James Madison, Pt. 5

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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As we reported last week, the United States and Britain opened
peace talks at Ghent, in Belgium, in the summer of
Eighteen-Fourteen. But Britain was in no hurry to agree on a peace
treaty. British forces were planning several campaigns in the United
States later in the year. Successful military campaigns could force
the United States to accept the kind of treaty Britain wanted.

British representatives to the talks demanded that the United
States give control of its Northwest Territory to the Indians. They
also asked that the United States give part of the state of Maine to
Canada, and make other changes in the border.

VOICE TWO:

United States representatives were led by John Quincy Adams, son
of former president John Adams. They made equally tough demands. The
United States wanted payment for damages suffered during the war. It
also demanded that Britain stop seizing American seamen for the
British navy. And the United States wanted all of Canada.

The British representatives said they could not even discuss the
question of impressing Americans into the British navy.

John Quincy Adams had little hope the talks would succeed. The
Americans would surrender none of their territory. Old John Adams,
the former president, told President James Madison: "I would
continue this war forever before surrendering an acre of America."

His son, John Quincy, did not believe the British would reduce
any of their demands. But another of the Americans at Ghent, House
Speaker Henry Clay, felt differently. Clay was right. After Britain
received word that its military campaigns had failed at Baltimore
and Plattsburgh, its representatives became easier to negotiate
with. They dropped the demand that the United States give the
Northwest Territory to the Indians.

VOICE ONE:

Britain still hoped for military successes in America. The
British government asked the duke of Wellington to lead British
forces in Canada. The duke had won important victories in the war
against Napoleon. Perhaps he could do the same in America. The duke
was offered the power to continue the war or to make peace.

Wellington told the government he would go to America if
requested. But he refused to promise any success. He said it was not
a new general that Britain needed in America, but naval control of
the Great Lakes that separated the United States from Canada.

"The question is," Wellington said, "can we get this naval
control? If we cannot, then I will do you no good in America. I
think," said Wellington, "that you might as well sign a peace treaty
with the United States now. I think you have no right to demand any
territory from the United States. The failure of the British
military campaigns in America gives you no right to make such
demands."

VOICE TWO:

The British government accepted this advice from its top military
expert. It ordered the British representatives at Ghent to drop the
demands for American territory. The Americans then dropped their
demands for Canadian territory.

The things that led to the war no longer existed. Britain's war
with France had caused the British and French to interfere with
neutral American trade. And Britain had needed men for its navy.
Now, the war with France was over. No longer was there any reason to
interfere with the trade of any nation. And no longer was there any
need to seize Americans for service in the British navy.

On the day before Christmas, Eighteen-Fourteen, the United States
and Britain signed a simple treaty. In it, each side agreed to stop
fighting. They agreed to settle all their differences at future
negotiations.

VOICE ONE:

The war had ended. But one more battle was to be fought before
news of the peace treaty reached the United States.

During the autumn of Eighteen-Fourteen, British soldiers at
Jamaica began preparing for an attack against New Orleans, at the
mouth of the Mississippi River. Late in November, this force of
about seven-thousand five-hundred men sailed from Jamaica to New
Orleans.

The British soldiers were commanded by General Sir Edward
Pakenham. The general did not take his men directly to the mouth of
the Mississippi River. Instead, they sailed across a lake east of
the city.

Early during the afternoon of December Twenty-Third, General
Andrew Jackson, the commander of American forces at New Orleans,
learned the British force was near.

VOICE TWO:

General Jackson was a good soldier
and a great leader of men. He fought in the Revolutionary War, then
studied law. He moved west to Nashville, Tennessee. The general also
served in both houses of the United States Congress.

When war broke out in Eighteen-Twelve, he was elected general of
a group of volunteer soldiers from Tennessee. Jackson was a rough
man. His soldiers feared and respected him. They called him "Old
Hickory", because he seemed as tough as hickory wood.

Jackson was given responsibility for defending the gulf coast.
Earlier in the year, he had attacked Pensacola, in east Florida, and
forced out several hundred British marines. Jackson believed the
British would attack Mobile before attacking New Orleans. He left
part of his forces at Mobile and took the others to the mouth of the
Mississippi.

VOICE ONE:

Jackson was a sick man when he got to New Orleans. And what he
found made him feel no better. Little had been done to prepare for
the expected British attack. Jackson declared martial law and began
building the city's defenses.

Most of the work on the defenses had been completed when Jackson
got word that the British were only a few kilometers from New
Orleans. "Gentlemen," Jackson told his officers, "the British are
below. We must fight them tonight."

The British soldiers rested. They believed it would be easy to
capture the city the next day. But Jackson rushed up guns and men,
and attacked the British by surprise just after dark. Then, the
Americans retreated to a place about eight kilometers south of the
city.

VOICE TWO:

Jackson had chosen this place carefully. On the right was the
Mississippi River. On the left was a swamp -- mud and water that
could not be crossed. In front of the American soldiers was an open
field.

For two weeks, the British
soldiers waited. They tested the American defenses at several
places, but found no weaknesses. Every day, Jackson had his men
improve their positions. At night, small groups of Jackson's
soldiers would slip across the field and silently attack British
soldiers guarding the other side.

Finally, on January Eighth, the British attacked. They expected
the Americans to flee in the face of their strong attack. But the
Americans stood firm.

Jackson's artillery fired into the enemy. When the British got as
close as one-hundred-fifty meters, the Americans began to fire their
long rifles. The rain of bullets and shells was deadly. General
Pakenham was wounded twice and then killed by a shell that exploded
near him. Only one British soldier reached the top of the American
defenses.

VOICE ONE:

The British finally retreated. They left behind more than
two-thousand dead and wounded. Five-hundred other British soldiers
had been captured. Thirteen Americans were killed. It was a great
victory for the United States, but one that was not necessary. The
war had ended, by treaty, two weeks earlier.

At the same time that the battle of New Orleans was being fought,
New England Federalists were meeting in a special convention at
Hartford, Connecticut. The purpose of the meeting was to protest
against the war, and plan for a convention to change the United
States Constitution.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce and Stuart
Spencer. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.