The War of 1812
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42. AC, 12–1, 166, 1005, 2261–62. Most Federalists were so disgusted with the failure of naval expansion that they abstained on the final vote of this bill.
43. AC, 12–1, 163, 1030, 1160–61, 2251–52.
44. See Alexander S. Balinky, “Gallatin’s Theory of War Finance,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. 16 (January, 1959), 73–82.
45. ST to Ezekiel Bacon, January 10, 1812, in ASP: F, 2:523–27. See also Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, November 22, 1811, in ASP: F, 2:495–97.
46. Plumer to John A. Harper, February 4, 1812, in Plumer Papers (LC), reel 2.
47. AC, 12–1, 846–47.
48. Speech of Robert Wright, March 2, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1123; John A. Harper to William Plumer, February 17, 1812, in Plumer Papers (LC), reel 3.
49. New York Columbian, reprinted in Philadelphia Aurora, January 27, 1812; Baltimore Sun, reprinted in Philadelphia Aurora, January 31, 1812; Albany Register, reprinted in Hartford Connecticut Mirror, March 16, 1812; Washington National Intelligencer, January 28, 1812.
50. Baltimore Whig, January 31, 1812; Concord New-Hampshire Patriot, February 11, 1812; Lexington Reporter, February 15, 1812; Bennington (VT) Green-Mountain Farmer, February 25, 1812. See also Worcester National Aegis, February 5, 1812; Edward Fox to Jonathan Roberts, February 23, 1812, in Roberts Papers (HSP); Henry Dearborn to ST, March 29, 1812, in Gallatin Papers (SR), reel 24; and George Hay to James Monroe, January 23, 1812, in Monroe Papers (NYPL).
51. AC, 12–1, 167, 1092, 2253–55.
52. James A. Bayard to Caesar A. Rodney, March 9, 1812, in “James Asheton Bayard Letters, 1802–1814,” Bulletin of the New York Public Library 4 (July, 1900), 236.
53. AC, 12–1, 1094–1155.
54. JM to Jefferson, March 6, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 13.
55. JM to Congress, March 9, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1162. The analysis that follows is based on Samuel Elliot Morison, “The Henry-Crillon Affair of 1812,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 69 (October, 1947-May, 1950), 207–31; and E. A. Cruikshank, The Political Adventures of John Henry: The Record of an International Imbroglio (Toronto, 1936). The pertinent documents are printed in AC, 12–1, 1163–81, and in Henry Adams, ed., “Count Edward de Crillon,” American Historical Review 1 (October, 1895), 51–69.
56. Gerry to JM, January 29, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 26.
57. JM to Jefferson, March 9, 1812, ibid.
58. JM to Congress, March 9, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1162.
59. Sir James Craig to Henry, February 6, 1809, in AC, 12–1, 1164.
60. Washington National Intelligencer, March 10, 1812.
61. John A. Harper to William Plumer, March 11, 1812, in Plumer Papers (LC), reel 3.
62. Nathaniel Macon to Joseph H. Nicholson, March 23, 1812, in Nicholson Papers (LC).
63. Leonard White to Daniel Appleton White, March 11, 1812, in White Papers (EI).
64. Report of the Secretary of State, March 12, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 169.
65. Baltimore Federal Republican, March 12, 1812; statement of Samuel Sterett, in Philadelphia Aurora, March 19, 1812; Benjamin Tallmadge to James McHenry, March 16, 1812, in McHenry Papers (LC); Samuel Elliot Morison, The Life and Letters of Harrison Gray Otis, Federalist, 1765–1848, 2 vols. (Boston, 1913), 2:46.
66. Abijah Bigelow to Hannah Bigelow, March 22, 1812, in Clarence S. Brigham, ed., “Letters of Abijah Bigelow, Member of Congress, to His Wife, 1810–1815,” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 40 (October, 1930), 332–33. See also Josiah Quincy to Harrison Gray Otis, March 19, 1812, in Otis Papers (MHS); Samuel Taggart to Rev. John Taylor, March 13, 1812, in Reynolds, “Letters of Samuel Taggart,” 389.
