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1812: The Inconsequential War That Changed America Forever
Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Most adult Americans today are unaware of what caused the War of 1812, who started it, what the outcome was, or even who the belligerents were. If I recall correctly, my grade school / high school History Class covered The War Of 1812 — aka America’s Second War Of Independence, or America’s Forgotten War — for a total of maybe one week. And what a worthless week it was. Like most history teachers I’ve ever had, they turned an exciting story into a dry bundle of boring crap … focusing on memorizing dates and random events without getting to the real story behind the story; i.e. why did it happen, how does the war affect us today, and what can we learn from it? This is a crying shame because the war had a tremendous impact on American political development, territorial expansion, and national identity.
A 19th century French historian said, “History studies not just facts and institutions, its real subject is the human spirit.” The word ‘history’ comes from the Greek, and literally means “knowledge acquired by investigation”. So, let us investigate the War Of 1812, and the spirit of humanity which caused it … and changed America forever.
OVERALL SUMMARY
There were two major reasons given for the war.
First, Britain was at war with France since 1793. For twenty years the British claimed they had the right – as a legitimate and necessary wartime measure — to intercept American ships on the high seas, seize and keep their cargoes, and search the crews for British navy deserters. The British between 1807 and 1812 seized some 400 American ships and cargoes worth millions of dollars.

Second, was the British practice of ‘impressment’. A chronic manpower shortage in the Royal Navy led the Brits to stop American merchant vessels on the high seas and remove seamen. Between 1803 and 1812 the Brits captured an estimated six to nine THOUSAND Americans in its dragnet. These men were subjected to all the horrors of British naval discipline—enforced with the cat-o’-nine-tails—and made to fight a war that was not their own.
America felt this violated its rights as a neutral and sovereign nation. So, we declared war against the Brits in 1812.
THE END OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SEEDED THE WAR OF 1812
Isn’t that often the case … that the end of one war, and the demands of the victor, eventually leads to yet another war? The war for American Independence lasted until 1783 when the peace treaty with the British was signed. Imagine the giddy feeling you would have had at that time. Freedom! Independence! But the rational exuberance was met with irrational naivete.
The American populace, including its politicians, assumed that the British would continue to allow access to British ports …. as if nothing at all happened! America assumed that the Brits needed our wheat, the British Navy needed our timber, hemp, and tar, and British colonies in the West Indies needed our fish, wheat, and salt to feed their slaves. This was a big miscalculation.
Canada and Ireland delivered most of the same goods. In fact, America needed the Brits more than they needed us as we depended on British manufacturing goods. America had zero leverage, and it was Britain that dictated foreign policy. They admitted American raw materials on a case-by-case basis, excluded manufactured goods altogether from entering England, and closed West Indian ports to American goods. Bullocks to America! What could America do? Nothing. We had no navy to back up our demands.
1801 – A PIVOTAL YEAR
George Washington negotiated the Jay Treaty in 1795. The Brits negotiated from a position of strength, and conversely, America from weakness. In a nutshell, the treaty granted the Brits virtually unlimited access to American markets in exchange for limited access to British markets in the West Indies. It also allowed British creditors to recover debts owed by Americans.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected president and James Madison was named his secretary of state. They quickly abrogated the treaty.
Madison took a hard-line approach towards the Brits. Even back in 1790, as a Congressman from Virginia, he championed the idea of countering British trade restrictions with a series of discriminatory tariffs via import taxes. George Washington and John Adams rejected the idea. Now, however, as Secretary of State, Madison hoped to implement what he believed was a long overdue aggressive trade policy against Britain. But, he shot himself in the foot big time …. by reversing the naval-building policies of John Adams
John Adams succeeded in his priority of strengthening the United States Navy. When he was elected in 1796, the navy had only three battleships. Five years later, in 1801, the navy had fifty … more than enough to defend America’s coastline and maintain a viable presence in the Caribbean.
Jefferson, and Madison, undid all this for several reasons. They felt maintaining a navy was too expensive. As Republicans they believed in frugal, tax-cutting government. And they believed that a large military posed a domestic threat in that the officer corps could harbor aristocratic ambitions and become a tool for would-be tyrants. Lastly, they felt navies led countries into unnecessary foreign entanglements. As such, Jefferson invested only in small gunboats for coastal patrols. The battleships atrophied. By 1812, the United States had only a dozen seaworthy battleships of any size.
Jefferson and Madison certainly were not stupid men. Yet, one must wonder “What were they thinking??” With no leverage (military power) to bring to the negotiating table, did they expect the Brits to just quietly and unquestioningly bend to American demands? Hardly! As should have been expected, Britain continued to apply both its commercial and naval power to dictate — by force as necessary — trade and maritime policy to the United States.
MORE HALF-ASSED DECISIONS AND ERRONEOUS BELIEFS
All governments do dumb-shit things, even that of our Founding Fathers.
So, in 1807 Jefferson tried to pressure the Brits and French by convincing Congress to secure a radical embargo against all foreign trade. (Embargo!!! Our government still loves them to this very day. When will we ever learn?) American ships were forbidden from trading overseas. The embargo only hurt America. It was quickly scrapped.
It was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act. This act had nothing to do with the cessation of attacking the pink fortress. It allowed trade with all countries except Britain and France. It also allowed the President to restore trade with either country IF either belligerent ended its maritime harassment. That only intercoursed the American people, and didn’t work out either.
So, in 1810 Madison signed the ridicules Macon’s Bill No.2. Even he didn’t like it, but he could not yet get Congress to pass a war resolution. The bill authorized Madison to impose trade restrictions against one offending country if the other lifted its trade restrictions against the United States. In other words, the United States would commercially punish country A if country B agreed to allow America to trade freely. Pitting two countries against each other didn’t work either.
What was the result of all these half-assed measures to intimidate the British? They shopped elsewhere! For example, between 1808-1812 the Canadian timber industry exploded with its exports to England, increasing by 500%. Canadian agricultural production also increased greatly. The Brits were eating beef, Americans were eating crow.
Madison was getting desperate. He was conjuring up even more rigorous measures against the British fearing that the window of opportunity for gaining concessions through commercial pressure would soon close forever. His conjuring included plans for war.
He figured it would be a little war, and a quick one. (How many times have our Dear Leaders told us that? Especially since 1960?) Most of the British army and navy were bogged down in Europe, fighting a brutal war with Napoleon. The French controlled most of Europe, and the little Frenchie dictator assembled a 700,000-man army for an invasion of Russia. All Madison wanted was the right to trade freely and, gain the respect owed to the United States as an independent nation. He calculated that since he wasn’t seeking territory or conquest, that Britain would surely be willing to negotiate rather than have to deploy valuable ships and troops thousands of miles away from the war in Europe. Madison miscalculated. Madison was wrong to believe that the British would rush to negotiate with him. The British even refused Tsar Alexander I’s invitation to mediate in 1813.
