A Short History of the United States for School Use Part 28

[Ill.u.s.tration: STEPHEN DECATUR.]

CHAPTER 24

CAUSES OF THE WAR OF 1812

[Sidenote: The African pirates. _Higginson_, 237-239; _Eggleston_, 228-229.]

[Sidenote: Tribute paying.]

[Sidenote: Jefferson ends this system.]

[Sidenote: _Hero Tales_, 103-113.]

247. The North Africa Pirates.--Stretching along the northern sh.o.r.es of Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic were four states.

These states were named Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, and Morocco. Their people were Mohammedans, and were ruled over by persons called Deys or Beys, or Pachas. These rulers found it profitable and pleasant to attack and capture Christian s.h.i.+ps. The cargoes of the captured vessels they sold at good prices, and the seamen and pa.s.sengers they sold at good prices too--as slaves. The leading powers of Europe, instead of destroying these pirates, found it easier to pay them to let their s.h.i.+ps alone. Was.h.i.+ngton and Adams also paid them to allow American s.h.i.+ps to sail unharmed. But the pirates were never satisfied with what was paid them. Jefferson decided to put an end to this tribute paying. He sent a few s.h.i.+ps to seize the pirates and shut up their harbors. More and more vessels were sent, until at last the Deys and Beys and Pachas thought it would be cheaper to behave themselves properly. So they agreed to release their American prisoners and not to capture any more American s.h.i.+ps (1805). In these little wars American naval officers gained much useful experience and did many glorious deeds. Especially Decatur and Somers won renown.

[Sidenote: European fighters attack American commerce. _McMaster_, 224-226.]

248. America, Britain, and France.--Napoleon Bonaparte was now Emperor of the French. In 1804 he made war on the British and their allies. Soon he became supreme on the land, and the British became supreme on the water. They could no longer fight one another very easily, so they determined to injure each other's trade and commerce as much as possible. The British declared continental ports closed to commerce, and Napoleon declared all British commerce to be unlawful. Of course under these circ.u.mstances British and Continental s.h.i.+ps could not carry on trade, and American vessels rapidly took their places. The British s.h.i.+powners called upon their government to put an end to this American commerce. Old laws were looked up and enforced. American vessels that disobeyed them were seized by the British. But if any American vessel obeyed these laws, Napoleon seized it as soon as it entered a French harbor.

[Sidenote: Impressment. _Eggleston_, 240.]

249. The Impressment Controversy.--With the British the United States had still another cause of complaint. British wars.h.i.+ps stopped American vessels and took away all their seamen who looked like Englishmen. These they compelled to serve on British men-of-war. As Americans and Englishmen looked very much alike, they generally seized all the best-looking seamen. Thousands of Americans were captured in this way and forced into slavery on British men-of-war. This method of kidnaping was called impressment.

[Sidenote: The embargo, 1807. _Eggleston_, 241; _McMaster_, 226-227, 228.]

[Sidenote: Failure of the embargo. _Source-Book_, 209-211.]

250. The Embargo, 1807-1809.--Jefferson hardly knew what to do. He might declare war on both Great Britain and on France. But to do that would surely put a speedy end to all American commerce. In the old days, before the Revolutionary War, the colonists had more than once brought the British to terms by refusing to buy their goods (pp. 84, 85).

Jefferson now thought that if the people of the United States should refuse to trade with the British and the French, the governments both of Great Britain and of France would be forced to treat American commerce properly. Congress therefore pa.s.sed an Embargo Act. This forbade vessels to leave American ports after a certain day. If the people had been united, the embargo might have done what Jefferson expected it would do.

But the people were not united. Especially in New England, the s.h.i.+powners tried in every way to break the law. This led to the pa.s.sing of stricter laws. Finally the New Englanders even talked of seceding from the Union.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY STEAM FERRYBOAT, ABOUT 1810.]

[Sidenote: Outrage on the _Chesapeake_, 1807. _McMaster_, 227.]

251. The Outrage on the _Chesapeake_, 1807.--The British now added to the anger of the Americans by impressing seamen from the decks of an American wars.h.i.+p. The frigate _Chesapeake_ left the Norfolk navy yard for a cruise. At once the British vessel _Leopard_ sailed toward her and ordered her to stop. As the _Chesapeake_ did not stop, the _Leopard_ fired on her. The American frigate was just setting out, and everything was in confusion on her decks. But a coal was brought from the cook's stove, and one gun was fired. Her flag was then hauled down. The British came on board and seized four seamen, who they said were deserters from the British navy. This outrage aroused tremendous excitement. Jefferson ordered all British wars.h.i.+ps out of American waters and forbade the people to supply them with provisions, water, or wood. The British offered to restore the imprisoned seamen and ordered out of American waters the admiral under whose direction the outrage had been done. But they would not give up impressment.

[Sidenote: Madison elected President, 1808.]

252. Madison elected President, 1808.--There is nothing in the Const.i.tution to limit the number of times a man may be chosen President.

Many persons would gladly have voted a third time for Jefferson. But he thought that unless some limit were set, the people might keep on reelecting a popular and successful President term after term. This would be very dangerous to the republican form of government. So Jefferson followed Was.h.i.+ngton's example and declined a third term, Was.h.i.+ngton and Jefferson thus established a custom that has ever since been followed. The Republicans voted for James Madison, and he was elected President (1808).

