2004-2-18
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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As we reported earlier, the United States and Britain agreed late
in December, 1814, to end the war between them. The peace treaty was
signed the day before Christmas at Ghent, Belgium. It took several
weeks for word of the agreement to reach Washington. This resulted
in two events which would not have happened had communications
across the Atlantic been faster.
One of the events was the battle
of New Orleans. British forces had begun the attack about the time
the peace treaty was being signed in Ghent. The American commander,
General Andrew Jackson, had prepared his defenses well. He won a
great victory against the British in a battle that was not
necessary, because the treaty had ended the war.
VOICE TWO:
The other event was a convention of New England federalists at
Hartford, Connecticut. The meeting began in the middle of December
and lasted through the first few days of January. Most of the
representatives were from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut. There were a few from New Hampshire and Vermont. The
Federalists called the meeting to protest the war with Britain. Many
of them had opposed the war from the beginning. Federalist state
governments refused to put their soldiers under control of the
central government. And Federalist banks refused to lend to the
government in Washington.
During the early part of the war, many businessmen in the New
England states traded with the enemy. All these things had caused
people in other parts of the country to turn against the
Federalists. This, in turn, caused some Federalist extremists to
talk of taking the New England states out of the union.
VOICE ONE:
There was some fear that representatives to the Hartford
Convention would propose a separate and independent government for
New England. Such a proposal -- while the nation was at war with
Britain -- would seriously threaten America's future.
Not only were the representatives at Hartford to protest the war,
they also were there to plan a convention to change the United
States constitution. They wanted changes that would protect the
interests of the New England states. These states felt threatened
because new states were being created from the western territories.
These new states would weaken the power of New England. Some of the
more extreme Federalists, led by Timothy Pickering, believed Britain
would capture New Orleans. By doing so, Britain could control the
Mississippi River, which the western states needed to move their
products to market.
"If the British succeed against New Orleans," wrote Pickering,
"And I see no reason to question that they will be successful, then
I shall consider the union as cut in two. I do not expect to see a
single representative in the next Congress from the western states."
VOICE TWO:
Not all the representatives at the convention were as extreme as
Pickering. The majority of them were more moderate. They did not
want to split the union. They only wanted to protect the interests
of the New England states. These more moderate Federalists
controlled the secret meetings and prevented any extreme proposals.
They were able to do so because of the Republican strength in New
England. True, the Federalists controlled the governments of these
states, but only by small majorities. There would surely have been
violence had the Federalists tried to take these states out of the
union.
VOICE ONE:
The Federalist leaders made a public statement at Hartford,
January fifth. They sharply criticized the war and President
Madison. But they said there was no real reason to withdraw from the
central government. New England's problems, they said, resulted from
the war and from the Republican government in Washington. Then the
Federalists listed the changes they wanted in the constitution.
They wanted to reduce the congressional representation of the
southern states, where slavery was permitted. They wanted new states
added to the union only if two-thirds of Congress approved. They
wished to reduce the power of the central government to interfere
with trade. The Federalists wished to limit to four years the time
that a man could serve as president. And they wanted only men born
in the United States to serve in the government.
Three of the Federalists were chosen to take this list of
proposals to Washington and give it to President Madison. By the
time they arrived, Washington had received the news of the peace
treaty signed at Ghent. The war was over.
VOICE TWO:
The three Federalists met with
Madison. They made only small talk and said nothing about the
demands of the Hartford Convention. The Federalist Party found
itself greatly embarrassed by the peace. Its leaders had long
denounced the war and said Britain could not be defeated. Many of
them had traded with the enemy. Some had even worked with the
British against their own country. They had even threatened to break
up the union. While there was some question about how the war would
end, the Federalist Party had supporters. But once the war was over,
its supporters vanished. And the party itself soon disappeared, even
in New England.
VOICE ONE:
The Senate acted quickly to approve the treaty with Britain. On
February 17, 1815, President Madison declared the war officially
ended. It had lasted two years and eight months. The United States
had suffered 30,000 casualties -- killed, wounded, or captured. But
the war had united the American people. Albert Gallatin, Madison's
Treasury Secretary and one of the negotiators at Ghent, explained it
this way:
"The war has renewed and reinstated the national feelings and
character which the revolution had given and which were becoming
weaker. The people now have more general objects of attachment with
which their pride and political opinions are joined. They are more
American. They feel and act more like a nation."
VOICE TWO:
On the following Fourth of July, the nation celebrated its
thirty-nineth anniversary of independence. In Washington, the man
who wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner," Francis Scott Key, spoke at
the celebrations.
"My countrymen," he said, "We hold
something rich in trust for ourselves and all the rest of mankind.
It is the fire of liberty. If it is ever put out, our darkened land
will cast a sad shadow over the nations. If it lives, its blaze will
enlighten and gladden the whole earth."
VOICE ONE:
President Madison had been elected to his second term in 1812,
the year the war started. The next presidential election was in
1816. Madison continued the tradition, begun by Washington and
followed by Jefferson, of only serving eight years as president.
Republican members of the House and Senate met March 15 to choose
their presidential and vice presidential candidates. Three
Republicans wanted to be president: Secretary of State James Monroe,
former Senator and Secretary of War William Crawford, and New York
Governor Daniel Tompkins.
Monroe received 65 votes. Fifty-four of the lawmakers voted for
Crawford. With Monroe chosen as the presidential candidate, the
Republicans then chose Governor Tompkins as their vice presidential
candidate. The Federalists did not meet to choose a presidential
candidate. But electors from three of the New England states
promised to vote for a New York Federalist, Rufus King. Nineteen
states voted in the elections of 1816. That will be our story next
week.
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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 Jack
Moyles. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A
NATION can be heard Thursdays.