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had been in 1807 following the Chesapeake outrage. On the eve of the War of 1812, the regular army was
The supreme lesson of the conflict was the folly of ill-trained, ill-disciplined, and widely scattered. It
leading a divided and apathetic people into war. had to be supplemented by the even more poorly
And yet, despite the unimpressive military outcome trained militia, who were sometimes distinguished
and even less decisive negotiated peace, Americans by their speed of foot in leaving the battlefield.
came out of the war with a renewed sense of nation- Some of the ranking generals were semisenile heir-
hood. For the next dozen years, an awakened spirit looms from the Revolutionary War, rusting on their
of nationalism would inspire activities ranging from laurels and lacking in vigor and vision.
protecting manufacturing to building roads to The offensive strategy against Canada was espe-
defending the authority of the federal government cially poorly conceived. Had the Americans cap-
over the states. tured Montreal, the center of population and
233
234 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
Fort Michilimackinac
(Captured by British, 1812)
R.
R.
Montreal BRITISH Montreal
La
e e
BRITISH nc CANADA nc
ke
e wr e
La
wr La
ke
La
Hu
CANADA 3 .
ron
Huro
St.
St
Lake United States
n
Champlain York force repulsed
(Toronto) Lake
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario Champlain
Battle of the
Fort Niagara Thames Fort Niagara
2 Albany
Detroit 1 Detroit Albany
Erie
Erie Fort Maiden Lake United States
Lake force repulsed
Perry's route
transportation, everything to the west might have managed to build a fleet of green-timbered ships on
died, just as the leaves of a tree wither when the the shores of Lake Erie, manned by even greener sea-
trunk is girdled. But instead of laying ax to the trunk, men. When he captured a British fleet in a furious
the Americans frittered away their strength in the engagement on the lake, he reported to his superior,
three-pronged invasion of 1812. The trio of invading “We have met the enemy and they are ours.’’ Perry’s
forces that set out from Detroit, Niagara, and Lake victory and his slogan infused new life into the
Champlain were all beaten back shortly after they drooping American cause. Forced to withdraw from
had crossed the Canadian border. Detroit and Fort Malden, the retreating redcoats were
By contrast, the British and Canadians dis- overtaken by General Harrison’s army and beaten at
played energy from the outset. Early in the war, they the Battle of the Thames in October 1813.
captured the American fort of Michilimackinac, Despite these successes, the Americans by late
which commanded the upper Great Lakes and the 1814, far from invading Canada, were grimly defend-
Indian-inhabited area to the south and west. Their ing their own soil against the invading British. In
brilliant defensive operations were led by the Europe the diversionary power of Napoleon was
inspired British general Isaac Brock and assisted (in destroyed in mid-1814, and the dangerous despot
the American camp) by “General Mud’’ and “Gen- was exiled to the Mediterranean isle of Elba. The
eral Confusion.’’ United States, which had so brashly provoked war
When several American land invasions of behind the protective skirts of Napoleon, was now
Canada were again hurled back in 1813, Americans left to face the music alone. Thousands of victorious
looked for success on water. Man for man and ship veteran redcoats began to pour into Canada from
for ship, the American navy did much better than the Continent.
the army. In comparison to British ships, American Assembling some ten thousand crack troops,
craft on the whole were more skillfully handled, had the British prepared in 1814 for a crushing blow into
better gunners, and were manned by non-press- New York along the familiar lake-river route. In the
gang crews who were burning to avenge numerous absence of roads, the invader was forced to bring
indignities. Similarly, the American frigates, notably supplies over the Lake Champlain waterway. A
the Constitution (“Old Ironsides”), had thicker sides, weaker American fleet, commanded by the thirty-
heavier firepower, and larger crews, of which one year-old Thomas Macdonough, challenged the
sailor in six was a free black. British. The ensuing battle was desperately fought
Control of the Great Lakes was vital, and an ener- near Plattsburgh on September 11, 1814, on float-
getic American naval officer, Oliver Hazard Perry, ing slaughterhouses. The American flagship at one
Battles on Lakes and Land 235
point was in grave trouble. But Macdonough, unex- the Americans at Baltimore held firm. The British
pectedly turning his ship about with cables, con- fleet hammered Fort McHenry with their cannon
fronted the enemy with a fresh broadside and but could not capture the city. Francis Scott Key, a
snatched victory from the fangs of defeat. detained American anxiously watching the bom-
The results of this heroic naval battle were bardment from a British ship, was inspired by the
momentous. The invading British army was forced to doughty defenders to write the words of “The Star-
retreat. Macdonough thus saved at least upper New Spangled Banner.” Set to the tune of a saucy English
York from conquest, New England from further dis- tavern refrain, the song quickly attained popularity.
affection, and the Union from possible dissolution.