Britain’s commitment to battle only strengthened over the first two years of the war. Madison was even wrong about the impact of the European war on America. He felt that when the European war ended, that the British would send the bulk of their armies to battle the United States. When you need popular support for a quick and easy war, you still need a little fear-mongering. “The British will come!!” One reason the Brits didn’t redeploy their troops was that American military incompetence at the beginning of the war made it unnecessary. More fortuitously, after more than two decades of continual war, the Brits had had enough, and by 1814 were more than happy to soften their demands. (The British Invasion finally took place about 150 years later. But with guitars and drums.)
THE FRENCH CONNECTION — TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MACON’S BILL
The Brits had the world’s strongest navy, and couldn’t be coerced into lifting its restrictions. France, on the other hand, had everything to gain. Their Berlin (1806) and Milan (1807) decrees imposed severe trade restrictions against any country trading with Britain. But France’s navy was not sufficiently powerful enough to enforce these decrees. So, in compliance with Macon’s Bill, France could force the United States to restrict itself. In other words, France repealed its restrictions against the United States, thus forcing the United States to suspend its trade with Great Britain. Thus, on August 5, 1810 the French lifted the Berlin and Milan decrees. Madison, in turn, ended all trade with Britain on Feb. 2, 1811.
The New England Federalists — who were dependent upon trade with Britain for their economic sustenance — immediately attacked the announcement. The claimed Napoleon could not be trusted, and that it would lead America into war. They were correct. Napoleon refused to release American ships already held in French ports, and continued to harass American shipping. America would declare war on June 18, 1812.
MADISON FINALLY GETS HIS WAR
It’s not entirely fair to say, as some do, that this was strictly Madison’s war. He had help. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Henry Clay of Kentucky, his principal assistant, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and other southern and western representatives were collectively known as “Warhawks” and pressured Madison into asking Congress to declare war against Great Britain.

The United States in 1812
MILITARY COMPARISONS
When the war started, the American army consisted of 7,000 regulars. (Theoretically, there were also thousands of citizen soldiers in the militia. While the Constitution granted the president the authority to call them into service to suppress insurrections and repel invasions … the legal consensus was that state militia could only be ordered to meet these duties in their own states). Anyway, the military was poorly trained. The army’s officer corps was a ragtag outfit …most had never seen combat … and the ones that did were old, having last seen service in the Revolution, thirty years earlier. West Point, established ten years earlier, had fewer than one hundred graduates ready to assume command. The navy, as mentioned above, was a puny force. By 1812, the US Navy counted only twelve ships of any size, and only three fully dressed battleships.
The Brits had 250,000 battle-hardened men in uniform. True, the bulk of those were in Europe. Nevertheless, 6,000 were stationed in Canada … augmented by 2,000 Canadians, and roughly 3,000 Indians. The British Navy consisted of 500 ships …. 80 of them permanently stationed in the West Atlantic between Canada and the Caribbean. It should have been a rout.
THE CANADIAN DEBACLE
In the long run, the American navy could not possibly defeat their British counterparts. American politicians concluded the most realistic path to pressuring Britain was by targeting Canada …. which seemed like an easy target with a population of only 500,000 compared to 7.7 million in the United States in 1812. Virginia Congressman John Randolph even stated the conquest of Canada would be “a holiday campaign … with no expense of blood or treasure on our part”. (You know … just like that quick war in Iraq and Afghanistan which we were promised.)
Madison grossly miscalculated support from the Canadian populace. He believed the Canadians wished to be liberated from Britain … that they wanted their own 1776 moment. Why not? About two-thirds of the Canadian population had migrated there from the United States. So, the grand plan was to invade Canada when war broke out. The US Army would capture British territory, quickly, and force Britain to the negotiating table. After all, Britain certainly would not want to lose this colony, and they certainly would not divert troops from the European war, and therefore they would be delighted to negotiate favorable maritime rights America had been pursuing. In exchange, America would give Canada back (although there were some who wanted to make Canada part of America). Sounds logical. But, the devil is in the details, and this plan was SNAFU right from the get go.
The correct military strategy was to attack the British at Montreal. A concentrated force sailing up the Hudson River and over Lake Champlain probably could have captured the city. However, recall that the New England Federalists strongly opposed the war. Madison greatly feared that New England’s militias, most necessary to a concentrated attack on Montreal, would simply refuse to turn out for battle! On to to crappy Plan B!
Madison decided to launch a three-pronged northern invasion; 1) attack Montreal, 2) attack Fort Detroit in the far west, and 3) a third army would leave from Fort Niagara and into Canada at the western end of Lake Ontario. America lost the battle of Detroit without firing a shot. The Fort Niagara campaign was divided amongst two generals, neither had military experience, both were appointed political dogs who argued with each other and refused support at critical times, and out of 1,300 men, 900 were captured. The battle for Canada ended about as soon as it started.
Yes, folks, one can make the case that Canada — with a little help from their friends — defeated the United States in the War Of 1812. The immediate impact of the war was to strengthen Canada’s loyalty to England. The United States still had interest in conquering Canada – more half-assed ideas, really – but, by the 1890’s the two nations formed a permanent bond. For all practical purposes, the War Of 1812 was Canada’s war of independence, and they won.
A BRIEF REPRIEVE – US NAVAL VICTORIES

Old Ironsides defeats HMS Guerriere
Out-gunned and out-manned the US Navy did achieve some clear victories, even early in the war. In 1812, the USS Constitution —aka, “Old Ironsides” — defeated HMS Guerriere in a ferocious battle off the coast of Nova Scotia. In the same year, the USS United States captured HMS Macedonian, a fully dressed 38-gun battleship. In September 1813, the United States achieved further naval success on Lake Erie. Also in 1813, Commander Perry’s fleet of ten ships outmaneuvered a squadron of six British ships despite being outgunned by the much larger enemy vessels. The same Perry who left Americans with a memorable line: “We have met the enemy and they are ours.” A month later, William Henry Harrison – yes, the future president – crossed Lake Erie and defeated the British and their Indian allies in the Battle of the Thames. Tecumseh — leader of the pan-Indian confederation – was killed in that battle. Many of Britain’s Indian allies subsequently abandoned the alliance, and America’s northwest frontier was secured.
MORE BAD NEWS ON THE POLITICAL FRONT
On the political front there was much bad news. Commander Perry – the navy’s best field officer – was “promoted” to a desk job. William Harrison was accused by Secretary Of War, John Armstrong, of financial impropriety, and Harrison, another excellent field commander, was forced to resign.
The cost of the war broke the Treasury. By 1814, $34 million dollars (a hefty sum in its day) was borrowed to finance the war.
Madison sent a delegation (including John Quincy Adams) to meet with Czar Alexander in St. Petersburg, but the British left before the delegation arrived and the whole thing was an embarrassment.
Madison probably suffered a severe anxiety attack on May 30, 1814 — the day the French signed a peace treaty with Britain and its allies. Madison strongly believed that a good portion of Britain’s 250,000 troops would make their way to Canada.
THE HOUSE, THE HOUSE, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!!