67. John A. Harper to William Plumer, March 11, 1812, in Plumer Papers (LC), reel 3. See also Plumer to William Claggett, March 24, 1812, in Plumer Papers (NHHS), reel 2; Boston Independent Chronicle, March 26, 1812.
68. Cruikshank, John Henry, 7; David W. Parker, ed., “Secret Reports of John Howe, 1808,” American Historical Review 17 (October, 1911-January, 1912), 70–102, 332–54; Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time, 6 vols. (Boston, 1948–81), 5:519–20.
69. Louis Serurier to Duc de Bassano, March 23, 1812, in Adams, History, 2:428.
70. Clay to James Monroe, March 15, 1812, in Monroe Papers (LC), reel 5; Brant, James Madison, 5:428. See also James A. Bayard to Andrew Bayard, May 2, 1812, in Donnan, Papers of James A. Bayard, 196.
71. JM to Congress, April 1, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 186–87.
72. AC, 12–1, 189, 1598, 1612–14, 2262–64.
73. AC, 12–1, 203, 1622–23, 2269–70.
74. Speech of Henry Clay, April 1, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1588. See also speeches of Felix Grundy, Adam Seybert, and John Smilie, April 1, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1587–88, 1592; Richard M. Johnson to Frankfort (KY) Palladium, April 4, 1812, reprinted in Lexington Reporter, April 18, 1812; John C. Calhoun to James Macbride, April 18, 1812, in Meriwether et al., Papers of John C. Calhoun, 1:100.
75. William Reed to Timothy Pickering, April 25, 1812, in Pickering Papers (MHS), reel 30.
76. JM to Jefferson, April 24, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 14.
77. Speeches of John C. Calhoun and Josiah Quincy, April 7, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1265–66; Nathaniel Macon to Joseph H. Nicholson, April 7–8, 1812, in Nicholson Papers (LC); broadside, April 3, 1812, in Shaw Broadside Collection (AAS); Washington National Intelligencer, April 2, 1812; Philadelphia United States’ Gazette, April 14, 1812; Hartford Connecticut Mirror, May 18, 1812.
78. Nathan Appleton to Samuel Appleton, April 5, 1812, in Appleton Papers (MHS). See also Nathaniel Macon to Joseph H. Nicholson, April 6, 1812, in Nicholson Papers (LC); diary of Henry Thompson, April 3, 1812 (MdHS); Washington National Intelligencer, April 9, 1812; Richmond Enquirer, April 10, 1812; Harrison, Diary of Thomas P. Cope (April 2, 1812), 269; W. Freeman Galpin, “The Grain Trade of Alexandria, Virginia, 1801–1815,” North Carolina Historical Review 4 (October, 1927), 421; Brant, James Madison, 5:426.
79. Niles’ Register 2 (April 11, 1812), 101. See also John Taylor to James Monroe, May 10, 1812, in Monroe Papers (LC), reel 5.
80. Niles’ Register 2 (April 11, 1812), 101.
81. Boston Gazette, March 26, 1812; Brant, James Madison, 5:401.
82. Lowndes to Elizabeth Lowndes, [March 23, 1812], in Lowndes Papers (UNC), reel 1; Plumer to John A. Harper, May 11, 1812, in Plumer Papers (LC), reel 3. For similar sentiments, see John Taylor to James Monroe, January 2, 1812, in Monroe Papers (LC), reel 4; Edward Fox to Jonathan Roberts, May 4, 1812, in Roberts Papers (HSP); Alexander Campbell to [Jeremiah Morrow?], May 6, 1812, in Campbell Papers (ChHS); Lexington Reporter, January 11 and 25 and February 1, 1812; Philadelphia Aurora, March 24, 1812.
83. Speech of Josiah Quincy, January 19, 1809, in AC, 10–2, 1112.
84. Quincy to Harrison Gray Otis, November 8 and 26, 1812, in Otis Papers (MHS).
85. Boston Gazette, December 19, 1811. For other examples of Federalist skepticism, see Benjamin Tallmadge to James McHenry, January 16, 1812, in McHenry Papers (LC); Nathaniel Saltonstall, Jr., to Nathaniel Saltonstall, May 1, 1812, in Saltonstall Papers (MHS); Nathan Appleton to Samuel Appleton, May 12 and June 1, 1812, in Appleton Papers (MHS); Theodore Sedgwick to Daniel Dewey, June 11, 1812, in Sedgwick Papers (MHS); Samuel Yorke and James Schott to Patrick Tracy Jackson, April 2, 1812, in Kenneth W. Porter, ed., The Jacksons and the Lees: Two Generations of Massachusetts Merchants, 1765–1844, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1937), 1:728.