He also profoundly affected the concurrent negotia-
tions of the Anglo-American peace treaty in Europe.
Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) appealed to the
governor of Louisiana for help recruiting free
Washington Burned blacks to defend New Orleans in 1814:
and New Orleans Defended “The free men of colour in [your] city are
inured to the Southern climate and would
make excellent Soldiers. . . . They must be for
A second formidable British force, numbering about
or against us—distrust them, and you make
four thousand, landed in the Chesapeake Bay area
them your enemies, place confidence in
in August 1814. Advancing rapidly on Washington, it
them, and you engage them by every dear
easily dispersed some six thousand panicky militia
and honorable tie to the interest of the
at Bladensburg (“the Bladensburg races’’). The
country, who extends to them equal rights
invaders then entered the capital and set fire to
and [privileges] with white men.”
most of the public buildings, including the Capitol
and the White House. But while Washington burned,
236 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
about “Blue Light’’ Federalists—treacherous New date. He was handily trounced by James Monroe, yet
Englanders who supposedly flashed lanterns on the another Virginian.
shore so that blockading British cruisers would be Federalist doctrines of disunity, which long sur-
alerted to the attempted escape of American ships. vived the party, blazed a fateful trail. Until 1815 there
The most spectacular manifestation of Federal- was far more talk of nullification and secession in
ist discontent was the ill-omened Hartford Conven- New England than in any other section, including
tion. Late in 1814, when the capture of New Orleans the South. The outright flouting of the Jeffersonian
seemed imminent, Massachusetts issued a call for a embargo and the later crippling of the war effort
convention at Hartford, Connecticut. The states of were the two most damaging acts of nullification in
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island dis- America prior to the events leading to the Civil War.
patched full delegations; neighboring New Hamp-
shire and Vermont sent partial representation. This
group of prominent men, twenty-six in all, met in The Second War
complete secrecy for about three weeks—December for American Independence
15, 1814, to January 5, 1815—to discuss their griev-
ances and to seek redress for their wrongs.
In truth, the Hartford Convention was actually The War of 1812 was a small war, involving about
less radical than the alarmists supposed. Though 6,000 Americans killed or wounded. It was but a
a minority of delegates gave vent to wild talk of se- footnote to the mighty European conflagration. In
cession, the convention’s final report was quite 1812, when Napoleon invaded Russia with about
moderate. It demanded, financial assistance from 500,000 men, Madison tried to invade Canada with
Washington to compensate for lost trade and pro- about 5,000 men. But if the American conflict was
posed constitutional amendments requiring a two- globally unimportant, it had huge consequences for
thirds vote in Congress before an embargo could be the United States.
imposed, new states admitted, or war declared. The Republic had shown that it would resist,
Most of the demands reflected Federalist fears that a sword in hand, what it regarded as grievous wrongs.
once-proud New England was falling subservient to Other nations developed a new respect for Amer-
an agrarian South and West. Delegates sought to ica’s fighting prowess. Naval officers like Perry and
abolish the three-fifths clause in the Constitution Macdonough were the most effective type of nego-
(which allowed the South to count a portion of its tiators; the hot breath of their broadsides spoke
slaves in calculating proportional representation), the most eloquent diplomatic language. America’s
to limit presidents to a single term, and to prohibit emissaries abroad were henceforth treated with less
the election of two successive presidents from the
same state. This last clause was aimed at the much-
resented “Virginia Dynasty”—by 1814 a Virginian
had been president for all but four years in the
Republic’s quarter-century of life. The War of 1812 won a new respect for
Three special envoys from Massachusetts car- America among many Britons. Michael Scott,
ried these demands to the burned-out capital of a young lieutenant in the British navy, wrote,
Washington. The trio arrived just in time to be over- “I don’t like Americans; I never did, and never
whelmed by the glorious news from New Orleans, shall like them. . . . I have no wish to eat with
followed by that from Ghent. As the rest of the them, drink with them, deal with, or consort
nation congratulated itself on a glorious victory, with them in any way; but let me tell the
New England’s wartime complaints seemed petty at whole truth, nor fight with them, were it not
best and treasonous at worst. Pursued by the sneers for the laurels to be acquired, by overcoming
and jeers of the press, the envoys sank away in dis- an enemy so brave, determined, and alert,
grace and into obscurity. and in every way so worthy of one’s steel,
The Hartford resolutions, as it turned out, were as they have always proved.”
