During the War of 1812, the president of the United States was a great intellectual, one of the founding fathers of our nation, and one of the key architects of the Bill of Rights Constitution. That brilliant man was none other than James Madison. On June 1st, 1812, James Madison was the first president to ask Congress to declare war against Great Britain. Events such as Britain putting up naval blockades to stop trade with France, capturing American boats carrying valuable goods, killing, capturing, and practicing impressment on American men, and allying and supporting Indians in the west to engage in battle with Americans were all reasons as to why Madison was pushed into engaging in a war with Great Britain. When looking back on the actions …show more content…
Federalist states in New England opposed the war by not assisting in financing the war effort through their banks and by not letting their militias fight in battle surrounding areas in the New England/Canada area. A tragic loss for the Americans was in 1814 when British sailors sailed into Chesapeake Bay and attacked Washington City. This attack was revenge for the burning of the capital of York in Canada. To add fuel to the fire, no pun intended, the British took matters into their own hands and inflicted similar attacks on the U.S. Capitol building. They burned the Capitol building to the ground in retaliation for burning down the capital of York in Canada and the Battle of Thames. After several battle such as the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and others, the U.S. was making some progress, but not making much progress in its victories against Britain. The Nation itself was in military turmoil in fighting battles in the northwest and south and in political turmoil because it was divided between two major conflicting parties. Luckily for the U.S., Great Britain had been fighting against Napoleonic France for over twenty years and was willing to negotiate a treaty that would end the war. This treaty was known as the Treaty of Ghent and was signed in 1814. Before the peace treaty was ratified in Congress, British came back to America and attacked New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson and his army emerged victorious in this battle in astronomical numbers. “The British lost 700 men, and 2,000 more were wounded or taken prisoner; just 13 Americans died, and only 58 suffered wounds” (Chapter 7, pp. 230). This was a victory in the simplest of terms if I ever saw one. General Jackson re-ignited America’s pride that was depressed due to economic, political, and