The War of 1812 - Crash Course US History #11

Hi, I'm John Green, this is the

crash

course

in US

history

and today we're going to talk about what America is best at: war. Mr. Green, the United States has actually only declared war five times in the last 230 years. Oh, past me, whiny literalist. Well, today we're going to talk about the first war declared in the United States, the War of

1812

, so called because historians are terrible at naming things. I mean they could have called it The Revolutionary War: Part Deux, or The Canadian Cataclysm, or The War to Facilitate Future Wars. But no, they simply named it after the year it started.

I know this disappoints the military historians among you, but as usual, we are going to spend more time talking about the causes and effects of the war than the actual parts of the deaths, because ultimately it is the ambiguity of the War from

1812

which makes it so interesting. The reason most frequently given for the War of 1812 was the British capture of American sailors, whereby American sailors would be kidnapped and essentially forced into British servitude. This disrupted American shipping and also seems like a reasonably obvious violation of American sovereignty, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Firstly, there were thousands of British sailors working aboard American ships, so many of the sailors the British captured were actually British. Which leads to the general point that citizenship at the time was a pretty slippery concept, especially on the high seas. Documents were often forged and many sailors identified their supposed American status through tattoos of eagles and similar flags. And there were several reasons why a British sailor would like to become or pretend to be an American, including the fact that the British at the time were fighting Napoleon in what historians, in their infinite creativity, called The Napoleonic Wars.

And on that note, the British printing policy allowed them to disrupt American shipping to France and get new British sailors to strengthen their war effort, which bothered the Americans on a couple of levels, especially the France-loving Republicans, which is a phrase that is not heard very often anymore. Another reason often given for the war was America's crazy conspiratorial Anglophobia. There was even a widespread rumor that British agents were buying Connecticut sheep to sabotage the textile industry, fearing that America's fascination with conspiracy theories was new. So those who pushed for war were known as war hawks, and the most famous among them was Henry Clay of Kentucky.

They took the sailors' impression as an affront to American national honor, but they also complained that Britain's actions were an affront to free trade, that is, to the United States' ability to trade with Europeans other than Britain. And to be fair, the British were trying to regulate American trade. They even passed Orders in Council that required American ships to dock in Britain and pay taxes before trading with other European nations. Great Britain, we were an independent nation! You can't do that kind of thing! We have a special relationship but it's not that special! But the problem with saying this caused the war was that the Orders had been in force for five years before the war started.

And they were rescinded in 1812 before the United States declared war. Although, it's true, we didn't know because it didn't reach us until after we declared it. There was no Twitter. Another reason for the war was Canada. That's right Canada, the Americans loved you and who can blame them for your excellent healthcare, your top-notch hockey and your top-notch national anthem. Stan, this is fun but enough with issues #1812. According to Virginia Congressman John Randolph, "Agrarian greed, not maritime rights, drives war. We've only heard one word: Canada, Canada, Canada." I'm not here to criticize you, John Randolph, but it's really three words.

Now, some historians disagree with this, but the relentless search for new lands certainly fits the Jeffersonian model of an agrarian republic. And there is another factor that influenced the United States' decision to go to war: expansion into Native American-controlled territories. Oh, is it time for the mystery document? The rules here are simple: I try to guess the author of the mysterious document. I'm usually wrong and surprised. Alright, let's see what we have here. "You want, by your distinctions as Indian tribes, by assigning to each a particular tract of land, to make them go to war with each other.

You never see an Indian come and endeavor to force the whites to do it." It's Tecumseh. Dropping the mic... is something I would do except the mic is taped to my shirt, so there's no drama here. It's clearly a Native American critique of white people, and I happen to know that particular one comes from Tecumseh and it doesn't surprise me today. Therefore, it should not be surprising that the Americans continued to advance westward, towards territories where the Indians lived. I mean, after all, this was a major reason for the Louisiana Purchase. By the beginning of the war, more than 400,000 settlers had moved into territories west of the original 13 colonies and outnumbered the American Indians by a significant margin.

Some native groups responded with some assimilation. Cherokees like John Ross wanted to become more "civilized," that is, whiter and more peasant-like. And some of them even adopted such civilized practices as the written language and slavery, the most civilized practice of all. People always say, "Why don't you celebrate American

history

more?" Well, why isn't there more to celebrate? But other Indians wanted to resist. The best known were the aforementioned Tecumseh and his brother Tensk. Stan, can you put it on the screen? Yes. Let's enjoy looking at that. Well, that's just for all you visual learners. That's why he was also known as The Prophet, because of his religious teachings and also because of his pronunciation problems.

The Prophet encouraged the Indians, especially those living in and around the Prophetstown settlement, to abandon the customs of the whites, primarily in the form of alcohol and manufactured consumer goods. So he stops drinking alcohol and eating refined sugars – this guy looks like my doctor! Tecumseh was more militant; attempting to revive Neolin's idea of ​​pan-Indianism and actively resisting white settlement. As he said: "Sell a country, why not sell the air, the great sea and the Earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?" Americans responded to this reasonable criticism in the traditional way: with guns.

William Henry Harrison destroyed the native settlement of Prophetstown in what would become known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. He would later carry that fame to the presidency in 1840 and then... SPOILER ALERT: He would give the longest inaugural speech in history, catch a cold, and die 40 days later. Let this be a lesson to you American politicians: long speeches? Fatal! So I just painted a pretty negative picture of the United States' treatment of Indians, because it was horrible. But I haven't mentioned how this relates to the War of 1812. The Americans were receiving reports that the British were rooting for Tecumseh, which they probably were.