the death dirge of the Federalist party. In 1816 the
Federalists nominated their last presidential candi-
240 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
prices below cost in an effort to strangle the Ameri- tem. This system had three main parts. It began with
can war-baby factories in the cradle. The infant a strong banking system, which would provide easy
industries bawled lustily for protection. To many and abundant credit. Clay also advocated a protec-
red-blooded Americans, it seemed as though the tive tariff, behind which eastern manufacturing
British, having failed to crush Yankee fighters on the would flourish. Revenues gushing from the tariff
battlefield, were now seeking to crush Yankee facto- would provide funds for the third component of the
ries in the marketplace. American system—a network of roads and canals,
A nationalist Congress, out-Federalizing the old especially in the burgeoning Ohio Valley. Through
Federalists, responded by passing the path-breaking these new arteries of transportation would flow
Tariff of 1816—the first tariff in American history foodstuffs and raw materials from the South and
instituted primarily for protection, not revenue. Its West to the North and East. In exchange, a stream of
rates—roughly 20 to 25 percent on the value of manufactured goods would flow in the return direc-
dutiable imports—were not high enough to provide tion, knitting the country together economically
completely adequate safeguards, but the law was a and politically.
bold beginning. A strongly protective trend was Persistent and eloquent demands by Henry Clay
started that stimulated the appetites of the pro- and others for better transportation struck a
tected for more protection. responsive chord with the public. The recent
Nationalism was further highlighted by a attempts to invade Canada had all failed partly
grandiose plan of Henry Clay for developing a prof- because of oath-provoking roads—or no roads at
itable home market. Still radiating the nationalism all. People who have dug wagons out of hub-deep
of war-hawk days, he threw himself behind an elab- mud do not quickly forget their blisters and back-
orate scheme known by 1824 as the American Sys- aches. An outcry for better transportation, rising
242 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
South sectional balance, most of these common- waters, also in 1811, heralded a new era of upstream
wealths had been admitted alternately, free or slave. navigation.
(See Admission of States in the Appendix.) But the West, despite the inflow of settlers, was
Why this explosive expansion? In part it was still weak in population and influence. Not potent
simply a continuation of the generations-old west- enough politically to make its voice heard, it was
ward movement, which had been going on since forced to ally itself with other sections. Thus
early colonial days. In addition, the siren song of strengthened, it demanded cheap acreage and par-
cheap land—“the Ohio fever’’—had a special appeal tially achieved its goal in the Land Act of 1820,
to European immigrants. Eager newcomers from which authorized a buyer to purchase 80 virgin
abroad were beginning to stream down the gang- acres at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash. The
planks in impressive numbers, especially after the West also demanded cheap transportation and
war of boycotts and bullets. Land exhaustion in the slowly got it, despite the constitutional qualms of
older tobacco states, where the soil was “mined’’ the presidents and the hostility of easterners.
rather than cultivated, likewise drove people west- Finally, the West demanded cheap money, issued by
ward. Glib speculators accepted small down pay- its own “wildcat’’ banks, and fought the powerful
ments, making it easier to buy new holdings. Bank of the United States to attain its goal (see
The western boom was stimulated by additional “Makers of America: Settlers of the Old Northwest,”
developments. Acute economic distress during the pp. 248–249).
embargo years turned many pinched faces toward
the setting sun. The crushing of the Indians in the
Northwest and South by Generals Harrison and Slavery and the Sectional Balance
Jackson pacified the frontier and opened up vast
virgin tracts of land. The building of highways
improved the land routes to the Ohio Valley. Note- Sectional tensions, involving rivalry between the
worthy was the Cumberland Road, begun in 1811, slave South and the free North over control of the
which ran ultimately from western Maryland to Illi- virgin West, were stunningly revealed in 1819. In
nois. The use of the first steamboat on western that year the territory of Missouri knocked on the
The Missouri Compromise 245
doors of Congress for admission as a slave state. expansion of slavery, and they did not want to lose
This fertile and well-watered area contained suffi- this veto.
