The Muse has noted that the "common man" of the western territories in 1812 was largely responsible for pressing James Madison to include Canada in the declaration of war. Not everyone agrees with this statement, which has been de rigour for a long time, and indeed, it may be outdated with more recent, modern research. But it's still an interesting topic, for consider this: how could the United States consider taking on the mightiest sea-power in the world with 13 warships? Granted, there was, up front, reliance on privateers (very successfully, too) but if England hadn't already been at war with Napoleon for quite a while, all her land and most of her naval forces occupied in and around Spain, we'd have been mincemeat.
Perhaps the more educated, politically astute elite (who were no longer in power) understood this, and perhaps that's why many of them wanted nothing to do with the war, lest England decide to really "have at it".
But the Muse rather enjoys the image of the toddler taking on his father in a wrestling match, never doubting he can win it.
Now let's move on to Canada, which the "war-hawks" seemed to think would welcome annextion. Apparently after 15 or 20 years, they forgot that 1/3 of Colonial America opposed the Revolution, and left the country. Where did these tories go? Well, not all of them went to England, by a long shot. They went north, to Nova Scotia and Ontario, and were not at all thrilled with the idea of annexation. The common man again at work, it would appear. And these "common men" were landowners and farmers -- not the proletariat that was just then starting to form in the cities, or the "mechanics", by which is meant trades-people and mill workers -- not candidates for the franchise, in Jefferson's mind.
Is the Muse opposed too the Common Man? It sounds like it -- but wait! It was assumed the Common Man would be educated, well versed in civics, being able to read the newspapers and those little tracts that people then were so fond of printing and distributing. It was assumed the Common Man would be capable of reaching well-reasoned positions.
This may have been a little too lofty, Mr. Jefferson.
The Muse fears it still is.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
How Jefferson started the War of 1812
Well, of course, the embargo of 1807 was Jefferson's idea. He thought that the United States could bring enough economic pressure to bear that England would stop the impressment of American sailors thought to be British, and coincidently to discourage the French from harrassing American shipping in pursuit of their war with England (because, I guess, they thought we'd be carrying stuff to England that would strengthen their war effort against the French.) If you can make sense of that statement, you know your history, probably better than does the Muse!
In any case, the Embargo ruined American commerce, and Jefferson ended it just before leaving office, disappointed in the results. Picking up the pieces, the merchant marine once again sailed forth, trying to glean what it could before war actually began (everyone knew it would). What is the connection between Jefferson, Hamilton, and the War?
Well, as I see it, Jefferson thought the franchise should be extended to any man who owned land, because if he owned land he'd no doubt be farming it, and farmers are a pretty good bunch, down-to-earth (literally) and responsible, accustomed to assessing reality and drawing sound conclusions about it. He won, Hamilton lost, and the Federalist position, that would vest leadership in the hands of educated people who knew how to make money, thus keeping a stable and robust economy foremost in mind -- that was no longer the prevailing political sentiment. Certainly promoting a strong economy was good, and no doubt very important to the future of the new nation. But it didn't take into consideration the constitution, which Jefferson had helped to write, about a nation FOR the people and BY the people.
Jefferson's victory meant that citizens of the new territories, quickly settling beyond the mountains, had the vote rather soon. In the years preceeding the war of 1812, eight of them under Jefferson, the new westerners gained quite a lot of power, enough to suggest to James Madison, the next president, that if he'd like to be re-elected in 1812, he'd not only declare war on England over the impressment issue, but he'd announce the goal of annexing Canada in the process.
We can talk about this little party in a later blog, but the point I'd like to make is that the electorate of common men, so favored by both Jefferson and Madison, pushed the United States into a war of much larger dimension than was originally intended. The body politic was already splintered to the point that New England would have seceeded, once the British brought their ships of the line to bear, in order to avoid total destruction (these ships being liberated in the spring of 1814, the subject of another blog). Had they done so, our country wouldn't look as it does today -- (not that many New Englanders would care, at this point!) Not that the Muse thinks New England would have would have become an English commonwealth, but they most likely wouldn't have been part of the United States, either, whose government had brought so much ruin on them. And might yet.
We'll work on these other aspects another day -- why the westerners wanted war with Canada, how it was that Britain could have descimated us, once the Napoleonic Wars were over, why anyone would have thought Canada would have wanted to be annexed, why the American people thought their 12-13 ship navy could defeat the mightiest sea-power in the world...
The common man, sometimes, isn't really down to earth at all.
In any case, the Embargo ruined American commerce, and Jefferson ended it just before leaving office, disappointed in the results. Picking up the pieces, the merchant marine once again sailed forth, trying to glean what it could before war actually began (everyone knew it would). What is the connection between Jefferson, Hamilton, and the War?
Well, as I see it, Jefferson thought the franchise should be extended to any man who owned land, because if he owned land he'd no doubt be farming it, and farmers are a pretty good bunch, down-to-earth (literally) and responsible, accustomed to assessing reality and drawing sound conclusions about it. He won, Hamilton lost, and the Federalist position, that would vest leadership in the hands of educated people who knew how to make money, thus keeping a stable and robust economy foremost in mind -- that was no longer the prevailing political sentiment. Certainly promoting a strong economy was good, and no doubt very important to the future of the new nation. But it didn't take into consideration the constitution, which Jefferson had helped to write, about a nation FOR the people and BY the people.
Jefferson's victory meant that citizens of the new territories, quickly settling beyond the mountains, had the vote rather soon. In the years preceeding the war of 1812, eight of them under Jefferson, the new westerners gained quite a lot of power, enough to suggest to James Madison, the next president, that if he'd like to be re-elected in 1812, he'd not only declare war on England over the impressment issue, but he'd announce the goal of annexing Canada in the process.
We can talk about this little party in a later blog, but the point I'd like to make is that the electorate of common men, so favored by both Jefferson and Madison, pushed the United States into a war of much larger dimension than was originally intended. The body politic was already splintered to the point that New England would have seceeded, once the British brought their ships of the line to bear, in order to avoid total destruction (these ships being liberated in the spring of 1814, the subject of another blog). Had they done so, our country wouldn't look as it does today -- (not that many New Englanders would care, at this point!) Not that the Muse thinks New England would have would have become an English commonwealth, but they most likely wouldn't have been part of the United States, either, whose government had brought so much ruin on them. And might yet.
We'll work on these other aspects another day -- why the westerners wanted war with Canada, how it was that Britain could have descimated us, once the Napoleonic Wars were over, why anyone would have thought Canada would have wanted to be annexed, why the American people thought their 12-13 ship navy could defeat the mightiest sea-power in the world...
The common man, sometimes, isn't really down to earth at all.
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