86. James Monroe, quoted in memorandum of [John Randolph?], March 31, 1812, in Samuel Smith Papers (LC), reel 4.
87. Washington National Intelligencer, March 19 and April 7, 9, and 14, 1812; Leonard White to Daniel Appleton White, April 11, 1812, in White Papers (EI); Brant, James Madison, 5:448.
88. JM to Jefferson, April 24, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 14.
89. Davis, Jeffersonian America, 92.
90. Foster to Thomas Barclay, May 10, 1812, in Ge
orge L. Rives, ed., Selections from the Correspondence of Thomas Barclay, Formerly British Consul-General at New York (New York, 1894), 309.
91. Samuel Taggart to Rev. John Taylor, January 20, 1812, in Reynolds, “Letters of Samuel Taggart,” 377.
92. Macon to Joseph H. Nicholson, March 31, 1812, in Nicholson Papers (LC).
93. George W. Campbell to Andrew Jackson, April 10, 1812, Jackson Papers (LC), reel 5.
94. AC, 12–1, 219, 1342, 1353. The Senate voted for a recess, but the House refused to concur.
95. Macon to Joseph Nicholson, April 30, 1812, in Nicholson Papers (LC); Bayard to Rodney, May 6, 1812, in “James Asheton Bayard Letters,” 237. See also Jonathan Roberts to Matthew Roberts, May 7, 1812, in Roberts Papers (HSP). The Senate adjourned on May 4 because it had a bare quorum and on May 13 because it had no quorum. See AC, 12–1, 225, 239.
96. Baltimore American, reprinted in Boston Gazette, February 17, 1812. See also Raleigh Minerva, February 21, 1812; Philadelphia Aurora, February 13 and 14, 1812; London Times, March 10, 1812; Edward Fox to Jonathan Roberts, April 7, 1812, in Roberts Papers (HSP); William Reed to Timothy Pickering, February 6, 1812, and Abraham Shepherd to Pickering, February 20, 1812, in Pickering Papers (MHS), reel 30. The editor of a widely read Republican magazine later published the treaty because it was “frequently referred to:—and its insertion in the Register has been earnestly solicited.” See Niles’ Register 3 (November 28, 1812), 196–201.
97. Augustus J. Foster to SS, November 1, 1811, and SS to Foster, November 12, 1811, in ASP: FR, 3:499–500. The return of the impressed Americans took place after the two nations were at war. See William Bainbridge to SN, July 11, 1812, in ND (M125), reel 24; Boston Independent Chronicle, July 13, 1812.
98. Baltimore Whig and Lexington Reporter, reprinted in New York Evening Post, November 19 and December 12, 1811. For similar sentiments, see Trenton True American, November 25, 1811; and Thomas J. Rogers to Jonathan Roberts, December 1, 1811, in Roberts Papers (HSP).
99. Bradford Perkins, Castlereagh and Adams: England and the United States, 1812–1823 (Berkeley, 1964), 11.
100. Ibid.; Mahan, Sea Power, 1:386.
101. The number of licenses issued annually is often misstated. The correct figures can be found in “An Account of the Number of Commercial Licenses, Granted during the Last Ten Years,” February 13, 1812, in British Sessional Papers: House of Commons, 1812, 343, and in Adam Seybert, Statistical Annals . . . of the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1818), 70.
102. Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805–1812 (Berkeley, 1961), 401.
103. London Times, June 17 and 24, 1812; The Annual Register . . . for the Year 1812 [State Papers], new ed. (London, 1821), 379–81.
104. JM to Henry Wheaton, February 26–27, [1827], in Madison Papers (LC), reel 21; Roger H. Brown, The Republic in Peril: 1812 (New York, 1964), 37–38. For similar sentiments, see JM to Wheaton, July 11, 1824, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 20; Thomas Jefferson to Robert Wright, August 8, 1812, in Jefferson Papers (LC), reel 46; speech of William King, February 5, 1813, in AC, 12–2, 1001.