cient population to warrant statehood. But the The future of the slave system caused southern-
House of Representatives stymied the plans of the ers profound concern. Missouri was the first state
Missourians by passing the incendiary Tallmadge entirely west of the Mississippi River to be carved
amendment. It stipulated that no more slaves out of the Louisiana Purchase, and the Missouri
should be brought into Missouri and also provided emancipation amendment might set a damaging
for the gradual emancipation of children born to precedent for all the rest of the area. Even more dis-
slave parents already there. A roar of anger burst quieting was another possibility. If Congress could
from slave-holding southerners. They were joined abolish the “peculiar institution’’ in Missouri, might
by many depression-cursed pioneers who favored it not attempt to do likewise in the older states of the
unhampered expansion of the West and by many South? The wounds of the Constitutional Conven-
northerners, especially diehard Federalists, who tion of 1787 were once more ripped open.
were eager to use the issue to break the back of the Burning moral questions also protruded, even
“Virginia dynasty.’’ though the main issue was political and economic
Southerners saw in the Tallmadge amendment, balance. A small but growing group of antislavery
which they eventually managed to defeat in the agitators in the North seized the occasion to raise an
Senate, an ominous threat to sectional balance. outcry against the evils of slavery. They were deter-
When the Constitution was adopted in 1788, the mined that the plague of human bondage should
North and South were running neck and neck in not spread further into the virgin territories.
wealth and population. But with every passing
decade, the North was becoming wealthier and also
more thickly settled—an advantage reflected in an
increasing northern majority in the House of Repre- The Uneasy Missouri Compromise
sentatives. Yet in the Senate, each state had two
votes, regardless of size. With eleven states free and
eleven slave, the southerners had maintained Deadlock in Washington was at length broken in
equality. They were therefore in a good position to 1820 by the time-honored American solution of
thwart any northern effort to interfere with the compromise—actually a bundle of three compro-
mises. Courtly Henry Clay of Kentucky, gifted con-
ciliator, played a leading role. Congress, despite
abolitionist pleas, agreed to admit Missouri as a
slave state. But at the same time, free-soil Maine,
which until then had been a part of Massachusetts,
was admitted as a separate state. The balance
between North and South was thus kept at twelve
states each and remained there for fifteen years.
Although Missouri was permitted to retain slaves,
all future bondage was prohibited in the remainder
of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line of 36°
30'—the southern boundary of Missouri.
This horse-trading adjustment was politically
evenhanded, though denounced by extremists on
each side as a “dirty bargain.’’ Both North and South
yielded something; both gained something. The
South won the prize of Missouri as an unrestricted
slave state. The North won the concession that Con-
gress could forbid slavery in the remaining territo-
ries. More gratifying to many northerners was the
fact that the immense area north of 36° 30', except
Missouri, was forever closed to the blight of slavery.
246 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
LA.
FLA.
TERR.
Yet the restriction on future slavery in the territories every electoral vote except one. Unanimity was an
was not unduly offensive to the slaveowners, partly honor reserved for George Washington. Monroe, as
because the northern prairie land did not seem
suited to slave labor. Even so, a majority of
southern congressmen still voted against the
compromise.
Neither North nor South was acutely dis- While the debate over Missouri was raging,
pleased, although neither was completely happy. Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) wrote to a
The Missouri Compromise lasted thirty-four correspondent,
years—a vital formative period in the life of the
“The Missouri question . . . is the most
young Republic—and during that time it preserved
portentous one which ever yet threatened
the shaky compact of the states. Yet the embittered
our Union. In the gloomiest moment of the
dispute over slavery heralded the future breakup of
revolutionary war I never had any
the Union. Ever after, the morality of the South’s
apprehensions equal to what I feel from this
“peculiar institution’’ was an issue that could not be
source. . . . [The] question, like a firebell in
swept under the rug. The Missouri Compromise
the night, awakened and filled me with
only ducked the question—it did not resolve it.
terror. . . . [With slavery] we have a wolf by
Sooner or later, Thomas Jefferson predicted, it will
the ears, and we can neither hold him nor
“burst on us as a tornado.’’
safely let him go.”
