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Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality
At this time in history Britain and France were at war. Washington, as the current president, had the power to decide the United State's involvement in their war. He decided that because it would harm the people physically and economically no matter what side they chose he declared formally that they picked no side and remained neutral. This also made it illegal for the citizens to have involvement or support for the countries. -
Jay Treaty
In the time of war between Great Britain and France the British were angry at Washington's decision to stay neutral. The ships from America still went over near British territory to trade but the British were capturing the ships and causing the U.S issues. Washington sent John Jay over as a representative to sign a treaty with the British in order to stop them from harming us. It did not end up working despite being signed and enraged the French as a result. -
Washington's Farewell Address
Washington resigned from office after his second term and would not be convinced to run again. He gave a speech as he left that emphasized the importance of the American people not being divided over political parties or foreign alliances. He wanted the people to keep the country well and felt these things would lead to destruction. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The British and the French had interfered with American trade for a while. Thomas Jefferson enacted embargos on trade with them because of their actions in order to help Americans from their trade being taken advantage of. This ended up only hurting the Americans so they had to figure out a different solution. -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
The British were checking ships and doing searches and seizures. One American ship, the Chesapeake, would not give right to search. The British ship violated them by boarding anyways and killing the men. -
Impressment of Sailors
The impressment of sailors and capturing of ships had been happening for a long time, since about 1793. The act of impressment though became the most prominent after the Embargo act as a punishment to the Americans for them trying to hurt British trade. This was the act where the British would kidnap Americans off of ships or ports and make them fight in wars or do things for the British. This enraged the Americans and was one of the main causes for America to declare war on Great Britain. -
War Hawks
Before the war of 1812 was declared many people were in support of it happening. Some of these extremist who were extremely passionate about it and would even bring it to legislator were the war hawks. The war hawks at this time were Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Felix Grundy. They were also one of the main pushes for the war as they kept pressuring James Madison. -
Tecumseh Unites Native Americans
Tecumseh was native American and he believed the Natives needed to fight back to get their land. He united Native tribes to come together in this common issue. The Americans had treated them badly so when the war started Tecumseh and his supporters fought for the British. -
The Beginning of the War of 1812
The British continued to harm and exploit Americans overseas in ways like impressment and trading and none of the American efforts to resolve had worked. The Americans and even Natives had had enough and after the congress signed and support from the people was pushed to the president a decision was made. James Madison signed a declaration of war on Britain finalizing that they had had enough. -
Battle at Thames
Tecumseh Was retreating with the British after failing to defeat William Harrison's army. They got to the Thames river where they were followed to and Tecumseh was killed. The Natives no longer were in strong force without him and the Americans were able to keep control of the Northern territories without much powerful opposition once they made peace with Britain. -
The Hartford Convention
This convention was called by the New England Federalist in secret. They discussed seceding from U.S because they were not agreeing with the current political powers actions and views. They did not like the new presidents and the fact that slaves counted for a vote. They ended up not seceding and lost much respect and support for being disloyal. This made way for more regional issue debates such as South versus North. -
Treaty of Ghent
At this point in the war Britain and America wanted to stop fighting so they came together in Belgium to sign this treaty. The British gave up North American influence and they proposed to help each other as allies particularly in ending slave trade. America gained a lot of influence and was seen as powerful after this. While this did not end the fighting for some time till it was heard of back in America and Britain, it helped to establish peace between these countries. -
The Battle of New Orleans
Although the treaty between Britain and America was signed the battles had not ended in North America. Andrew Jackson was a prominent leader of battle and him and his opposer had not heard of the peace between their countries yet. The British attacked American forts in New Orleans that were inhabited by Andrew Jackson. This was a huge battle and the Americans won symbolizing the end of the war and prosperity for the new land.