105. Perkins, Prologue to War, 310–12.
106. Washington National Intelligencer, May 23, 1812; Adams, History, 2:443.
107. Adams, History, 2:443–44; Perkins, Prologue to War, 399–400.
108. Richard C. Knopf, ed., The Diary of Thomas Worthington: 1812 (n.p., [1956]) (May 27, 1812), 15. For similar sentiments, see Lexington Reporter, June 6, 1812.
109. Henry Clay to William W. Worsley, February 9, 1812, in Hopkins and Hargreaves, Papers of Henry Clay, 1:630. See also James A. Bayard to Andrew Bayard, February 1, 1812, in Donnan, Papers of James A. Bayard, 191.
110. JM to Congress, June 1, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1624–29.
111. Ibid., 1626.
112. Ibid., 1629.
113. Report of House Foreign Relations Committee, June 3, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1546–54. Quotations from pp. 1547 and 1554. There has been some debate over whether Calhoun or Monroe wrote this report. The weight of evidence favors the former. See Charles M. Wiltse, “The Authorship of the War Report of 1812,” American Historical Review 49 (January, 1944), 253–59; Meriwether et al., Papers of John C. Calhoun, 1:123n–24n; and Brant, James Madison, 5:473.
114. Ingersoll, History, 1:94.
115. AC, 12–1, 1630–37; James A. Bayard to Andrew Bayard, June 4, 1812, in Donnan, Papers of James A. Bayard, 198.
116. For details on Senate action on the war bill, see Leland R. Johnson, “The Suspense Was Hell: The Senate Vote for War in 1812,” Indiana Magazine of History 65 (December, 1969), 247–67.
117. Monroe to Albert Gallatin, June 1, 1812, in Gallatin Papers (SR), reel 24.
118. Brown, Republic in Peril, 116–17.
119. There is a good discussion of the attractions of maritime war in Brown, Republic in Peril, 108–10. See also James A. Bayard to Andrew Bayard, May 2, 1812, in Donnan, Papers of James A. Bayard, 196–97.
120. AC, 10–1, 1852; AC, 10–2, 171, 779, 812, 1191, 1362; Rufus King to Timothy Pickering, January 19, 1808, January 15, 1809, and January 26, 1810, in King, Rufus King, 5:65, 128, 189; Henry Cabot Lodge, Life and Letters of George Cabot, 2nd ed. (Boston, 1878), 491; Quincy, Josiah Quincy, 146.
121. See AC, 9–1, 1064; AC, 10–1, 1064–65; AC, 11–1, 155–56; AC, 11–2, 1324; AC, 12–1, 199–201, 208–9, 220–22, 1353–54.
122. Speech of Josiah Quincy, January 25, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 949.
123. Baltimore Federal Republican, December 4, 1811. See also Boston Gazette, December 5, 1811; Philadelphia United States’ Gazette, December 9, 1811, and May 30, 1812; Newport Mercury, December 14, 1811, and June 20, 1812; Charleston Courier, December 17, 1811; address of New Jersey Federalist Convention, July 4, 1812, in Newport Mercury, August 8, 1812.
124. AC, 12–1, 265–71.
125. AC, 12–1, 271–97.
126. On the liabilities of triangular war, see JM to Thomas Jefferson, May 25, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 14; Jefferson to JM, May 30, 1812, in Jefferson Papers (LC), reel 46; William A. Burwell to Wilson Cary Nicholas, May 23, 1812, in Nicholas Papers (UVA).
127. Jonathan Roberts to Matthew Roberts, June 17, 1812, in Roberts Papers (HSP).
128. AC, 12–1, 297.
129. The act declaring war is printed in AC, 12–1, 2322–23.
130. There have been only eight formal declarations of war in American history: against Great Britain in 1812; against Mexico in 1846; against Spain in 1898; against Germany and Austria in 1917; and against Japan, Germany, and Italy in 1941.
