Results of the War of 1812 facts for kids
The results of the War of 1812 were very important for both the United States and the United Kingdom. Even though the war didn't change any borders right away, it led to two centuries of peace between these two countries.
Many reasons for the war, like the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, ended when Napoleon was defeated in 1814. In the United States, the power of groups that supported Britain, like some Native American groups and the Federalist Party, became weaker. This led to a time called the "Era of Good Feelings," where people felt more united. Britain didn't pay much attention to the War of 1812 because they were busy fighting Napoleon.
Americans hoped to gain land from British North America (which is now Canada), but they didn't. However, they did gain land from Spain. Britain also tried to keep New Ireland in Maine, but they failed.
After Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Britain was no longer at war with France. This meant they didn't need to stop American trade or force American sailors into their navy (a practice called impressment). Americans felt they had won a "Second War of Independence." This feeling came after British defeats at New Orleans, Baltimore, and Plattsburgh. These were important ports the British tried to capture. People felt that Britain couldn't control America again, just as the US couldn't take Canada.
Britain and Spain didn't recognize the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This was because they canceled all land deals Napoleon made after his defeat. The United States was the only country that recognized the Louisiana Purchase in 1815. Louisiana and West Florida (which the US took in 1813) stayed with the US after the war. The Treaty of Ghent only dealt with the US and Canadian border.
The idea of New England states leaving the US ended after the Hartford Convention failed. In Britain, the war was forgotten because of bigger events in Europe, like Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Upper Canada (part of modern Canada) felt a strong sense of unity and pride after the war. Anglophone Canadians (English-speaking) saw the war as a win for their freedom from American control. They gave credit to their local militias for stopping the American invasions. Francophone Canadians (French-speaking) mostly ignored the war. The power of Native American groups in the west became weaker.
Peace Talks Begin
Efforts to end the war started in 1812. An American diplomat in London suggested a ceasefire if Britain stopped forcing American sailors into its navy. But Britain refused. Later in 1812, after Britain captured Fort Detroit, news of Britain ending some trade rules reached Washington, DC. A British general, Sir George Prevost, arranged a ceasefire with his American counterpart, Henry Dearborn.
However, US President James Madison decided to keep fighting. In 1813, Russia offered to help make peace, but London said no. They worried it might hurt British interests in Europe. Finally, Britain and the United States agreed to peace talks in January 1814.
Negotiating for Peace
Peace talks began in August 1814 in the neutral city of Ghent. Both sides started with big demands. The United States wanted Britain to stop all its naval practices that Americans disliked. They also wanted land from Canada and fishing rights near Newfoundland.
The British wanted to create a "neutral" Indian barrier state. This state would cover most of the Old Northwest. It would be independent from the United States but guided by the British. Britain hoped this would stop American expansion and help their fur trade. However, London dropped this demand when the Americans strongly refused. The British were also weaker after Tecumseh's Confederacy fell apart in 1813. They couldn't supply such a state. Britain also wanted to keep parts of Maine they had captured. This would create a land path to Quebec from the Maritime Colonies.
After months of talks, and with battles still happening, both sides realized their countries wanted peace. There was no real reason to continue the war. Both nations were tired of fighting, and trade was almost stopped. Since Napoleon had fallen in 1814, France was no longer Britain's enemy. So, the British navy didn't need to stop American ships going to France or force more sailors into service. Britain was busy rebuilding Europe after Napoleon's defeat.
The negotiators agreed to go back to how things were before the war. This meant no changes to the borders. Both sides signed the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. The next step was for both governments to officially approve the treaty.
When the treaty was signed, the British knew about the upcoming Battle of New Orleans, but the Americans did not. This battle was fought on January 8, 1815. The treaty officially started after both sides approved it in February 1815.
The treaty didn't make Britain officially recognize American maritime rights. But in the next century of peace, these rights were not seriously broken. The British navy stopped the practices that angered Americans because they were no longer needed. American pride grew because the Native American threat ended and because of the victory at New Orleans. The United States felt it had become truly independent from Britain.
Native Americans and the War
A main reason American settlers on the frontier wanted the war was the threat from Native Americans. These tribes lived in lands the settlers wanted. The settlers blamed Native American attacks on weapons and supplies from British agents in Canada. They also wanted access to lands that Britain said belonged to the United States. But Britain seemed to block expansion by arming Native Americans.