Madison didn’t have wait long for some of his fears to come to fruition. Two months after the French-British peace treaty Royal Navy ships carrying about 6,000 British regulars sailed into Chesapeake Bay. Secretary of War, John Armstrong, did not believe the Brits would attack the swampy and forest-shrouded city of Washington … that the British had more interest in the coastal cities. Bad call, muchacho! American forces actually outnumbered the Brits. However, poor intelligence – such as Americans being badly deployed – and a multitude of errors, and many American deserters, led to the British marching virtually unchallenged into the city. Then the Brits burned all public buildings except the Patent Office …. and the White House.

BASTARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!
[Worthy Of Further Study: Dolley Madison, the greatest First Lady of them all. Thomas Jefferson spent few resources on the presidential mansion, believing it would detract from the emphasis of a simple and frugal government. He also avoided elaborate social gatherings at the White House, as he believed they “stank” of the aristocratic courts of Europe. As such, when the Madisons moved into the White House in 1809, the building itself was in disrepair. Dolly established a new philosophy … that the White House should be decorated in a manner appropriate to the dignity of the office it represented. So, she completely refurnished the White House and transformed it into a compelling symbol for the new nation — not nearly as ostentatious as found in European palaces, but rather a quiet dignity within the framework of American political ideology. But, it was more than just a symbol. Dolly also turned it into an arena of governance. The many social events she planned were done with the intention of placing the White House at the center of Washington society … with her husband at the center of policy decisions and deal making. And as her beloved White House burned to the ground, she risked her life gathering up critical White House documents … as well as the great Gilbert Stuart portrait of President George Washington, and carried them away to safety.]
SIZE MATTERS!!
To his credit (I suppose) Madison never wavered that the United States would eventually achieve victory. Where did that confidence come from? Let’s recap:
—— the Treasury is depleted, the Canada campaign was a disaster, the Navy which actually won battles has its best commanders sitting behind a desk, military desertions are significant, military ineptness abounds, New England not only won’t help the cause but it threatening to secede while at the same time trying to negotiate a separate peace deal with the Brits, even as 7,500 British soldiers were headed towards New Orleans, and now his capital is burned! Hooahhh!!
To understand the source of his confidence one must look thirty years earlier. During debates over the suitability of a republican form of government to a country as large as America, Madison argued that America’s size would prevent any faction or narrow interest group from dominating the government. Now he believed that the United States could absorb battles lost at Detroit, Niagara, and even Washington, and that it could prevail despite the disloyalty of the Federalists in New England. The United States was simply too large, and consequently, too resilient, to be defeated. In other words, America was too big to fail!
HOW DID THE SUPERIOR BRITS MANAGE TO F*** THIS UP?
It seems, at least in this instance, that Madison was right about America’s size. British fortunes suddenly turned for the worse.
After burning (and looting) the capital, the Brits marched to Baltimore … and met a different fate at the hands of a more skillfully deployed American force of both militia and army regulars. American sharpshooters picked off one-by-one the British division approaching the city from the south. Meanwhile, the big guns at Fort McHenry prevented the British fleet from entering the city’s harbor. By September, the British were forced to withdraw and abandon their campaign in the Chesapeake. Simultaneously, American forces stationed on Lake Champlain turned back a British invading army and 11,000 British troops were forced to retreat back into Canada. Mid-1814 ended relatively well for the Americans.
More importantly, back in England, British leaders lost the hearts & minds of their subjects. After 20 years of fighting France, and before that, fighting in the American Revolution … well, the people were simply fed up with war. The British became much more preoccupied in rebuilding Europe after the final defeat of Napoleon. A London newspaper even harshly criticized the burning of Washington. On top of all that, even military leaders were questioning whether victory was possible. The Duke of Wellington, the hero of Waterloo, was offered command of the British force in North America … and, he declined, saying the American continent could never be subdued. The loud drums of war fell deadly quiet.
WE WON! WE WON!!! Ummmmmm …. WHAT DID WE WIN?
This combination, military defeats in America and the loss of will to fight back in England, led to a peace treaty being signed in Ghent, Belgium on Dec. 24, 1814. The war would officially end in February 1815 after ratification by both governments.
However, the Ghent talks actually started earlier in the year in August 1814. Madison sent five delegates – including John Quincy Adams and John Clay – and amongst American demands were the end of impressment …. and turning over Canada to the United States. Madison had balls! The Brits made even more ridicules demands; a new Canadian border located farther to the south, the creation of an independent Indian state in the northwest, British navigation rights on the Mississippi River, the exclusion of American fishing boats from the Grand Banks and the the exclusion of the American Navy from the Great Lakes. The Brits had no brains!
But, in Ghent by December 1814 all parties dropped their aggressive demands. A simple ceasefire was proposed, prisoners of war would be exchanged, and captured territories from both sides would be returned.
STUNNINGLY, impressment – one of the two major reasons for going to war in the first place — was not even mentioned. Maritime issues and trade policies – the other major reason for going to war – was mentioned, but only that it would be addressed at some future conference1.
Strangely, the American diplomats were ecstatic. Why??? After all that bloodshed and destruction, the Ghent Treaty insured that both sides gained absolutely nothing … as if the war never happened. A Canadian historian wrote;
“It was as if no war had been fought, or to put it more bluntly, as if the war that was fought was fought for no good reason. For nothing has changed; everything is as it was in the beginning save for the graves of those who, it now appears, have fought for a trifle.”
[1NOTE: By Dec 1814 the British practice of impressment had all but ended. And, since France was no longer an enemy of Britain, the Royal Navy no longer needed to stop American shipments to France. Nevertheless, the United States and Britain would argue about trade restrictions and access to markets for the next fifteen years after Ghent! By 1830, the West Indies were far less important to American exporters than new markets in Latin America. Also by 1830, Britain’s commitment to mercantilism had been replaced internally by support for free trade. In other words, the issues that so bothered Madison would have been resolved of their own accord in due time … WITHOUT A WAR. The War of 1812 wasn’t concluded at Ghent …. it died of old age.]
INJUN INTERLUDE #1: UP A CREEK
Worthy of much further study than I have room for here, is the significant victory by Jackson over the Creek Nation. At one time or another the Brits, French, Spanish, and even other Indian Nations (Tecumseh and his Shawnee) aligned with various factions within the Creeks to make war against the United States. The war against the Creeks officially ended in the Treaty of Fort Jackson just five months before the war’s final battle at New Orleans.
A couple staggering statistics; 1) about 15% of the Creek population was decimated and, 2) the treaty resulted in an enormous land grab as the Creeks lost 36,000 square miles of their territory (half of Alabama, and southern Georgia).
The Creeks, and to a lesser extent other Indian tribes, were to play a significant role in the British alliance to attack New Orleans. Had the Creeks won their war, the combined forces might very well have overcome Jackson’s army, and New Orleans might have been lost.
