The War of 1812

[Galileo Galilei]

The War of 1812

The Republican Party feared military establishments and war-making because these were the means by which governments had traditionally enhanced executive power at the expense of liberty.

President Madison, as one admirer noted, had withstood both a powerful foreign enemy and widespread domestic opposition “without one trial for treason, or even one prosecution for libel.” No subsequent American president has ever been able to constrain the growth of executive power in wartime as much as he did.

MORE:

http://ronsview.org/2012/06/12/war-and-executive-power/

[Indy Vidual]

The good old days?

[Galileo Galilei]

The good old days?

James Madison set a precedent.

Another remarkable fact; federal spending in the War of 1812 peaked at only 3.9% of Gross Domestic Product. In other words, the US held off a three-pronged invasion from the world's most powerful empire with total federal spending of less than $600 billion per year (in today's dollars)!

[Pericles]

James Madison set a precedent.

Another remarkable fact; federal spending in the War of 1812 peaked at only 3.9% of Gross Domestic Product. In other words, the US held off a three-pronged invasion from the world's most powerful empire with total federal spending of less than $600 billion per year (in today's dollars)!

Of course, Britain was otherwise engaged with Napoleon at the time, and did manage to run the federal government out of town and burn Washington, DC.

I wouldn't call the War of 1812 a success, as the peace treaty settled on status quo ante bellum.

[Elwar]

never forget

[Galileo Galilei]

Of course, Britain was otherwise engaged with Napoleon at the time, and did manage to run the federal government out of town and burn Washington, DC.

I wouldn't call the War of 1812 a success, as the peace treaty settled on status quo ante bellum.

The attack on Washington DC had no military value and was criticized by newspapers in London.

The legacy of the Peace treaty transcended the text; [PS - for example, when Napoleon re-took power in 1815, the Brits did not re-start impressment.] the treaty led to free trade for the US on the Great Lakes, Mississippi river, Atlantic ocean, gulf of Mexico, West Indies, and the Mediterranean Sea. It was a PEACE, not just a TRUCE. The US also gained key territory, the gained West Florida, lots of Indian land ceded by Indians stupid enough to side with the British, and Carleton island, a key island on the St. Lawrence seaway.

You have to remember that in 1815 the US was the only free republic in the world. Other experiments with a free society deviating from thousands of years on kings, aristocrats, and dictators were not working well, like in France, Mexico or South America. But the US proved it could work. The vast economic growth of the US started AFTER 1815.

Most importantly, the people at the time considered it a great victory, a David vs Goliath affair, and the greatest ever known. The War of 1812 was so popular that the party who opposed the war, the Federalists, went extinct.