The death of Tecumseh in battle in 1813 removed a big obstacle to American expansion. Even so, Native American involvement and resistance continued after the war. Native Americans were the main losers in the war. They lost British protection and never got their influence back.
In the Southeast, Andrew Jackson defeated Britain's allies, the Creek Indians, at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. This ended the threat of Native American attacks in that area. It opened up huge areas in Georgia and Alabama for farms. The United States took over all of West Florida during the war. In 1819, it bought the rest of Florida from Spain. This stopped Spain from arming hostile tribes there. Some Creek Indians escaped to Spanish Florida and joined the Seminoles. They fought a long resistance known as the Seminole Wars.
In the Treaty of Ghent, Britain promised not to arm or trade with Native Americans from Canada. The border became much more peaceful. Some Americans thought Britain still worked with its former Native American allies. They believed Britain wanted to stop American power in the Great Lakes region. But historians say these ideas were wrong. After the treaty, Native Americans in the Great Lakes region became a burden for British leaders.
Canada's Experience
Some American politicians wrongly thought that people in Upper Canada, many of whom were from America, would rebel against British rule. But this didn't happen. Many were United Empire Loyalists who had left the US because they were loyal to Britain. After 1815, British officials, Anglican clergy, and Loyalists tried to stop American ideas like democracy. This set the colonies that would become Canada on a different path from the US. They also discouraged more immigration from the United States.
When the United States attacked British North America, most British forces were fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. So, British North America had very few troops to defend itself. The US had a much larger army, but it was not well trained at first. For most of the war, British North America faced a stronger American force alone. Reinforcements from Britain didn't arrive until 1814. Stopping the American forces helped build loyalty to Britain in the colonies that later became Canada.
The strong national feeling made people suspicious of American ideas. This slowed down political changes in both Upper and Lower Canada until the Rebellions of 1837. However, the war started the process that led to Canadian Confederation in 1867. The Canadian writer Pierre Berton believed that if the war hadn't happened, Canada might have become part of the United States. This is because American settlers would have kept arriving, and Canadian nationalism might not have grown.
The war was very important in Britain's North American colonies. After the war, Canadian supporters of Britain said the war was a successful fight for their country's survival. They saw it as a fight against an American democratic force that threatened their peace. During the war, most Canadians thought the Americans wanted to take over the British colonies. American generals like William Hull even made statements saying Canada would be taken.
Some historians say a myth came from the war: that Canadian militiamen played a key role and British officers were often bad. Jack Granatstein called this the "militia myth." He felt it made Canadians focus too much on citizen militias instead of professional armies. The US had a similar "frontiersman myth." They wrongly believed individual skill could beat a well-trained British army. Granatstein argued that the militia wasn't very effective. He said any British success was due to regular British forces and British control of the sea. For example, Isaac Brock didn't trust the militia with muskets.
Others disagree, saying the Canadian militia was important in several battles. This includes the Battle of the Chateauguay, where they helped defeat the American advance on Montreal in 1813. The historian Robert Henderson called the idea that the militia wasn't important "The myth of the 'Militia myth.'"
More than 1,600 names of the dead, including Canadian soldiers and First Nations allies, are in the Book of Remembrance in the Memorial Chamber in the Parliament of Canada. Many were members of Canadian militia units.
During the war, British officers constantly worried that Americans would block the St. Lawrence River. This river forms part of the Canada–US border. If it were blocked, there would be no British supply route for Upper Canada. British forces might have had to leave or surrender all western British territory. British officers were surprised that Americans never took this simple step. But Britain didn't want to risk it happening again. So, they built the Rideau Canal. This expensive project connects Kingston on Lake Ontario to the Ottawa River. It provided an alternative supply route to bypass the border part of the St. Lawrence River.
The town at the canal's end, where it meets the Ottawa River, later became Ottawa. This is Canada's capital city. It was placed inland to protect it from an American invasion. Because few people lived far from the St. Lawrence, Britain worked hard after the war to increase settlement in the back-country. They settled soldiers, helped immigrants, and offered free land to farmers, especially from southern Ireland. The canal was finished in 1832 but was never used for its original military purpose.