INJUN INTERLUDE #2: TECUMSEH, THE GREAT SHAWNEE WARRIOR

Tecumseh was sick and tired of seeing the social and cultural deterioration, inter-tribal conflict, and white encroachment on Indian lands. So, he developed a plan. Indians needed to restore control over their lives. The only way to do this, he said, was to be unified, to overcome tribal differences, rebuild their integrity, and create a Pan-Indian alliance strong enough to defeat the military forces supporting white expansion. Starting in 1807, he and his brother (Tenskwatawa – “The Prophet”) traveled throughout the interior of America building this alliance of Indian tribes. The obstacles were huge, especially overcoming the decades of inter-tribal prejudices, fears, and wars. But, Tecumseh was a powerful and compelling orator.
In village after village he preached unity to a dispirited people. He urged them to reject the pollutants of the white man; alcohol, European dress, Christianity. He also preached great patience. He said they must avoid all confrontations with the whites until the confederation was large and strong enough to effectively resist the power of white armies. Isolated skirmishes would only weaken them. They must wait until the time was right,
Legend has it that Tecumseh said he would send a message when the time was right. He would stamp his foot—and when he did, the earth would shake, the buffalo would stampede, the skies would become dark with birds taking flight, huge cracks would open in the earth’s surface, and the great river would flow backwards.
But, his brother, the Prophet, couldn’t wait. He launched into a fiery oratory and convinced his followers of his own bullshit – that the white man’s bullets could not harm them. So, in Nov. 1811 the Prophet battled an American force led by William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe Creek. The Prophet lost, and the dream of a Pan-Indian alliance died with it. Tecumseh would go on to align his small remnant of the Indian confederation with the British, fought in the battle of Detroit, and was killed at the Battle of the Thames in 1813, disbanding the alliance forever.
Most interestingly though, on Dec. 16, 1811, just over a month after the disaster at Tippecanoe, a great earthquake shook Arkansas and was felt throughout the Mississippi Valley, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico – the New Madrid earthquake. According to eyewitnesses, buffalo stampeded, the skies became dark with birds taking flight, huge cracks opened in the earth’s surface, and the great Mississippi River flowed backward.
Tecumseh’s prophecy had come to pass …. just not the way he expected.
WHAT THE HELL …. LET”S HAVE ONE MORE BATTLE IN NEW ORLEANS
The popular opinion amongst historians is that there simply wasn’t enough time to cross the oceans to stop the British attack on New Orleans. I don’t buy it.
The Ghent Peace Treaty was signed on Dec.24, 1814. On Dec. 13th, a British fleet had landed about forty miles east of New Orleans. It must have taken at least a month to get there. The Brits commenced fire on January 8, 1815. The British Commanders and Generals surely must have known that peace talks were in process. So, a prudent thing to do would have been to at least wait to see the results.
And don’t forget that the Ghent talks were initiated way back in August. Even during those negotiations the dastardly Brits had four invasions planned or underway; 1) the destruction of Washington, 2) the destruction of Baltimore, 3) the Battle of Plattsburgh – where 10,000 British troops tried to cut off New England, and 4) and the Battle Of New Orleans. The treacherous British had an Olive Branch in one hand, and a Murderous Dagger in the other.
Two things made this battle so important. First, a victory in New Orleans would have been a major boon for the British giving them access to the interior of the U.S. via the Mississippi River. Secongly, it would have given the Brits greater ability for their desire to seal off the United States from the Gulf of Mexico, further isolating the nation. (Furthermore — and this is my pure conjecture — it could have led to a reversal of the Louisiana Purchase, cutting the size of the United States in half.) But, this much is absolutely certain; it would have given the Brits a major trump card in negotiating the Ghent Treaty.
A popular opinion is that the British would have honored the Ghent Treaty even if they won the battle. Of course, we’ll never know but, I find that opinion enormously preposterous. The Brits, still butt-sore about the beating they took in the Revolutionary War – a war they still would not admit they lost in 1814 – hated America and wanted revenge and destruction. And what history is there of Britain – or any country – winning a huge major battle and then just walking away from it? None. A major victory such as New Orleans would absolutely have resulted in the United States being forced into major concessions. If fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it would have led to an outright abrogation of the treaty. The Brits were ruthless bastards when it suited them, and never forget, they really hated America.
What should be crystal clear is that far from being a senseless battle, a British victory at New Orleans would have drastically changed the future of America. But, they didn’t win. They were annihilated. Let’s look at some interesting details.
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS …. ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST IMPORTANT VICTORIES EVER
On the other hand, if you want to skip this section, just watch this 3 minute song by Johnny Horton — he does a fine job ‘splaining it! Nice pics too!
The British force consisted of roughly 8,000 troops — including Royal Fusiliers, Highlanders, Light Infantry, and Light Dragoons — disciplined troops with plenty of battle experience, having just defeated the French.
Why capture New Orleans? Lord Castlereagh, the British foreign secretary, said that once the large seaport towns of America were “laid in ashes” and New Orleans captured, that the British would have command of “all the rivers of the Mississippi valley and the Lakes … the Americans would be little better than prisoners in their own country.” The Brits also intended to prevent America from having any access to all of the Gulf Of Mexico.
General Andrew Jackson first had to prepare the city’s defenses … not an easy task. New Orleans had a very diverse population and resisted organization. So, Jackson threatened to blow up the provincial legislature if it did not comply with his demands, one of which was to suspend habeas corpus. So, he declared martial law, turned the city into a military camp, and took over complete control of the city’s resources. This got their attention.
He organized all available manpower—frontiersmen, militiamen, regular soldiers, Indians, slaves, townspeople including the city’s unusually large population of free blacks and even the famous river pirate, Jean Lafitte — about 4,000 in total. And then he built the “Jackson Line” –a defensive line between the city and the approaching British forces. Rodriguez Canal was a ten-foot-wide millrace located just off the Mississippi River. Using local slave labor, Madison widened the canal into a defensive trench. He then built an eight foot tall earthen rampart, twenty feet wide in parts, buttressed with timber, and protected by eight artillery batteries When completed, it stretched nearly a mile from the east bank of the Mississippi to a nearly impassable marsh. Jackson told his men “Here we shall plant our stakes and not abandon them until we drive these red-coat rascals into the river, or the swamp.”

The British commander, Cochrane, felt the area could be taken with minimal forces with the help of the Spanish, Indians, and even the people of New Orleans who he felt would welcome the British as liberators. In retrospect, fairly idiotic assumptions.
The bottom line; it was a hopeless tactical situation for the British with a swamp to the east of the American lines, and the Mississippi River to west. This left the British with only one route of attack—straight into the guns of the American forces tucked inside a dry canal.
Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen laid withering fire against the advancing British lines, killing or wounding more than 2,000 British soldiers, including three generals and seven colonels, in less than an hour. One British veteran of the Napoleonic Wars claimed it was “the most murderous fire I ever beheld before or since.” American casualties were about 13 killed, and 39 wounded.