The Missouri Compromise and the concurrent
panic of 1819 should have dimmed the political star John Quincy Adams confided to his diary,
of President Monroe. Certainly both unhappy “I take it for granted that the present
events had a dampening effect on the Era of Good question is a mere preamble—a title-page to
Feelings. But smooth-spoken James Monroe was so a great, tragic volume.”
popular, and the Federalist opposition so weak, that
in the presidential election of 1820, he received
The Marshall Supreme Court 247
248
Conflict soon emerged between Yankees and came to adopt views more akin to those of the
southerners. As self-sufficient farmers with little Yankees than the southerners, whereas his New
interest in producing for the market, the southerners England–born archrival, Stephen Douglas, carefully
viewed the northern newcomers as inhospitable, cultivated the Butternut vote for the Illinois Demo-
greedy, and excessively ambitious. “Yankee” became cratic party.
a term of reproach; a person who was cheated was As the population swelled and the region
said to have been “Yankeed.” Northerners, in turn, acquired its own character, the stark contrasts
viewed the southerners as uncivilized, a “coon dog between northerners and southerners started to
and butcher knife tribe” with no interest in educa- fade. By the 1850s northerners dominated numeri-
tion, self-improvement, or agricultural innovation. cally, and they succeeded in establishing public
Yankees, eager to tame both the land and its people, schools and fashioning internal improvements.
wanted to establish public schools and build roads, Railroads and Great Lakes shipping tied the region
canals, and railroads—and they advocated taxes ever more tightly to the northeast. Yankees and
to fund such progress. Southerners opposed all these southerners sometimes allied as new kinds of cleav-
reforms, especially public schooling, which they ages emerged—between rich and poor, between
regarded as an attempt to northernize their children. city dwellers and farmers, and, once Irish and Ger-
Religion divided settlers as well. Northerners, man immigrants started pouring into the region,
typically Congregationalists and Presbyterians, between native Protestants and newcomer Cath-
wanted their ministers to be educated in seminaries. olics. Still, echoes of the clash between Yankees and
Southerners embraced the more revivalist Baptist Butternuts persisted. During the Civil War, the
and Methodist denominations. They preferred poor, southern counties of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,
humble preacher-farmers to professionally trained where southerners had first settled, harbored sym-
preachers whom they viewed as too distant from the pathizers with the South and served as a key area for
Lord and the people. As the Baptist preacher Alexan- Confederate military infiltration into the North.
der Campbell put it, “The scheme of a learned priest- Decades later these same counties became a strong-
hood . . . has long since proved itself to be a grand hold of the Ku Klux Klan. The Old Northwest may
device to keep men in ignorance and bondage.” have become firmly anchored economically to the
Not everyone, of course, fitted neatly into these Northeast, but vestiges of its early dual personality
molds. Abraham Lincoln, with roots in Kentucky, persisted.
249
250 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
Marshall’s decisions are felt even today. In this dian cousins. This multisided agreement also fixed
sense his nationalism was the most tenaciously the vague northern limits of Louisiana along the
enduring of the era. He buttressed the federal Union forty-ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods
and helped to create a stable, nationally uniform (Minnesota) to the Rocky Mountains (see the map
environment for business. At the same time, Mar- below). The treaty further provided for a ten-year
shall checked the excesses of popularly elected state joint occupation of the untamed Oregon Country,
legislatures. In an age when white manhood suf- without a surrender of the rights or claims of either
frage was flowering and America was veering toward America or Britain.
stronger popular control, Marshall almost single- To the south lay semitropical Spanish Florida,
handedly shaped the Constitution along conserva- which many Americans believed geography and
tive, centralizing lines that ran somewhat counter to providence had destined to become part of the
the dominant spirit of the new country. Through United States. Americans already claimed West
him the conservative Hamiltonians partly tri- Florida, where uninvited American settlers had torn
umphed from the tomb. down the hated Spanish flag in 1810. Congress rati-
fied this grab in 1812, and during the War of 1812
against Spain’s ally, Britain, a small American army
Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida seized the Mobile region. But the bulk of Florida
remained, tauntingly, under Spanish rule.
