In the early part of the 19th century, the new nation was working hard to not only strengthen its economic power, but they were trying to establish how they would, and would not, deal with foreign countries. Some people who lived in Baltimore were totally supportive of the government’s plans to deal with Britain and France, and others were not.  The United States was trying to stay neutral in the battle between France and Britain and wanted to continue to trade as they had been doing, as a country who didn’t take sides with either of the two warring countries. It was difficult to trade with both France and Britain. Neither of them accepted the United States’ right to trade with each other. As a result, events happened that would lead to war!

Origins

The War of 1812 was a time when America had to fight against the British. In the early 1800s, Britain fought with France. In 1806, France prohibited trade with Great Britain and in 1807, Great Britain banned trade between France, her allies, and the Americas. Both countries wanted to become the greatest and most powerful country in Europe. It was difficult to trade with both France and Britain. The British tried to stop the Americans from trading with France. The French tried to stop the Americans from trading with Britain. Neither of them accepted the US’s right to trade with the other. So they punished ships for doing so. But by 1810, some Americans started moving towards being friends with France instead of just being neutral  (without taking sides) between England and France. 

But the British had other ideas. They decided that they didn’t want the United States to trade with France-at all. 

The British Royal Navy also took seamen without permission from U.S. ships and made them work for them instead of Americans! This was called “impressment” and the young American nation had had enough! Congress said that they would stop this, so they declared war on Great Britain. This is why sometimes people call it theSecond War of Independence.There were many reasons why Americans felt they needed to enter into war with Great Britain but here are three  very important ones:the impressment of American sailors by the British Navy, disagreements over trade, and western expansion. The war also happened because some Americans thought that Britain was stirring up problems on the frontier where Native Americans lived. Those people were mad at Britain.

The British Invasion

Angered by British interference with American trade, the young United States was intent on reaffirming its recently won independence. Resentment for Britain’s interference with American international trade, combined with American expansionist visions, led Congress to declare war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812.

On July 17, 1812, President James Madison declared war on Britain. With an army of only 7,000 poorly trained men and a navy of just 16 ships, America was not well prepared. America's first move was to attempt to take control of Canada, which was at the time a British colony. Unfortunately for America, the British were able to maintain control of the Canadian colonies. 

In the early stages of the war, the American navy scored victories in the Atlantic and on Lake Erie while Britain concentrated its military efforts on its ongoing war with France. But with the defeat of Emperor Napoléon’s armies in April 1814, Britain turned its full attention to the war against an ill-prepared United States.

A series of defeats left Americans anxious and demoralized. They were stunned when, on August 24, 1814, British troops marched into Washington, D.C., and set the Capitol building and White House on fire!.

America’s future seemed more uncertain than ever as the British set their sights on Baltimore, Maryland, a vital seaport.

“The Star-Spangled Banner”

A year before the war in Baltimore, Mary Pickersgill was asked to make a large American flag for Fort McHenry. With the help of her daughter, her nieces, and an African American apprentice, she made the flag with 15 stripes and 15 stars on it. Every day after that, they would raise the same flag during reveille, even if they were under attack by guns.

The Battle of Baltimore

The Battle of Baltimore and the British siege of Fort McHenry took place on September 13th and 14th in 1814. The U.S. had 1,000 men at Fort McHenry with 20 guns, while the British had 19 ships with 5,000 men. 

The British had defeated the Americans at Bladensburg and they set their eyes on the third-largest city in America, which was Baltimore. 

Baltimore was a good place for the American Navy during the Revolutionary War. Baltimore is on a river that led to many other places, like the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It also had a deep harbor, which made it better for ships than other places. The Navy needed as many ships as possible, so what happened to this town mattered to them.

Francis Scott Key

Attorney Francis Scott Key witnessed the twenty-five hour bombardment of Fort McHenry from a British troopship anchored some four miles away. He had boarded the ship to negotiate the release of an American civilian imprisoned by the British, and had been detained aboard as the bombardment began. On September 14, 1814, the dawn’s early light revealed a flag flying over the fort.  Although greatly outnumbered by the British troops, the American flag had not fallen at Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key saw it and felt very proud of being American. He began jotting down the lines for a poem. He  wrote four verses that he called “The Defence of Fort McHenry” that would eventually become set to music and become our national anthem. The British were defeated at the Battle of Baltimore. Americans had a safe port in Baltimore.

The Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans was on January 8, 1815. The American and British troops were unaware that the peace treaty had been signed in Belgium. Therefore, they fought for many days despite a treaty being made.

The British were about to invade New Orleans when Andrew Jackson called the people to defend the city. Along came soldiers but also aristocrats, freed slaves, Native Americans, and even Jean Lafitte, a French pirate.

Americans won the battle. They killed around 2,000 British troops while only suffering 65 casualties. This battle had no effect on the war, but it did help Jackson become the next American President.

Tecumseh

Tecumseh (Ti-kum-suh), whose name  in Shawnee means “shooting star” or “blazing comet,” was born in 1768 in the western Ohio Valley to the Shawnee chief Puckeshinwa and his wife Methoataske. According to legend, he was given his name because at his birth a meteor or comet was seen in the sky. Tecumseh was a Shawnee warrior chief who organized a Native American confederacy in an effort to create an autonomous (independent and having the power to make its own decisions) Indian state and stop white settlement in the Northwest Territory (modern-day Great Lakes region). He firmly believed that all Indian tribes must settle their differences and unite to retain their lands, culture and freedom. Tecumseh led his followers against the United States military in many battles and supported the British during the War of 1812. But his dream of independence ended when he was killed at the Battle of Thames, which led to the collapse of his Indian confederacy.

The end of the War of 1812-The Treaty of Ghent

In 1814, the US and Britain met in Ghent, a town in Belgium. They signed a peace treaty that would end a war. But it would be weeks before people heard about this. 

And then Andrew Jackson won the New Orleans battle on January 8th, 1815. But even though he won that battle, the war wasn’t over yet. It officially ended when Madison signed the treaty on February 17th, 1815. The war had lasted for two years and eight months.