Britain's View of the War
Unlike in Canada, the War of 1812 is rarely remembered in Britain today. The British public quickly forgot the conflict. This was mainly because it was overshadowed by the huge Napoleonic Wars happening at the same time. Also, Britain didn't gain or lose anything from the peace treaty. It kept control of Canada.
The Royal Navy knew that the US Navy had won some one-on-one ship battles during the war. But these battles had no big effect on the war's outcome. The British paid special attention to these battles because American news made them seem like fights between equal ships. However, only one such battle was truly between equal forces, and the British won it. The British had mostly won the war at sea. Almost all US Navy ships were blocked in port and couldn't fight.
British honor was restored when the USS President was captured. It was taken to Britain so everyone could see that American ships, which supposedly fought equal battles, were actually much larger than the British ships they fought.
American privateers (private ships allowed to attack enemy ships) and commerce raiders captured about 1,200 British merchant ships. This raised insurance costs and embarrassed the British Admiralty. However, the British captured 50% of all American privateers. These privateers only captured 5% to 7% of British trade. Meanwhile, for every 14 American merchant ships trading before the war, only one dared to leave port during the war. Of the few that left, 1,400 were captured. Britain also won many sea battles. The Royal Navy used its huge strength to block American waters. This almost destroyed American sea trade and pushed the American economy close to bankruptcy. The Royal Navy came out of the conflict stronger than ever.
The British Army saw the war in Canada and America as a small side event. Only one regiment, the 41st, received a special honor (for Detroit) from the war. The British Army was more interested in lessons from the Peninsular War in Spain. The Battle of New Orleans was blamed on bad leadership or impossible obstacles. British attention focused on the Royal Navy's capture of the American flagship, which Americans often overlooked. It was believed that better generals would have led to a British victory at New Orleans. The huge success of the Duke of Wellington in Europe meant the British Army didn't change its systems for recruiting or training for over 50 years.
The British suffered 10,000 deaths in the war, with 1,960 killed in combat.
United States' Outcomes
The sadness in New England, which strongly opposed the war, reached its peak in December 1814. Delegates from five states secretly met at the Hartford Convention. They demanded changes to the Constitution to protect New England's interests. There was much talk of these states wanting to leave the Union. But news of peace ended this movement.
The United States faced a near-disaster in 1814. But victories at the Battle of New Orleans, Battle of Plattsburgh, and the Battle of Baltimore made Americans feel united. The loss of the American flagship USS President was conveniently overlooked by the public. The most famous patriotic result of the war was "The Star-Spangled Banner." Its words were written by Francis Scott Key after the bombing of Fort McHenry. He set them to the music of a British drinking song. In 1889, the US Navy started using "The Star Spangled Banner" at flag-raising events. The US Army copied this. In 1931, the US Congress made it the American national anthem.
Even though their goals to invade Canada failed, the American people saw the War of 1812 as proof that their democratic system worked. The war started a period in American history often called "the Era of Good Feelings." Most Americans felt united for a common goal. The war convinced the country it could defend itself from foreign threats. It also made the US focus on expanding within its own borders. The United States defeated the British-supported Tecumseh's confederacy and the Red Stick Creek. This was a major goal of the war. Also, during the 1814–15 Gulf Campaign, US victories in New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola ensured that Louisiana and West Florida would stay American. Because Britain never took the major cities on the Gulf Coast, they had to follow the Treaty of Ghent. This included leaving the British colony of New Ireland in 1815.
With the failure of the Hartford Convention and news of the victory at the Battle of New Orleans, Americans had reason to celebrate. In February, President James Madison sent the peace treaty to Congress. He congratulated the nation on ending a war "waged with the 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." This spirit of nationalism and pride led to the antiwar Federalist Party disappearing from national politics. This started the new Era of Good Feelings.
One indirect result of the War of 1812 was the later election of war heroes Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison as presidents. Both men gained military fame, which helped them win elections. Another indirect result was the decline of the Federalist Party's power.
American Military Changes
During the war, about 15,000 American soldiers and sailors died, with 3,721 killed in combat. The war cost the United States about $200 million. Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom gained any military advantage. But indirectly, the United States made some gains.