[Ill.u.s.tration: MODERN DOUBLE-DECKED FERRYBOAT.]

[Sidenote: Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.]

253. The Non-Intercourse Act, 1809.--By this time the embargo had become so very unpopular that it could be maintained only at the cost of civil war. Madison suggested that the Embargo Act should be repealed, and a Non-Intercourse Act pa.s.sed in its place. Congress at once did as he suggested. The Non-Intercourse Act prohibited commerce with Great Britain and with France and the countries controlled by France. It permitted commerce with the rest of the world. There were not many European countries with which America could trade under this law. Still there were a few countries, as Norway and Spain, which still maintained their independence. And goods could be sold through them to the other European countries. At all events, no sooner was the embargo removed than commerce revived. Rates of freight were very high and the profits were very large, although the French and the British captured many American vessels.

[Sidenote: The Erskine treaty.]

[Sidenote: The British minister Jackson. _Source-Book_, 212-213]

254. Two British Ministers.--Soon after Madison's inauguration a new British minister came to Was.h.i.+ngton. His name was Erskine, and he was very friendly. A treaty was speedily made on conditions which Madison thought could be granted. He suspended non-intercourse with Great Britain, and hundreds of vessels set sail for that country. But the British rulers soon put an end to this friendly feeling. They said that Erskine had no authority to make such a treaty. They refused to carry it out and recalled Erskine. The next British minister was a person named Jackson. He accused Madison of cheating Erskine and repeated the accusation. Thereupon Madison sent him back to London. As the British would not carry out the terms of Erskine's treaty, Madison was compelled to prohibit all intercourse with Great Britain.

[Sidenote: Still another policy. _McMaster_, 229-230.]

[Sidenote: French trickery.]

[Sidenote: British trickery.]

255. British and French Trickery.--The scheme of non-intercourse did not seem to bring the British and the French to terms much better than the embargo had done. In 1810, therefore, Congress set to work and produced a third plan. This was to allow intercourse with both Great Britain and France. But this was coupled with the promise that if one of the two nations stopped seizing American s.h.i.+ps and the other did not, then intercourse with the unfriendly country should be prohibited.

Napoleon at once said that he would stop seizing American vessels on November 1 of that year if the British, on their part, would stop their seizures before that time. The British said that they would stop seizing when Napoleon did. Neither of them really did anything except to keep on capturing American vessels whenever they could get a chance.

[Sidenote: Indians of the Northwest. _Eggleston_, 242.]

[Sidenote: Tec.u.mthe.]

256. Indian Troubles, 1810.--To this everlasting trouble with Great Britain and France were now added the horrors of an Indian war. It came about in this way. Settlers were pressing into Indiana Territory west of the new state of Ohio. Soon the lands which the United States had bought of the Indians would be occupied. New lands must be bought. At this time there were two able Indian leaders in the Northwest. These were Tec.u.mthe, or Tec.u.mseh, and his brother, who was known as "the Prophet."

These chiefs set on foot a great Indian confederation. They said that no one Indian tribe should sell land to the United States without the consent of all the tribes of the Confederation.

[Sidenote: Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811.]

257. Battle of Tippecanoe.--This determined att.i.tude of the Indians seemed to the American leaders to be very dangerous. Governor William Henry Harrison of Indiana Territory gathered a small army of regular soldiers and volunteers from Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. He marched to the Indian settlements. The Indians attacked him at Tippecanoe. He beat them off and, attacking in his turn, routed them. Tec.u.mthe was not at the battle. But he immediately fled to the British in Canada. The Americans had suspected that the British were stirring up the Indians to resist the United States. The reception given to Tec.u.mthe made them feel that their suspicions were correct.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MEDAL PRESENTED TO HENRY CLAY.]

[Sidenote: Henry Clay.]

[Sidenote: John C. Calhoun.]

258. The War Party in Congress.--There were abundant reasons to justify war with Great Britain, or with France, or with both of them.

But there would probably have been no war with either of them had it not been for a few energetic young men in Congress. The leaders of this war party were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. Clay was born in Virginia, but as a boy he had gone to Kentucky. He represented the spirit of the young and growing West. He was a true patriot and felt angry at the way the British spoke of America and Americans, and at the way they acted toward the United States. He was a very popular man and won men to him by his attractive qualities and by his energy. Calhoun was a South Carolinian who had been educated in Connecticut. He was a man of the highest personal character. He had a strong, active mind, and he was fearless in debate. As with Clay so with Calhoun, they both felt the rising spirit of nationality. They thought that the United States had been patient long enough. They and their friends gained a majority in Congress and forced Madison to send a warlike message to Congress.

[Sidenote: Madison's war message, 1812. _McMaster>_, 231; _Source-Book_, 214-216.]

259. Madison's Reasons for War, 1812.--In his message Madison stated the grounds for complaint against the British as follows: (1) they impressed American seamen; (2) they disturbed American commerce by stationing wars.h.i.+ps off the princ.i.p.al ports; they refused to permit trade between America and Europe; (4) they stirred up the western Indians to attack the settlers; (5) they were really making war on the United States while the United States was at peace with them. For these reasons Madison advised a declaration of war against Great Britain, and war was declared.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

CHAPTER 22

---- 228, 229.--_a_. Draw a map showing the states and territories in 1800.