War of 1812 and Rise of U.S. Nationalism

1. The War Hawks
   1. Group of mostly Southern and Western politicians (esp. John Calhoun and Henry Clay) who wanted war
   2. Sought to conquer Canada, maybe Florida too
   3. Highly nationalistic, angered over humiliations by British and French
   4. Midwesterners believed British were behind Techumseh, who tried to unite Indians against Americans, and was defeated in 1811
2. Madison calls for declaration of war - 1812
   1. Madison seems to have wanted to invade Canada as a way of pressuring England to respect US shipping
   2. War Hawks had imperial designs in mind
3. The War - Strengths and Weaknesses
   1. Our army only a little large than British army in Canada (7000 vs. 4000 + Indian allies)
   2. Our navy very small (though stronger on Great Lakes than British)
   3. Britain more concerned about Napoleon than about US
4. New England
   1. War supposedly fought to protect their shipping
   2. Much of war fought on New England's Canadian border
   3. But New England wanted nothing of it
      1. Embargo had been bad for business
      2. Saw war as unnecessary
      3. Many New Englanders sold supplies to British in war
   4. Hartford Convention
      1. Angered over war, embargo, and what they saw as Southern domination, New Englanders met at Hartford
      2. Mostly Federalists
      3. Proposed constitutional amendments to protect their interests
      4. Did not propose secession, but many thought they did and accused the Convention of treason
      5. Federalist Party would collapse after war as a result
5. Not much of a real war
   1. Little success in Canadian campaign
   2. Did succeed in holding Great Lakes
   3. Mostly small battles - held British to a draw
   4. Andrew Jackson's 1815 victory at New Orleans good for morale, but came after peace treaty (Treaty of Ghent) signed
   5. Treaty of Ghent settled nothing - war was a stalemate
   6. But Americans now felt they had much less to fear from Europe
      1. Came to be called "Second American Revolution" - U.S. saw itself as free from European meddling
      2. Enabled U.S. to focus on internal development
      3. Europe now focused imperial ambitions on Africa and Asia
6. Marshall Court
   1. A number of Supreme Court decisions under Chief Justice John Marshall helped unify the county
   2. Establishing national principles of law
      1. Marbury v. Madison (1803) established principle of judicial review over federal law
      2. Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816) gave Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction over state courts
   3. McCulloh v. Maryland (1816)
      1.  Established constitutional validity of national bank
      2. Decided that states could not tax the national bank
      3. Established supremacy of national law over state law
7. Monroe Doctrine
   1. In 1822, the major European powers (minus Great Britain) began to talk about helping Spain regain its empire
   2. Britain opposed this, approached U.S. to propose a joint policy opposing this
   3. President James Monroe and Sec. of State John Q. Adams did not want to appear to be following British orders
   4. Decided to make a unilateral statement, without British backing
      1. U.S. would not allow new colonialism in the Americas
      2. U.S. would not interfere in existing colonies or in European affairs
      3. A rather bold statement, though U.S. was too weak to enforce it
      4. However, it set tone for U.S. policy towards Europe until WWI