[NOTE: Considerably more Americans were killed in the skirmishes leading up to the final battle. For example, 6,000 British troops snuck into the British headquarters at Villeré’s plantation. Jackson resolved to attack immediately before the British advance was reinforced and organized. He assembled 1,800 men in a battle called “Night Attack”, and repelled the British, but not before suffering 215 casualties.)
New Orleans was a tremendous victory—one which made Andrew Jackson a national hero, and propelled him into the office of President. And, regardless of the reason for the battle, whether or not it was necessary, Madison certainly knew the fine art of Presidential spinning; — necessary war, reluctantly entered, rights, patriotism, and heroes – all in one brief sentence. (He might as well have been talking about Iraq.)
“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 Peace.”
A good detailed account of the battle can be found here: http://www.the-american-interest.com/2014/10/10/the-battle-for-the-big-easy/
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THE AFTERMATH AND LEGACIES: 10 LESSONS
1)- First and foremost, let’s be brutally frank about the REAL reason for this war; PRIDE and PATRIOTISM! The Brits didn’t respect our independence. The French didn’t. Spain didn’t. Most of the world thought it was just a fluke. Madison was convinced the country had to prove to the rest of the world, as well as to itself, that this new experiment in republican government was a permanent fixture in the family of nations. And the way to go about that was to confront Britain – the world’s most powerful nation – that violating American rights would not go unchallenged or unpunished. Unbridled Patriotism …so sweet in the Revolutionary War, souring in the War Of 1812, and look where it got us today.
2)- The war reinforced the Executive branch’s de facto monopoly over foreign policy. When all’s said and done, this was Madison’s war. Another example: John Quincy Adams would defend Gen. Andrew Jackson’s invasion of Spanish Florida in the undeclared war on the Seminoles. Dissenting members of Congress could do nothing but gripe.
3) A NEW way of looking at the Constitution emerged. Henry Clay said (emphasis mine); —
“A new world has come into being since the Constitution was adopted. Are the narrow, limited necessities of the old thirteen states … as they existed at the formation of the present Constitution, forever to remain a rule of its interpretation? Are we to forget the wants of our country? I trust not, sir. I hope for better and nobler things.” Evidently, the concept of a Living Constitution took root a long, long time ago.
4)- The war changed how Americans viewed the military. The Army and Navy became professional. The State Militia took a back seat. Now the nation embraced military spending as a necessity … even during times of peace.
“The most painful, perhaps the most profitable, lesson of the war was the primary duty of the nation to place itself in a state of permanent preparation for self-defense” —— future President John Quincy Adams
Many learned that connection with the military is great for one’s political career. Of the eleven presidents between Madison and Lincoln, seven of them got their start in public life or boosted their public careers during the War of 1812.
It only took 29 years after the end of the Revolutionary War for America to declare its first war. Strangely enough, this war was a complete and utter waste of human and capital resources. The precedent was set. It wouldn’t be the last such time America fought such a war.
5)—Politicians learned that with proper spin and propagandizing the people can be rallied to LOVE A GOOD WAR. Precious few citizens were in strong favor of the war when it first started. But, at war’s end, the people were ecstatic. A common refrain throughout the country is depicted in this piece written in 1815 by a group known as “republican citizens of Baltimore” stating that the war;
“ … has revived, with added luster the renown which brightened the morning of our independence: it has called forth and organized the dormant resources of the empire: it has tried and vindicated our republican institutions: it has given us that moral strength, which consists in the well earned respect of the world, and in a just respect for ourselves. It has raised up and consolidated a national character, dear to the hearts of the people, as an object of honest pride and a pledge of future union, tranquility, and greatness.”
War is good for slogans and jingoes. “Don’t give up the ship” and “We have met the enemy and they are ours” and “Uncle Sam” and cute names for war equipment “Old Ironsides”, and populist songs abounded. Symbols, slogans, songs and sayings; that’s how you condition people’s minds as to what it means to be an American. Mold ‘em like clay into whatever form you want. At least there’s no record of Madison proclaiming “America is the greatest country in the world!!”.
6)- The war permanently changed America’s economic model. Previous presidents, especially Jefferson, championed an agrarian economy. He hoped that commerce would not dominate America or its politics since that preoccupation would inevitably draw the country into perpetual international turmoil. Shortages caused by the various embargos, as well as the war itself, led to the fast growth of the manufacturing sector in the United States. Manufactures wanted protection from foreign competition once peace was restored, even forming the ‘American Society of the Encouragement of American Manufacturers’, a pro-tariff group. Active promotion of commerce required further expansion of American military strength. In other words, America would promote “free trade” with the government’s help in aggressively opening foreign markets ….. and threatening retaliation in the case of uncooperative regimes by displaying the military card. It wasn’t all that long before “free trade” gave way to mercantilism — a special-interest economic protectionism.
7)- The devious and greedy amongst us started to notice that war is damn good racket. Shortly after the war, in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange was founded … born in a bubble created by the war. One year later the bubble burst in The Panic Of 1818. The war showed that hard money was for weenies. Paper money was the way to go, and reams of it was printed so the government could borrow it and finance the war. Note-issuing banks spread like wildfire. Once the war ended, imports swelled which led to falling commodity prices which led to big trouble for war-grown manufacturers. Businesses went bust while simultaneously some became filthy rich. See book —- > https://mises.org/library/panic-1819-reactions-and-policies
8)- Politicians learned that war makes government more powerful … and a great way to increase taxes. Albert Gallatin, secretary of the Treasury from 1801 to 1814, said that because of the war, the “people are more American; they feel and act more as a nation ….. the war has laid the foundation of permanent taxes and military establishments, which the Republicans had deemed unfavorable to the happiness and free institutions of the country.”
9)- The war ended a political party. The Federalist Party, the party of Washington and Adams, the party that had dominated national affairs during the 1790s, was all but dead after the war. They were staunchly against the war. They were even ready to introduce legislation requiring a two-thirds vote of approval for all future declarations of war, and that legislation restricting trade, such as the embargo, should also require a two-thirds vote. That is, until the stunning news of Jackson’s victory at New Orleans arrived in Washington. They picked the wrong cause. The country was in no mood for an anti-war party. And, within a few years of the war, they just faded into oblivion.
10)- Expansionism. The victory over not only the Brits, but also over the Indians in the Northwest and Southwest, opened up the West as never before, and resulted in huge territorial gains. Westward expansion, in turn, indirectly led to the Civil War forty six years later because it was bitter disagreement about the expansion of slavery, rather than its existence in the Old South, which was a key reason for the War of Northern Aggression.
GOOD, BAD, or UGLY?
I originally titled this article “1812: The War That Changed America Forever For Worse”. I’m not sure whether or not that conclusion is 100% accurate. The “inconsequential” war certainly and drastically changed America, of that there is no doubt. Whether for the good, or bad, you’ll have to decide for yourself.
On the positive side, the war did cement American independence. It proved that to defeat America on its home ground, a very, very large army, and a great commitment to prolonged and bloody war, was going to be needed. At the start of the war even Americans wondered whether the republic could survive a real crises. Many felt with Governor Morris did, that — ‘it was as vain to expect the permanency of democracy as to construct a palace on the surface of the sea.’ Now they had their answer.
