1. AMERICAN HISTORY

2.  Why did the USA and Britain get into a war so soon after the Revolutionary War?  Unresolved tensions about the Northwest Frontier and problems on the seas  1803—USA caught in the middle of British trade disagreements  Napoleonic Wars between France and Britain involve American merchant ships  France and England ignore American neutrality

3.  Americans saw Britain as a more serious threat  IMPRESSMENT—men kidnapped and forced to work on ships  Chesapeake Incident  British ship Leopard stopped the US ship Chesapeake to search for deserters  Chesapeake refused to be searched so they were fired upon  Britain seized 4 American sailors

4.  Americans were furious  President Jefferson and Congress passed a drastic law  The Embargo Act—Prohibited exports to foreign countries  Disastrous to the economy  Goods piled up in warehouses, ships sat in the harbor, people lost their jobs, businesses failed  1808 Presidential election—Madison, Jefferson’s ally, wins easily  A new law re-opens all trade except with Britain and France  Conflicts over commerce were pushing the nation toward war

5.  On-going conflict between settlers and Native Americans  Britain tried to re-build their relationship with Native Americans  NEW POLICIES  William Henry Harrison named governor of the Indiana Territory  President Jefferson’s Native American Policy  Native Americans could either choose to become farmers or join white society and move west of the Mississippi River

6.  As Harrison implemented the policy, Native Americans made treaties in which they lost millions of acres of tribal lands in MI, IN, IL  NEW INDIAN LEADERS  Two Shawnee brothers emerge as leaders  Tenskwatawa (the prophet)—spoke against white culture  Tecumseh (shooting star)—1809-began to unite his brother’s followers

7.  1811—While Tecumseh was away, Harrison’s forces attacked. Both sides had heavy losses  Prophetstown, IN burns  Conflict called The Battle of Tippecanoe. Harrison was a national hero

8.  Some American politicians had been calling for war – WARHAWKS  Less concerned about world affairs  They hated Britain and even hoped for a conquest of Canada  WAR IS DECLARED  Henry Clay (a leading warhawk) became Speaker of the House 1811  Congress pressured President Madison to send a war declaration  Congress declared war on Great Britain in June 1812

9.  The War of 1812 was fought on land and sea, from Canada to Louisiana  Much of the war took place along the US-Canadian border  British also staged a massive blockade of the American coast and New Orleans  GAINS AND LOSSES  American navy was several victories  August 1812—USS Constitution sank the British ship Guerriere  Gunfire bounced off the oak hull of the Constitution earning it the nickname Old Ironsides

10.  Americans make several unsuccessful attempts to invade Canada  Tecumseh joins the British to capture Detroit and invade Ohio  October 1813—Battle of the Thames (Ontario, CN), Tecumseh is killed  Native Americans suffer another tragic loss in Battle of Horseshoe Bend  TN militia leader Andrew Jackson massacred Creek Indian women, children, and warriors  He seized the fort at Pensacola, FL

11.  A successful British tactic was to make quick strikes against coastal cities  August 1814—British navy sails into Chesapeake Bay. Soldiers march into Washington  Several major buildings are burned  British bombard Fort McHenry (Baltimore, MD)  Francis Scott Key observes the battle  Key writes “The Star Spangled Banner”  British forces land near New Orleans in December 1814

12.  Andrew Jackson beats the British to New Orleans  January 1815—Battle of New Orleans made Jackson a hero  TREATY OF GHENT  1814-diplomats meet in Ghent, Belgium to create a peace treaty (signed in December)  Both sides eager for peace  No territory changed hands  America had proved itself as a nation.  THE END