A key military change was General Winfield Scott's focus on making the Army's officers more professional. This included training officers at the US Military Academy ("West Point"). This new professionalism became clear during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). After the annexation of Texas by the United States, the term "Manifest Destiny" became popular. It described the idea of American expansion and military pride.
The United States officially stopped relying on militias for defense. Instead, it favored a standing army. Also, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which controlled West Point, began building forts around New Orleans. This was a response to the British attack on the city during the war. This effort grew into many civil river projects, especially in the 1830s and 1850s. The Corps still manages work on the Mississippi River and other rivers.
The embarrassing defeats at Fort Madison (in what is now Iowa) and Fort McKay (in Prairie du Chien) led to more forts along the Mississippi. This included expanding Fort Belle Fontaine near St. Louis. New forts were built: Fort Armstrong (1816) and Fort Edwards (1816) in Illinois; Fort Crawford (1816) in Prairie du Chien; and Fort Snelling (1819) in Minnesota. Removing all Native Americans from the Mississippi Valley became a top goal for the American government.
National Honor
Historian Norman Risjord stressed that honor was a main reason for the war. Americans of all political views felt they needed to uphold national honor. They wanted to reject Britain treating their country as unimportant. Americans often talked about needing to use force. The search for honor was a major cause of the war. Most Americans who were not involved in trade or threatened by Native American attacks strongly supported protecting national honor. The Chesapeake–Leopard affair in June 1807, where HMS Leopard attacked USS Chesapeake, was a key event. Historians have shown how important American honor was in shaping public opinion in many states.
Americans widely celebrated the end of the war as a success. This was especially true after the big defeat of the main British invasion army at New Orleans. For the next century, it was often called "the Second American War for Independence." It helped Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison become presidents. Americans felt they had restored their honor. Lance Banning wrote:
National honor, the reputation of republican government, and the continuing supremacy of the Republican party had seemed to be at stake... National honor had [now] been satisfied. Americans celebrated the end of the struggle with a brilliant burst of national pride. They felt that they had fought a second war for independence, and had won.
According to historians like Andrew Lambert and William James, British honor was challenged. This was because deserters from the Royal Navy were given American citizenship. This led to the impressment of American citizens into the Royal Navy. In 1811, the Little Belt affair angered the British Admiralty. It embarrassed the United States. It also made the British especially interested in capturing the American flagship USS President. Although the British mostly stopped the US Navy during the war by blocking its ships, the one-on-one ship battles won by Americans embarrassed the British Admiralty. Special attention was given to these battles because Americans claimed they were between ships of equal strength.
The British restored their honor by capturing the sloop of war USS Frolic and, more importantly, the flagship USS President. Both ships were taken to Britain. This showed everyone that the American ships in the "equal force" battles were actually much larger than the British ships they fought. Also, the United States failed to end impressment when the treaty was signed. But the British didn't continue the practice because the Napoleonic Wars had ended. They no longer needed as many sailors. British honor was restored, but the entire conflict was overshadowed by Napoleon's defeat.
Economic Effects
The War of 1812 badly hurt the American economy because of the British blockade. But the war's aftermath gave a big boost to American manufacturing. The British blockade of the American coast created a shortage of cotton cloth. This led Americans to create a cotton-manufacturing industry. It started in Waltham, Massachusetts, led by Francis Cabot Lowell. The war also encouraged the building of the Erie Canal. This project was built to help trade and was also seen as useful for military purposes if needed.
The First Bank of the United States' charter had expired in 1811. So, the federal government was not ready to pay for the war. It had to use methods like stopping payments in gold and silver and issuing Treasury Notes. These actions set a pattern for how the government would handle money problems in the future. The country's financial weaknesses also partly explained why Congress decided to create the Second Bank of the United States in 1816. The willingness of southern leaders, like John C. Calhoun, to support this showed a strong national feeling. Perhaps the clearest sign of new national unity was the victorious Democratic-Republican Party. Its old enemies, the Federalist Party, disappeared from national politics. This resulted in an Era of Good Feelings, with very little political fighting.
Canadians, however, compared their slow economy after the war to the booming American economy. Desmond Morton believed this led to the Rebellions of 1837. During the war, Bermuda privateers, using their fast Bermuda sloops, captured 298 ships. British naval or privateering vessels captured a total of 1,593 ships between the Great Lakes and the West Indies.