Americans would no longer be oriented towards Britain. We achieved freedom from Europe. We would turn to developing our own vast resources, and forget about Europe. Our National Government was here to stay.
The end of the war led to a burst of patriotism in the USA as evidenced, in part, by the immediate and widespread popularity of “The Star Spangled Banner” The Nile Register wrote — “Who would not be an American? Long live the republic! All hail! Last asylum of oppressed humanity!” Such a comment would have never been made before the war. A whole new national identity arose in “the dawn’s early light”.
On the negative side; the war left the country with constitutional revisionism, centralized power, protectionism, mercantilism, expansionism, blind patriotism, and militarism. That decentralist small-government thingy conceived by the Founding Fathers didn’t last very long, did it? One must wonder “War, what is it good for? Was it all worth it?”
* * *
Most excellent resource — War Of 1812 Website
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War of 1812. Started exactly when the charter on the First Bank of the United States expired. Quel surprise.
Yes, it was a merchant war too if you check you history, you'll see it all too clear...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812
Rich Man's Wars, Poor Men's Blood... (Same Old Same Old...)
Better to ask who started the war, why and finally, who won?
Cui Bono, bitches.
here's the background behind the war
http://www.virginiaplaces.org/graphics/image004.jpg
question1: who "granted" all that land
question2: who received the "land grant"
question3: on what basis did anyone "have" the land in order to grant it
discuss
Bush's fault...
Putin's fault
This was also the first proxy war. US and Canada both armed indian tribes to fight for them.
Part of the best review of the 1812 war:
https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/twelve-days-of-1812-day-four/
Old saying: Choose your enemy well for you will become just like them.
Yes it was a merchant war, the author's entire analysis never mentions the merchant marine, private military corporations, admiralty law, or booty... but does have a lot of misleading references to "12 battleships". Impressment pissed of the little people and facilitated selling a war to them, but the larger issue (for the rich and powerful) wasn't the loss of men but rather the loss of ships and their cargo.
Truth.
Too bad I had to scroll through the story, a regurgitation of the history books, to finally find mention of the truth in the comments section.
See my post above
....post below
fixed it for you.
Your welcome, no bother, no charge.
It depends on how you sort the list. My sort it's above.
and ended in time for the second bank of the United States to gain its 20 year charter in 1816 ...... 20 years later
Andrew Jackson fought a greater battle and eliminated the Rothschlids central bank in 1836. When an historical essay obfuscates and conveniently forgets a very important point it is propaganda and garbage or.....
you can never be misinformated enough by dysinformation
I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... www.jobs-review.com
Thank you King for really screwing up a thread.
'Preciateate it
The bankers launch the war
“Either the application for the renewal of the charter is granted, or the United States will find itself involved in a most disastrous war.” - Nathan Rothschild
Jackson and the American patriots did not believe the power of the international moneylenders could extend so far. “You are a den of thieves-vipers,” Jackson told them. “I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out!” Nathan Rothschild issued orders: “Teach these impudent Americans a lesson. Bring them back to Colonial status.”
The British Government launched the War of 1812 against the United States. Rothschild's plan was to impoverish the United States through this war to such an extent that the legislators would have to seek financial aid... which, of course, would be forthcoming only in return for the renewal of the charter for the Bank of the United States. Thousands were killed, but what does that matter to Rothschild? He had achieved his objective; the U.S. Congress granted the renewal of the Charter in 1816.
The Rothschild vermin have been pulling the strings behind the shadows and instigating wars since the French Revolution/Rothschild Takedown. To call Nathan Rothschild a fat, ugly, slovenly pig would be a slur on four-legged pigs everywhere.
Before the War of the War of 1812/War of the Parasites got started, any agents of the Rothschilds should have been rounded up and pulbicly lashed for treason.
Free trade and sailors' rights!
Let me use this space to say the above is the real fight or question.
It is whether those of "Well born and Rich" shouild decide the major National/now Global questions.
It isn't Left/Right, etc thing, its Fabians Globalists vs everyone else
All those words about the War of1812 and even a 'Economics' section and not mention the U S banking system. Here's what Jefferson said at the time about Rothschilds and the 'European banks' :
"Jefferson watched as the Euro-banking conspiracy to control the United States unfolded, weighing in,"
“Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day, but a series of oppressions begun at a distinguished period, unalterable through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing us to slavery”.
And this from the same article;
With Rothschild financing Alexander Hamilton founded two New York banks, including Bank of New York. [5] He died in a gun battle with Aaron Burr, who founded Bank of Manhattan with Kuhn Loeb financing. Hamilton exemplified the contempt which the Eight Families hold towards common people, once stating, “All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and the well born, the others the mass of the people…The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge and determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share of government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second.”[6]
Hamilton was only the first in a series of Eight Families cronies to hold the key position of Treasury Secretary.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-federal-reserve-cartel-freemasons-and-t...
The war was worth it for the British.
They intimidated the U.S. into creating the Second Bank of the United States. So . . . who won?
Yeah. When I was going to school back in the 60's and 70's, that war was hardly ever mentioned. That usually means a lot of important stuff happened that they don't want you to know about.
I named my son after Andrew Jackson. One hell of a fucking badass.
Also, a big hell yeah to Johnny Horton. Fuckin A.
Foreign invaders found themsleves being eaten by the gators down here. Must have sucked to have come all the way from merry old England only to end up as gator shit in the swamps of the Deep South.
Homeland Security operatives need to take note. They need to think about what they are going to look like when they get shit out of a fucking alligators asshole at night when it's 97 degrees at 3 AM.
I had the official company shotgun when I was working down yonder. a Mossberg 12ga.
The Unofficial Company shot guns were more like these:
http://www.pacificsportingarms.com/perazzi/
http://www.nssa-nsca.org/index.php/2013/12/paxtons-pointers-expensive-sh...
http://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gallery/guns/shotguns/2012/08/best-sho...
Sorry, way off topic.
Ever notice how much Trey Gowdy looks like Jackson's picture? Both SC boys too.
You forgot the B-24 mosquitos.
I want to be in Amerika
Pussy is free in Amerika
Why you ask me in Amerika
Most men suck dickee in Amerika.
sponsored by soreass.com
Oh shut the fuck up you drunk idiot.
Nice, I'll read this article when I am sober.
Bookmarked.
Don't be a quitter.
I forgot, FUCK hamilton. I great example of why dueling should still be in style.
Claymation has come and gone and Gumby sez it will come again.
http://www.mtv.com/shows/celebrity_deathmatch/
You cant mention 1812 and not talk about the Holy Roman Church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, talk or walk.
God just a great read....
I think so too. I love history when it's well written.
Very good read!
After that we had the panic of 1837 and the panic of 1857 which was the root cause of the us civil war. The Brits burnt the Capitol twice and jubal early shot the place up pretty good in 1864 . But that's always been marginalized and down played.
deleted.
deleted
Thank you Tyler for a well-written, interesting, educational article.
