President James Madison named two top generals: 62-year-old Henry Dearborn and 63-year-old Thomas Pinckney.
The United States had only a few warships and gunboats with which to face the British navy—the most powerful naval force in the world.
Historian and professor Alan Taylor says the American people were divided about the war.
“A majority of them supported the Madison administration, and agreed that they tried the embargo and it failed, and that something had to be done because national honor, they felt, was at stake. And that they needed to stop the British practice of impressment. And they were also upset about the British military aid to these Indian peoples who were restricting American expansion.”
Alan Taylor says for those reasons, many Americans supported the war, particularly in the southern, western and mid-Atlantic states.
“But in New England most of the people supported the opposition party, the Federalists, and they were very bitter about the war. They felt that it was really being waged for illegitimate reasons, that diplomacy could have just papered over the disagreement over impressment. And so they did their best to obstruct the war effort. They not only didn’t want to contribute to the war effort, but they wanted to block it as best they could.”
Church bells were rung and flags were lowered in New England when the declaration of war was announced.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25