When an epidemic of revolutions broke out
The robust nationalism of the years after the War of in South America, notably in Argentina (1816),
1812 was likewise reflected in the shaping of foreign Venezuela (1817), and Chile (1818), Spain was
policy. To this end, the nationalistic President Mon- forced to denude Florida of troops to fight the
roe teamed with his nationalistic secretary of state, rebels. General Andrew Jackson, idol of the West and
John Quincy Adams, the cold and scholarly son of scourge of the Indians, saw opportunity in the
the frosty and bookish ex-president. The younger undefended swamplands. On the pretext that hos-
Adams, a statesman of the first rank, happily rose tile Seminole Indians and fugitive slaves were using
above the ingrown Federalist sectionalism of his Florida as a refuge, Jackson secured a commission
native New England and proved to be one of the to enter Spanish territory, punish the Indians, and
great secretaries of state. recapture the runaways. But he was to respect all
To its credit, the Monroe administration negoti- posts under the Spanish flag.
ated the much-underrated Treaty of 1818 with Early in 1818 Jackson swept across the Florida
Britain. This pact permitted Americans to share the border with all the fury of an avenging angel. He
coveted Newfoundland fisheries with their Cana- hanged two Indian chiefs without ceremony and,
Treaty boundary
gained considerable territory by
securing a treaty boundary rather
than the natural boundary of the
O RE G O N C A NADA Missouri River watershed. The line
C O U N TRY Lake of
of 49° was extended westward to
(10-year joint the Woods
occupation, renewable) 49° the Pacific Ocean under the Treaty
Missouri R
.
of 1846 with Britain (see p. 380).
C ol um
bia R.
Mi
Ro c
ssi
s s ip
pi
ky M
R.
Sn
ak
e
R.
oun
U NI TE D STATE S
tain
s
P la tt e R .
252 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
LA. GEORGIA
MISSISSIPPI TERR.
WEST FLORIDA
Baton Mobile
Rouge
M
St. Marks
iss
is s Pensacola
ip p Battle of New
i R.
Orleans (Jan. 1815)
EAST
FLORIDA
To U.S. 1810
To U.S. 1812–1813
To U.S. 1819
Jackson's route, 1814
Jackson's route, 1818
cheered when the Latin American republics rose ica that had neither naval nor military strength?
from the ruins of monarchy. Americans feared that Such a union, argued Adams, was undignified—like
if the European powers intervened in the New a tiny American “cockboat” sailing “in the wake of
World, the cause of republicanism would suffer the British man-of-war.”
irreparable harm. The physical security of the Adams, ever alert, thought that he detected the
United States—the mother lode of democracy— joker in the Canning proposal. The British feared
would be endangered by the proximity of powerful that the aggressive Yankees would one day seize
and unfriendly forces. Spanish territory in the Americas—perhaps Cuba—
The southward push of the Russian bear, from which would jeopardize Britain’s possessions in the
the chill region now known as Alaska, had already Caribbean. If Canning could seduce the United
publicized the menace of monarchy to North Amer- States into joining with him in support of the terri-
ica. In 1821 the tsar of Russia issued a decree torial integrity of the New World, America’s own
extending Russian jurisdiction over one hundred hands would be morally tied.
miles of the open sea down to the line of 51°, an A self-denying alliance with Britain would not
area that embraced most of the coast of present- only hamper American expansion, concluded
day British Columbia. The energetic Russians had Adams, but it was unnecessary. He suspected—cor-
already established trading posts almost as far south rectly—that the European powers had not hatched
as the entrance to San Francisco Bay, and the fear any definite plans for invading the Americas. In any
prevailed in the United States that they were plan- event the British navy would prevent the approach
ning to cut the Republic off from California, its of hostile fleets because the South American mar-
prospective window on the Pacific. kets had to be kept open at all costs for British mer-
Great Britain, still Mistress of the Seas, was now chants. It was presumably safe for Uncle Sam,
beginning to play a lone-hand role on the compli- behind the protective wooden petticoats of the
cated international stage. In particular, it recoiled British navy, to blow a defiant, nationalistic blast at
from joining hands with the continental European all of Europe. The distresses of the Old World set the
powers in crushing the newly won liberties of stage once again for an American diplomatic coup.
the Spanish-Americans. These revolutionists had The Monroe Doctrine was born late in 1823,
thrown open their monopoly-bound ports to out- when the nationalistic Adams won the nationalistic
side trade, and British shippers, as well as Ameri- Monroe over to his way of thinking. The president,
cans, had found the profits sweet. in his regular annual message to Congress on
Accordingly, in August 1823, George Canning, December 2, 1823, incorporated a stern warning to
the haughty British foreign secretary, approached the European powers. Its two basic features were
the American minister in London with a startling (1) noncolonization and (2) nonintervention.
proposition. Would not the United States combine Monroe first directed his verbal volley primarily
with Britain in a joint declaration renouncing any at the lumbering Russian bear in the Northwest. He
interest in acquiring Latin American territory, and proclaimed, in effect, that the era of colonization in
specifically warning the European despots to keep the Americas had ended and that henceforth the
their harsh hands off the Latin American republics? hunting season was permanently closed. What the
The American minister, lacking instructions, great powers had they might keep, but neither they
referred this fateful scheme to his superiors in nor any other Old World governments could seize or
Washington. otherwise acquire more.