Adblock, Ghostery and a single click waiting for the lag will cure your stutter.
War, what is it good for ....
Absolutely nothing.
Credit: Edwin Starr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&v=01-2pNCZiNk
With all the maps available online that are time appropriate why did that map get used?
Hokey map, best that could be done on a budget.
Jefferson spent close to a third of the federal budget paying ransom for unarmed merchant ships and mariners captured by the barbary (muslim) pirates, they became the primary justification for our Navy.
I wouldn’t blame wars for our currently unlimited gov’t or the apathy and ignorance that has nurthered the communists within. Most wars are justified, whether you believe our participation is necessary or not, less of course you're into rolling over for evil, tyrants and thugs. The debt added during the last six years (including the fed’s funny money devaluation / inflation stimuli) could’ve fully funded more than a dozen Iraq wars.
Bailouts of WS Banksters are sort of a war...., against the US Public.
Articles like this is why the Hedge is my first web source I checks everyday
What a jingoistic pile of stars & stripes vomit.
All along the St. Lawrence River on the shores of CANADA the military forts from the War of 1812 are still there with the original cannons. In Morrisburg they have a memorial to the War of 1812 and were forced to restore the 1812 cannon that is on display because I raised hell with the township when I saw that the cannon and wooden wheels were deteriorating and were in need of restoration. Frankly, the War of 1812 was extremely significant for CANADA, and especially all the towns, and people, that exist along the St. Lawrence River on the Canadian side. The War of 1812 defined our differences from Americans, and the USA, and I am glad that the British Army won the war with our help. I do think it is time to get rid of the Monarchy entirely though I don't think they would accept that if we moved in that direction. Over half of Canadians want to get rid of the Queen as head of State, but we only just mention it once in a while and nothing ever manifests.
Still light years ahead of our 'publicly elected' monarchy.
I'm so glad ya'll won the war and now have the freedom to carry a pistol.
Oh wait.... never mind....
I'm so tough that I don't need to carry a gun. Moreover, carrying my wallet, cigarettes, and car/house keys is enough IMHO. If I had to carry a pistol I would probably develop a deformed spine over time. In brief, I'm glad that I live in a country that outlaws guns in the cities/urban core. If I lived in the country I would get a 12 gage shotgun for hunting wild turkeys, geese, and ducks.
I always liked the part about the British burning down Washington - shame that the Confederate Generals in charge at Bull Run didn't show the same initiative.
So, 2/3 of Canuks were from the US at that time - probably New England - no wonder Canada has always been so dsyfuntional.
History is written by the victors and invariably sold by its slaves.
Searching the word 'bank' in the article provides the following 3 examples:
1. ...American fishing boats from the Grand Banks...
2. ...the east bank of the Mississippi...
3. ...Note-issuing banks...
OK Time for some more balance from the comments section:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/allwarsarebankerwars.php
Congress still refused to renew the charter for the First Bank of the United States, whereupon Nathan Mayer Rothschild railed, "Teach those impudent Americans a lesson! Bring them back to colonial status!" The British Prime Minister at the time, Spencer Perceval was adamently opposed to war with the United States, primarily because the majority of England's military might was occupied with the ongoing Napoleonic wars. Spencer Perceval was concerned that Britain might not prevail in a new American war, a concern shared by many in the British government. Then, Spencer Perceval was assassinated (the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated in office) and replaced by Robert Banks Jenkinson, the 2nd Earl of Liverpool, who was fully supportive of a war to recapture the colonies.
Financed at virtually no interest by the Rothschild controlled Bank of England, Britain then provoked the war of 1812 to recolonize the United States and force them back into the slavery of the Bank of England, or to plunge the United States into so much debt they would be forced to accept a new private central bank. And the plan worked. Even though the War of 1812 was won by the United States, Congress was forced to grant a new charter for yet another private bank issuing the public currency as loans at interest, the Second Bank of the United States. Once again, private bankers were in control of the nation's money supply and cared not who made the laws or how many British and American soldiers had to die for it.
And Quinn, like Giorgi Schwarz (George Soros) in the Second Zionist War against the German Volk, is busy duping the sheeple with his truth avoiding Zionist narrative.
we won
Excellent Article! It's a bit wordy but well worth reading!
There was a United States and the Bush family continued to fight for world dominance after we won WWII.
Both Bushes were bought and paid for unless, of course, your comment was sarcasm. Then you're okay. Otherwise, you are so uninformed you should get a real life and stop commenting.
My moniker still stands, albeit dented by his history somewhat, but staunchly opposed to central banking until his end, which is the point of my display. The article is profound in that it gives us history that has been largely forgotten by the common man. My readings of those times with all the characters is consistant with the 10 conclusions the author expouses and gives me yet more insight into the growth of our independence and servitude. The question remains who we really are in todays world, and who we may yet become. I think there is too much confusion, too much doubt and far too little faith in what government we have. We have become lost and seemingly on our own. Like orphans seeking parents. To guide, understand and teach. Are we really so far outside the circle that we are simply alone? I wonder sometimes. Good luck out there. It may be all we have.
And all you Debbie Downers can "Blow Me"!
good article interesting read.
i ignore the butt hurt freeloading parasites who claim the article wasnt another five pages long to put in their anus aches.
i think ZH readers get spoon fed so much free stuff they become like wailing spoiled brats with all the self righteousness of your finest pedophile priest.
Too bad Quinn doesn't dare do a similar expose on 911. It would be interesting if he could avoid the truth and stick to the Zionist narrative when we all know the magnitude of the lies that Quinn insists are true.
Nice to visit History; as long as you don't try and rewrite it by negating its facts and acts.
What is is what it's about and human nature can be the enemy of rational thought and actions.
Choices at the Rubicon... POwer is what drives ambition and Machiavelli alas wins all too often over Enlightenment and Montesquieu's vision of liberty under the Spirit of the Law, with consitutional balance of power via checks and regulation.
Building a great nation is Man's recurrent ambition, rightly so, but it does not go isolationist (as then it looses its greatness), instead it has to stay a beacon and not become the world's sewer (never easy).
We have had many examples of this decadence. It seems that human nature only learns the hard way.
Pride and prejudice leads to its inevitable end game.
Just to come back to US history : Its was the Louisiana purchase that started the ball rolling in 1803... When Napoleon sold a large swath of the US (a huge territory that had been surrendered by Spain to France earlier) to Jefferson for a paltry sum, encouraging him to take on the recently envented Union Jack colours, as ally of France in New World by exhorting him to build a navy (whence the 1812 war).
The other major US engagement that showed the US was a major power OUTSIDE its frontiers was the invasion of Cuba and the concomitant building (or finishing) of the Lessep's Panama canal venture in 1898 making the US the arbitrator of all trade between Atlantic and Pacific; major game changer for the dawning 20th century.
IIRC, American privateers sank or captured 500 merchant ships and eliminated British whaling from the Pacific.
