war+of+1812+-+AG

William Harrison thought that Tecumseh was hurting the Americans by doing so, and wanted to make an agreement with Tecumseh. William wanted Tecumseh to give up his land, but Tecumseh did not want to sign the agreement, and he left. Soon after, Tecumseh left his village to find more followers. William heard about this, and he made a secret plan. William's plan was to attack the village, but soon the plan was no longer a secret. The people who lived in the village found out, and they decided to attack William's camp before he could do anything. This started the Battle of Tippecanoe. William and his army quickly destroyed Tecumseh's village, which was very bad thing for Tecumseh. Not only did he lose his home, but he also lost the support he needed to make his dream come true. The British were still helping the Indians, and trying to make the US do what they wanted them to, but the US didn't like this. They wanted to stop it. Some people believed that going to war with Britain would stop them, and those people were called War Hawks. There were some other people who wanted to be friends with Britain. They thought that War Hawks were completely wrong. These people were called Federalists. The Federalists and War Hawks were always fighting over who was right, and who was wrong. President James Madison talked to Congress about everything that had just happened. Congress voted that we go to war because the impressment was a against the fact that the US didn't pick sides, plus the US still had the trade war and the War Hawks continued to pressure them. The decision made the War Hawks very happy. This started the War of 1812. At the start of the war, the British had hundreds of ships all over the world. The US didn't even have 20 ships! Everyone in the US knew that if they fought, they would lose. The US did have one thing that Britain didn't, and that was privateers. Privateers were ships owned by people in the US, which the US let go to sea and attack British merchant ships. Privateers were cheaper for the US, and captured hundreds of of British ships. Either way, even with less people, the US navy was still trained very well. US ships could sometimes beat British ships in one-on-one battles. British ships got in groups around America, and the US Navy could not take on these groups. Since Americans couldn't sail anywhere, they thought that sending three armies into Canada to fight would be a quick, easy way to end the war. Americans also thought Canadians would rather have US troops in Canada than fight for Britain, but they were wrong about both of those things. Thomas Jefferson thought that Canada would be easy to beat, as simple as marching there, but the US was not ready for war. Nobody noticed this though, until it was too late. Americans saw how they weren't ready after they failed in Canada. Later, in July, the British joined with Tecumseh and his Indians again to fight the US. They captured one of the American armies that were in Canada. The other two armies left quickly, since the soldiers from the states wouldn't go to Canada and help fight. The US burned the British capital in Canada, and in response, the British burned down the White House. The White House was an important symbol in the US, and when it was burned down, everyone was set back. As the British were marching to Washington D.C., Dolley Madison stayed in the White House as everyone else left the town. She wanted to save a famous portrait of George Washington. The British sailed towards Baltimore, Maryland, which was guarded by Fort McHenry. The British and the US bombed eachother for what seemed like forever. In the bay, there were British warships that were docked, and Francis Scott Key had just borded one that month. When Key saw the American flag when the smoke cleared, he was so happy that he wrote down everything that he saw into a poem, which became the Star Spangled Banner.

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