And the important thing to remember here is that the War of 1812, like the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution, was also a war against the Indians. And as in those other two wars, the Indians were the biggest losers. And not in the cool biggest loser way, where, say, Coach Bob helps you lose weight, but in the really sad way, where your entire civilization welcomes John C. Calhouned. So the War of 1812 was the first time the United States declared war on anyone. It was also the smallest margin on a war declaration vote: 79 to 49 in the House and 19 to 13 in the Senate.

The northern states, which relied heavily on trade, did not want to go to war, while the southern and western states, which were more agrarian and wanted expansion to gain land for agriculture and slavery, did. The closeness of the vote reflects a deep ambivalence about the war. As Henry Adams wrote: "Many nations have gone to war with pure joy of heart, but perhaps the United States was the first to force itself into a war it feared, in the hope that war itself might create the spirit that "Don't worry, Henry Adams! In the future we will feel quite happy about war.

Anyway, as a real war, the War of 1812 was something of a farce. Let's go to the thought bubble. The American army had between 10 and 12 thousand people and its officers were mired in laziness, ignorance or the habit of excessive drinking. The US Navy had 17 ships. Britain had 1,000. Furthermore, the United States had very little money, Britain collected 40 times more tax revenue than the United States. But Britain was busy fighting Napoleon, which is why they didn't start kicking America's ass until 1814, after Napoleon was defeated. Napoleon's defeat was also the practice of printing, as Britain no longer needed as many sailors.

Initially, much of the war consisted of the United States' attempts to take Canada, which any map will show were devastating. Americans were confident that Canadians would rush to join the United States. Marching from Detroit, General William Hull informed the Canadians that they "will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression and restored to the worthy position of free men." And the Canadians said, "Yeah, we're actually okay." And so the British in Canada, with their Indian allies, went ahead and captured Detroit and then forced the surrender of Hull. The United States' lack of success in Canada was mainly due to terrible strategy.

They could have been successful if they had taken Montreal, but they did not want to march through northern New York because it was full of Federalists who opposed the war. Instead, they concentrated on the West, that is, the area around Detroit, where fighting came and went. The British were much more successful, even taking Washington DC and burning the White House. In the

course

of the battle, British Admiral George Cockburn, who was overseeing the destruction of a newspaper printing plant, told the forces that took the city: "Make sure that all the C's are destroyed, so that the scoundrels cannot continue to abuse of my name.

It's difficult for a Cockburn. Thanks, Thought Bubble. Given these problems, it is surprising that there were American successes, but there were. The battleship USS Constitution broke the myth of British naval invincibility when the cannon balls bounced. in it and earned the nickname "Old Ironsides." Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a British fleet, precisely on Lake Erie. At the Battle of the Thames, William Harry Harrison defeated Tecumseh And the battle of Horseshoe Ben showed one of. the reasons why the Indians were defeated when Andrew Jackson pitted a group of Creeks against another group of Creeks and Cherokees 800 Indians died in that battle.

And speaking of Jackson, the most notable American victory of the war was the Battle of. New Orleans, which catapulted him to prominence. He lost only 71 men and inflicted 2,036 British casualties. Of course, the most memorable thing about the battle is that it took place two weeks after the peace treaty ending the war was signed. But hey, that's not Jackson's fault. Again, no Twitter, #1815problems. The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war, demonstrated how necessary the war had been: not at all. No territory changed hands when negotiations began. And in August 1814, the British asked for northern Maine, the demilitarization of the Great Lakes, and some territory to create an independent nation for the Indians and the Northwest.

But none of that happened, not because the United States was in a particularly good negotiating position, but because it would have been awkward for Britain to take pieces of the United States and then tell Russia and Prussia that they couldn't take pieces of Europe. to celebrate themselves their victory in the Napoleonic Wars. There were no provisions in the treaty about printing or free trade and the treaty basically returned everything to the status quo. So neither the United States nor Great Britain won. But the Indians suffered significant casualties and gave up even more territory, definitively lost. So with a treaty like that, the war must have had a negligible impact on American history, right?

Except not; The War of 1812 confirmed that the United States would exist. Britain would never invade the United States again (until 1961). I mean America was a good customer and Britain was happyto allow them to trade, as long as that trade did not help a French dictator. The war launched Andrew Jackson's career and solidified the settlement and conquest of lands east of the Mississippi River. And our lack of success in Canada reinforced Canadian nationalism and at the same time ensured that, instead of becoming a great nation, we would forever be Canada's pants. The war also meant the end of the Federalist Party, which attempted in 1815 with the Hartford Convention to change the constitution.

In retrospect, the Hartford Convention's proposals seem quite reasonable. They wanted to eliminate the clause where blacks were counted as 3/5 of a human being and required a 2/3 majority in Congress to declare war. But because they held their convention just before Jackson's victory in New Orleans, they only came across as unpatriotic and out of touch, as the elite often do. It's hard to argue that Americans really won the War of 1812, but we felt like we had won, and nothing unleashes national pride like winning a war. The nationalist fervor that emerged in the early 19th century was, like most things, good news for some and bad news for others.

But what's important to remember, regardless of whether you're American, is that after 1812, the United States saw itself not only as an independent nation but as a major player on the world stage. For better or worse, that's a job we have held on to. And no matter how you feel about America's international interventions, you have to remember that they didn't start in Afghanistan or even in Europe; It started with fucking Canada. Thanks for watching, see you next week. Crash Course is produced and directed by Stan Muller. The script supervisor is Meredith Danko. Our program is written by my high school history teacher, Raoul Meyer, and me.

Our associate producer is Danica Johnson. And our graphics team is Thought Cafe. If you have questions about today's video, you can ask them in the comments, where they will be answered by our team of historians. We also accept suggestions for Libertage subtitles. Thanks for watching Crash Course and as we say in my hometown: Don't forget to be awesome. Bye bye! Don't forget to subscribe!