.S. troops to leave East Florida. The so-called Patriot
War ended in 1814, but the American quest for East Florida did not. Under the terms of the
Treaty of Ghent, signed in December 1814, East Florida remained a Spanish dominion.
Hostilities were renewed in mid-1816. The following year, General Andrew Jackson led a force
of 3,000 men against the Seminoles, burning towns, destroying crops, and killing livestock.
The Spanish government convinced that it could not protect its colony, ceded Florida to the
United States in the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, which the U.S. ratified in 1821.
End of War
The Madison administration then entered into peace negotiations with the British. The Treaty
of Ghent (18 Feb, 1815) which formally ended the war, involved no significant change in
pre-war borders or boundaries. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British had already
abandoned their policy of impressing American sailors and had informally lifted restrictions
on neutral trade. According to the terms of the treaty, the British returned nearly four thousand
Americans who had been classified as prisoners of war and forced into British service. The end
of hostilities ushered in the “Era of Good Feelings,” during which US-British relations
improved. The nation’s sense of victory and unity was enhanced by the dissolution of the
Federalist Party and the easing of bitter partisan divisions. In the aftermath of the War of 1812,
the American people began to think of the United States as a proud and independent nation
rather than a collection of formerly colonial territories