At the same time, Monroe trumpeted a warning
against foreign intervention. He was clearly con-
Monroe and His Doctrine cerned with regions to the south, where fears were felt
for the fledgling Spanish-American republics. Mon-
roe bluntly directed the crowned heads of Europe to
The tenacious nationalist, Secretary Adams, was keep their hated monarchical systems out of this
hardheaded enough to be wary of Britons bearing hemisphere. For its part the United States would not
gifts. Why should the lordly British, with the mighti- intervene in the war that the Greeks were then fight-
est navy afloat, need America as an ally—an Amer- ing against the Turks for their independence.
254 CHAPTER 12 The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism, 1812–1824
Monroe’s Doctrine Appraised In truth, Monroe’s message did not have much
contemporary significance. Americans applauded it
and then forgot it. Not until 1845 did President Polk
The ermined monarchs of Europe were angered at revive it, and not until midcentury did it become an
Monroe’s doctrine. Having resented the incendiary important national dogma.
American experiment from the beginning, they were Even before Monroe’s stiff message, the tsar had
now deeply offended by Monroe’s high-flown pro- decided to retreat. This he formally did in the Russo-
nouncement—all the more so because of the gulf American Treaty of 1824, which fixed his southern-
between America’s loud pretensions and its soft mili- most limits at the line of 54° 40'—the present
tary strength. But though offended by the upstart southern tip of the Alaska panhandle.
Yankees, the European powers found their hands The Monroe Doctrine might more accurately
tied, and their frustration increased their annoyance. have been called the Self-Defense Doctrine. Presi-
Even if they had worked out plans for invading the dent Monroe was concerned basically with the
Americas, they would have been helpless before the security of his own country—not of Latin America.
booming broadsides of the British navy. The United States has never willingly permitted a
Monroe’s solemn warning, when issued, made powerful foreign nation to secure a foothold near its
little splash in the newborn republics to the south. strategic Caribbean vitals. Yet in the absence of the
Anyone could see that Uncle Sam was only secon- British navy or other allies, the strength of the Mon-
darily concerned about his neighbors, because he roe Doctrine has never been greater than America’s
was primarily concerned about defending himself power to eject the trespasser. The doctrine, as often
against future invasion. Only a relatively few edu- noted, was just as big as the nation’s armed forces—
cated Latin Americans knew of the message, and and no bigger.
they generally recognized that the British navy—not The Monroe Doctrine has had a long career of
the paper pronouncement of James Monroe—stood ups and downs. It was never law—domestic or
between them and a hostile Europe. international. It was not, technically speaking, a
Chronology 255
pledge or an agreement. It was merely a simple, per- menace in 1823, and hence a kind of period piece,
sonalized statement of the policy of President Mon- the doctrine proved to be the most famous of all the
roe. What one president says, another may unsay. long-lived offspring of that nationalism. While giv-
And Monroe’s successors have ignored, revived, dis- ing voice to a spirit of patriotism, it simultaneously
torted, or expanded the original version, chiefly by deepened the illusion of isolationism. Many Ameri-
adding interpretations. Like ivy on a tree, it has cans falsely concluded, then and later, that the
grown with America’s growth. Republic was in fact insulated from European dan-
But the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 was largely an gers simply because it wanted to be and because, in
expression of the post-1812 nationalism energizing a nationalistic outburst, Monroe had publicly
the United States. Although directed at a specific warned the Old World powers to stay away.
Chronology
1810 Fletcher v. Peck ruling asserts right of the 1817 Madison vetoes Calhoun’s Bonus Bill
Supreme Court to invalidate state laws Rush-Bagot agreement limits naval armament
deemed unconstitutional on Great Lakes
1812 United States declares war on Britain 1818 Treaty of 1818 with Britain
Madison reelected president Jackson invades Florida
For further reading, see page A8 of the Appendix. For web resources, go to http://college.hmco.com.