131. Reginald Horsman, “Western War Aims, 1811–1812,” Indiana Magazine of History 53 (March, 1957), 1–18.
132. The causes of the war are developed more fully in chapter 1: The Road to War, 1801–1812.
133. Porter to SW, April 19, 1812, in WD (M221), reel 47. See also memorandum of [John Randolph?], March 31, 1812, in Samuel Smith Papers (LC), reel 4.
134. Quoted in William A. Burwell to Wilson Cary Nicholas, May 23, 1812, in Nicholas Papers (UVA).
135. Monroe to John Taylor, June 13, 1812, in Monroe Papers (LC), reel 5; Cutts to William Plumer, December 11, 1811, in Plumer Papers (LC), reel 3.
136. For Madison’s diplomatic initiative, see chapter 11: The Treaty of Ghent.
137. For Madison’s role in the development of the restrictive system, see Donald R. Hickey, “American Trade Restrictions during the War of 1812,” Journal of American History 68 (December, 1981), 518–19.
138. Speech of Henry Clay, December 7, 1812, in AC, 12–2, 299–300.
139. See, for example, ST to Thomas Coles, April 28, 1812, in TD (M175), reel 2; Coles to ST, April 29, May 2 and 6, 1812, in TD (M178), reel 29.
140. Alexander Dallas to ST, April 5, 1812, in Gallatin Papers (SR), reel 24; Boston Gazette, May 23, 1812.
141. Speech of John C. Calhoun, June 24, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1541; speech of Langdon Cheves, April 10, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1310. See also speech
of William Lowndes, April 9, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1289.
142. See AC, 12–1, 692, 1280–1314. For other attempts to modify the non-importation law, all of which failed, see AC, 12–1, 188–89, 228–35, 239, 1633–34.
143. AC, 12–1, 1511.
144. ST to Cheves, June 10, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1512–13.
145. AC, 12–1, 1543–44.
146. AC, 12–1, 1545–46.
147. Jefferson to JM, August 5, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 26. See also Jefferson to JM, April 17 and June 29, 1812, ibid.; Jefferson to Richard M. Johnson, January 29, 1813, and to William Short, June 18, 1813, in Jefferson Papers (LC), reel 46.
148. JM to Jefferson, April 24, 1812, in Madison Papers (LC), reel 14. See also JM to Congress, November 5, 1812, in AC, 12–2, 14.
149. AC, 12–1, 319, 1532, 1570, 1572, 1574. This act is printed in AC, 12-1, 2354–56, but a crucial word—“such”—is omitted from section 7 so that the law appears to prohibit the use of British licenses to trade with any port in the world. For a more accurate version, see U.S. Congress, The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1815, 8 vols. (Boston, 1845–48), 2:778–81.
150. ST to Bacon, June 24, 1812, in ASP: F, 2:539. Eventually $8 million was raised under the $11 million loan act. See Revised Statement of the Public Debt, April 14, 1814, in ASP: F, 2:839.
151. AC, 12–1, 305, 1509–10, 2335–37.
152. AC, 12–1, 311, 1531, 2338. See also speech of John C. Calhoun, April 7, 1814, in AC, 13–2, 1989.
153. AC, 12–1, 1555–59.
154. James Breckinridge to Dr. Campbell, June 29, 1812, in Breckinridge Papers (UVA).
155. Speech of Harmanus Bleecker, June 22, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1523. See also speech of Elijah Brigham, June 22, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1526.
156. Speech of Abijah Bigelow, June 22, 1812, in AC, 12–1, 1517.
157. AC, 12–1, 303, 316, 318, 1516, 1573–74, 1580–81, 2327–32, 2353, 2362.
158. Boston Yankee, July 17, 1812.
159. The War Congress met from November 4, 1811, to July 6, 1812, or for 246 days. The second session of the Fifth Congress, which was in session from November 13, 1797, to July 16, 1798, also met for 246 days. These were the longest sessions until the second session of the Twenty-Seventh Congress, which met for 269 days from December 6, 1841, to August 31, 1842. See U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774–2005 (Washington, DC, 2005), 54, 74, 123. Of the 143 laws adopted in this session, 115 were public. See AC, 12–1, 2225–62; and Philadelphia Aurora, July 13, 1812.