Quite a timely article for me.
This weekend I made a trade with the Canadian Currency Museum. The museum received the the only surviving $1 army note ( second issue) paid to a serviceman in the war of 1812. The note was issued under legislation passed in Upper Canada in Feb. of 1813.
Research continues, but it seems the note may have been paid to a Captain Mallorie, United Empire Loyalist, who's family moved from Boston to the Kingston area in 1792.
The note is now pictured and its issue explained in the current issue of the Canadian Government Papermoney book. Will try post a pic when I get a chance.
Your historical interpretation leaves out essential facts causing the War of 1812. Like the Revolutionry War, this was a Banker's war and pirated cargoes and kidnapped sailors was a smokescreen just like the excuse that slavery caused the Civil war.
Follow the Big Money and the Central Bank conspiracy and you will find the real cause of all wars.
All Wars Are Bankers' Wars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0BPMwgKNA
The Real Cause of the 1812 War
The viability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of King George III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the Revolutionary War according to Ben Franklin.
1776-1790:
U.S. Independence – Interest-free Money – no formal central bank.
1780
Thomas Jefferson was adamant: “I sincerely believe the banking institutions having the issuing power of money are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies”
In 1791 Congress chartered the first Bank of The United States. It is reported that Hamilton was paid by the Rothschild family for his lobbying services.
This bank came into being after a year of intense debate and was given a 20 year charter. It was given a monopoly on printing interest-bearing United States currency that secretly went to the Rothschilds.
Again like the Bank of England and the old Bank of North America, the name, “First Bank of the United States,” was deliberately chosen to hide from the common people the fact that it was privately owned. The names of the investors in this bank were never revealed [also like the Fed Act of 1913], although it is widely believed that the Rothschilds were behind it.
1811
A bill was put before Congress to renew the charter of the First Bank of the United States. The legislatures of both Pennsylvania and Virginia pass resolutions asking Congress to kill the bank. The national press openly attack the bank calling it: a great swindle; a vulture; a viper; and a cobra.
Nathan Rothschild gets in on the act and makes the following revealing statement as to who was really behind the First Bank of the United States,
“Either the application for renewal of the charter is granted, or the United States will find itself involved in a most disastrous war.”
Congress Refused to renew the charter for the Bank of the United States & the bank is closed.
1812-1815
War breaks out with Britain. In 1816 the Rothschild Central Bank parasite re-attaches with the 2nd US Bank.
Historian Eustace Mullins points out that the Rothschild Central Bank of England through King George caused the Revolutionary War by forbidding the colonists from issuing their own interest-free money.
The Rothschild Central Bank parasite merely re-attached with the creation of the First Bank of the United States promoted by their agent Alexander Hamilton.
Aaron Burr publicly teased him about his secret loyalty and treason and that led to his death in a dual with Burr.
The Rothschild Central Bank parasite representing the European Black Nobility through their Masonic, Zionist and Jesuit agents have exerted constant parasitic banking pressure on America throughout it’s history and this parasite has attached their central bank controlling our money in 1791, 1816 and 1913.
They have assassinated countless presidents and public figures including Lincoln and JFK.
You imply that standing armies and navies are essential for a healthy economy.
"Jefferson, and Madison,.. felt maintaining a navy was too expensive. As Republicans they believed in frugal, tax-cutting government"
"The cost of the war broke the Treasury. By 1814, $34 million dollars"
Few understand that the civil war was caused by a tariff that forced the South to pay for the cost of a growing Federal government. Jefferson anticipated these problems. As you state insightfully,
“the war left the country with constitutional revisionism, centralized power, protectionism, mercantilism, expansionism, blind patriotism, and militarism”
Thomas Jefferson was the wisest founding father as he understood that all government works against the people.
Why couldn’t foreign vessels take delivery of American goods at American ports and avoid the issue of pirating cargoes and crews.
Jefferson understood the hazards of standing armies and was confident that minuteman militias could defend America if invaded. The same is true today.
America can become low cost producers and have no government as Jefferson envisioned. Private contracts between paying individuals, shame, the internet and guns can manage affairs between men.
Promoting low cost production and prohibiting coercive government are even more important in today’s hyper-competitive world. The future belongs to the low cost producer of goods.
Expensive, unnecessary, Big Government economies are facing extinction. In fact the bloated West is an extinct species and just doesn’t know it yet. When the next financial crises hits, Americans and Europeans aren’t going to know what hit them and probably never will trace the calamity back to coercive government.
Look at the inverse point of view and apply it to the 21st century.
All over the world there is an incresing resentment of America's power -both financial and military- and the way it is used. To those a bit more perceptive, the resentment is rising against "The International Jew" or the Zionist, who controls America's geovernment and therefore its wealth and power.
James Madison was right to fear the consequences of a Great Britain, once the long and hard fought wars with Napoleonic France had ended, which could then blockade the entire coast of the United Staes and send 100,000 men to invade and re-conquer the country.
Consider the United States: Our country intrudes into civil wars and to otherwise undermine the political apparatus of every country of the world, as if everything is within its sphere of influence. The more often that we station our military forces in small groups in distant lands, the more likely we will eventually suffer our own "Cameron', "Dien Ben Phu", "Poltava", "Saratoga", or "New Orleans". Is that when we learn to stay out of the civil wars and political conflicts of others? Or will we draw the opposite: to send an army next time instead of a brigade or a Special Operations team.
William Harrison got off far too easy by historians. The book by Pierre Berton The Invasion of Canada showed a different side of the man. His self promoting from the Indiana Territory back to Washington's press was shameless. The Indians agreed to sell the Indiana Territory, and Harrison was given funds from Washington for ten cents per acre to buy it. He moved the decimal over to one cent per acre and screwed them, then pocketed the nine cents...The natives were pissed and eventually local Indian wars broke out. At the Battle of Tippiecanoe, while the Indian men were away, Harrison attacked and killed the women, children and old people. Harrison sent word back to the eastern press about his his great victory. Really what his action did was cause the Indians to form a confederacy with Temcumseh which sent them to the British side. Harrison was directly the cause. When Harrison was elected president he has two distinctions...the records for the longest inaugural speech and the shortest term. He spoke out in the rain, caught pneumonia and died...Karma is a bitch.
In your fianl summation you wrote that the British demand for an Indian nation in the north west was outrageous. The British requested it to fulfill the promises to Tecumseh from Brock when the Indians joined the British in the war. That is why it was requested.
i wonder why the russians dont try to claim back alasca
in their place everyone else would do
Tenskwatawa, the original Leeroy Jenkins
what a load of wasted ink and idiocy. as others have pointed out, war started when first central bank was out, brits kicked US ass and got the second central bank installed as demanded. US independence was a flash in the pan. george washington brought bank of england in to set up the first central bank. freedom ended there.
Great write.. As I remember, this is better than what I had in my US history in High School (private' outside of Philidelphia). i've recommended it to my almost college bound (the slow route, an Associate's first, and a prayer for that)..