War of 1812

choi

(1) John B Hattendorf, The War Without a Loser. Americans regard the War of 1812 as a second war of independence, Canadians see it as a heroic stand against American aggression. The British point out that Madison achieved none of his war aims and redcoats burned the White House to the ground. Wall Street Journal, Jan 28, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 56861451737498.html
(book review on two books: George C Daughan, 1812; The navy's war. Basic, 2012; and Brian Arthur, How Britain Won the War of 1812; The Royal Navy's blockades of the United States, 1812-1815. Boydell Press, 2012)

Three consecutive paragraphs:

"There was an initial breathing period for the Americans while the British government concentrated on the campaigns in the Peninsular War, but this reprieve lasted only a year. During this period, most of the dramatic American frigate victories occurred.

"Mr [Jon] Latimer suggested that the War of 1812 was no second war of American independence but rather a failed war of conquest [on the part of Americans on Canada]. Britain invaded the United States and occupied and controlled the coast of northern Maine, parts of upstate New York, and a vast stretch west of Lake Michigan, as well as launching an amphibious attack from Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, Canada remained intact, after British troops repelled several American troop thrusts along the border of present-day Ontario. The United States obtained no redress for any of the objectives for which Madison's administration had gone to war.

"The bright spots for the Americans were few: the frigate victories, the prevention of a major British land invasion by maintaining control on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain, and the defense of Baltimore from a major amphibious assault.

Note:
(a) James Madison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison
(1751-1836; president 1809-1817)
(b) Napoleonic Wars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars
(Napoleon first abdicated on Apr 6, 1814 and was exiled to island of Elba; met final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815 and was exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena)
(c) Thomas Macdonough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Macdonough
(section 4 War of 1812)
(d) Oliver Hazard Perry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry
(aided the successful outcomes of all nine Lake Erie military campaign victories, particularly the Sept 10, 1813 Battle of Lake Erie)

The significance of (c) and (d) combined is "the prevention of a major British land invasion by maintaining control on Lake Erie and Lake Champlain" in quotation 3 above.

(e) The "impress" in Britain "impressing American seamen into British service" is a transitive verb that means:
"press or force into public service, as sailors."
Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/impress
(f) The review said, "The [British] blockade interfered with American foreign trade and thus customs revenue, then the principal source of tax income. Agricultural exports were curtailed to such a degree that newly introduced taxes could only be paid with difficulty from dimishing earnings."

The "newly introduced taxes" alludes to the "customs revenue" or tariff. See

Tariffs in United States history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariffs_in_United_States_history
(Tariffs were the largest source of federal revenue from the 1790s to the eve of World War I, until it was surpassed by income taxes. Tariffs are taxes on imports and are collected before the shipment can be unloaded at a U.S. port; the collected money are called customs or custom duties. The other major source of Federal tax income was excise taxes which have fluctuated from minor to major sources of tax income. At the end of American Civil War in 1865 about 63% of Federal income was generated by the excise taxes which exceeded the 25.4% generated by tariffs. In 1915 during World War I tariffs generated only 30.1% of income and excise taxes 59.5%)

(g) Second Bank of the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bank_of_the_United_States
(h) Jon Latimer, 1812; War with America. Harvard University Press, 2007.
(i) Quotation 3 mentioned "the [successful] defense of Baltimore."

Battle of Baltimore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baltimore
(Sept 12-15, 1814)


(2) The following served as a sidebar to (1). I can not find the URL for the sidebar.

Scenes From a Wave-Tossed War. Wall Street Journal, Jan 28, 2012.

"The Captain Who Burned the Ships; Captain Thomas Tingey, USN, 1750-1829
By Gordon S Brown (2011)
This important if old-fashioned work falls into the traditional mold of American naval-officer biographies that passed for American naval history of this period during the 19th and 20th centuries. Most books in this genre focus on heroic captains; Thomas Tingey was of a different ilk. His fame in naval history lies with his work in organizing and managing the Washington Navy Yard from its establishment in 1800, the burning the ships and buildings in the yard to prevent their capture in 1814, and finally rebuilding them after the war.

"Perilous Fight; America's intrepid war with Britain on the high seas, 1812-1815
By Stephen Budiansky (2011)
A licidly written and entertaining account of American actions at sea, sup[plemented with a small selection of color illustrations with some useful maps and diagrams. A particularly valuable contribution is author's extensive use of gripping eyewitness accounts. Midshipman Henry Gilliam, for instance, wrote his uncle a few days after the engagement between the USS Constitution and the HMS Guerriere that the battle was 'almost enough to make me curse the war * * * pieces of skulls, brains, legs, arms & blood lay in every direction.

"Utmost Gallantry; The US and Royal navies at sea in the War of 1812
By Kevin D McCranie (2011)
Kevin D McCranie limits his attention to naval actions on the open ocean, linking descriptions of tactical actions to a broader strategic understanding of the war. Belying his tirtle, the author ends his work not with an account of gallantry but rather with a description of the US sloop Peacock's action with the 14-gun British East India Co ship Nautilus on June 30, 1815. While operating in the Sunda Strait, near Sumatra, the American Capt Lewis Warrington of the Peacock was told several times that Britain has [sic; should be had] signed a peace [treaty] with the United States. Considering the evidence insufficient and having no confirmation that the United States had ratified the agreement, Warrington fired into the Nautilus, killing six and wounding seven. 'Considering that the conflict was precipitated by misperception, poor documentation, arrogance, and an unwillingness to compromise,' Mr McCranie concludes, 'the final clash served as a fitting end.'

Note:
(a) Washington Navy Yard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Navy_Yard
(b) sloop (n; Dutch sloep; First Known Use 1629): "a fore-and-aft rigged boat with one mast and a single jib
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sloop
(illustration)
(c) Sunda Strait
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunda_Strait
(d) Treaty of Ghent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ghent
(signed on Dec 24, 1814, in Ghent (modern day Belgium); US Senate unanimously approved the treaty on Feb 16, 1815)