I: The Conclusion of the War
America was to face its greatest trial in the year of 1814, two years into the conflagration that had engulfed North America. The triple disasters of Washington, Baltimore and Plattsburgh had taken their toll on the ailing president Madison and on the night of October 3rd, 1814, he passed after a brief bout of ague (no doubt caused by the stress of leadership in combination with the hurried flight to Philadelphia). Madison’s Vice President, Elbridge Gerry, would take the reins of leadership for a mere five weeks before succumbing to illness. Gerry’s sole major act as president was to bring together the scattered Congress and organize a bill which would move the capital of the United States from the ruins of Washington to a more established city, Philadelphia. The bill was passed by a healthy margin even with southern antipathy towards moving north of the Mason-Dixon line, but what he is most remembered for is not the moving of the capital… but his death
Gerry’s passing left America truly rudderless. With his death, the position of chief executive should have fallen to the president pro tempore of the Senate, a position vacant at the time of his death. Given the position was vacant, the next in line of succession was the speaker of the House of Representatives, Langdon Cheves of South Carolina. And here is where the crisis begins. As the news of Gerry’s death filtered through the streets of Philadelphia, Cheves prepared to take office as chief executive, unbeknownst to him is that the senate was hastily coming together in order to elect a president pro tempore which will then supersede his position (which was fairly tenuous, as he really only got the job because the old speaker was away in Europe negotiating the end of the war). Everything was doubly difficult because of the lack of proper offices and accommodations for the government officials, and as a result the whole affair was riddled with rumours and half-truths.
The impromptu capital of the United States was quickly becoming a hotbed of political intrigue. Throughout November and early December, the senate managed to reach a compromise candidate in William Giles of Virginia in a bid to supersede Cheves. And so, for the remainder of 1814 and the first month of 1815 America had two disputed acting presidents. Only written correspondence by Henry Clay urging western senators to drop support for the senate candidate.
The political peace brought about by Clay was short-lived as shortly thereafter a Federalist delegation then arrived in the city with a list of demands for the federal government from a recent convention in Hartford. The end of the 3/5 compromise, the end of Virginia establishment and the establishment of single term presidents were all high on the Federalist priority list. More importantly though, they demanded an end to the war.
Federalist prayers would be answered in late February when the Treaty of Ghent arrived. The war would end, but not as Americans had hoped. Some 200,000 square miles would be ceded to Great Britain including much of the district of Maine, a strip of New York state adjacent to the St. Lawrence, and the territory north of the Maumee and Kankakee Rivers to a point further west on the Upper Mississippi River. America would be barred from building warships upon the Great Lakes, the border within the lakes would be set 7 miles from the American shoreline and Lake Erie islands would find themselves as British territory, America would receive no compensation for the slaves freed during the Chesapeake campaigns and would lose access to fisheries in British North American waters. The impressment of sailors was not addressed and the issue of trade had been solved before the war had even began.
As loathe as America was to ratify it, few felt they had any choice in the matter. American forces from Kentucky had be repulsed outside Fort Meigs the previous summer, Britain occupied both sides of the Niagara peninsula and threatened Albany from its position on Lake Champlain. Lake Ontario was had been lost and the American position on Lake Champlain was tenuous. At sea the British blockade was choking American trade and bringing the government perilously close to insolvency. In the field, American armies were losing more men to disease and desertion than could hope to be recruited. After only two days of debate, and with the specter of an 1815 campaign in the back of Congress’ mind, the treaty was ratified and the war drew to an ignominious end.
The west would blame the Federalists for their unwillingness to prosecute the war to its fullest, and the Federalists would blame the Democratic-Republicans for being dragged as an unwilling participant into the ruinous conflict. In Philadelphia, the demands from Hartford were being met with indignation and cries of treason from southern politicians when it was discovered that the governor of Massachusetts had been secretly in contact with the enemy and sought a separate peace. It was under this backdrop that the election of 1815 was taking place.
Gerry’s passing left America truly rudderless. With his death, the position of chief executive should have fallen to the president pro tempore of the Senate, a position vacant at the time of his death. Given the position was vacant, the next in line of succession was the speaker of the House of Representatives, Langdon Cheves of South Carolina. And here is where the crisis begins. As the news of Gerry’s death filtered through the streets of Philadelphia, Cheves prepared to take office as chief executive, unbeknownst to him is that the senate was hastily coming together in order to elect a president pro tempore which will then supersede his position (which was fairly tenuous, as he really only got the job because the old speaker was away in Europe negotiating the end of the war). Everything was doubly difficult because of the lack of proper offices and accommodations for the government officials, and as a result the whole affair was riddled with rumours and half-truths.
The impromptu capital of the United States was quickly becoming a hotbed of political intrigue. Throughout November and early December, the senate managed to reach a compromise candidate in William Giles of Virginia in a bid to supersede Cheves. And so, for the remainder of 1814 and the first month of 1815 America had two disputed acting presidents. Only written correspondence by Henry Clay urging western senators to drop support for the senate candidate.
The political peace brought about by Clay was short-lived as shortly thereafter a Federalist delegation then arrived in the city with a list of demands for the federal government from a recent convention in Hartford. The end of the 3/5 compromise, the end of Virginia establishment and the establishment of single term presidents were all high on the Federalist priority list. More importantly though, they demanded an end to the war.
Federalist prayers would be answered in late February when the Treaty of Ghent arrived. The war would end, but not as Americans had hoped. Some 200,000 square miles would be ceded to Great Britain including much of the district of Maine, a strip of New York state adjacent to the St. Lawrence, and the territory north of the Maumee and Kankakee Rivers to a point further west on the Upper Mississippi River. America would be barred from building warships upon the Great Lakes, the border within the lakes would be set 7 miles from the American shoreline and Lake Erie islands would find themselves as British territory, America would receive no compensation for the slaves freed during the Chesapeake campaigns and would lose access to fisheries in British North American waters. The impressment of sailors was not addressed and the issue of trade had been solved before the war had even began.
As loathe as America was to ratify it, few felt they had any choice in the matter. American forces from Kentucky had be repulsed outside Fort Meigs the previous summer, Britain occupied both sides of the Niagara peninsula and threatened Albany from its position on Lake Champlain. Lake Ontario was had been lost and the American position on Lake Champlain was tenuous. At sea the British blockade was choking American trade and bringing the government perilously close to insolvency. In the field, American armies were losing more men to disease and desertion than could hope to be recruited. After only two days of debate, and with the specter of an 1815 campaign in the back of Congress’ mind, the treaty was ratified and the war drew to an ignominious end.
The west would blame the Federalists for their unwillingness to prosecute the war to its fullest, and the Federalists would blame the Democratic-Republicans for being dragged as an unwilling participant into the ruinous conflict. In Philadelphia, the demands from Hartford were being met with indignation and cries of treason from southern politicians when it was discovered that the governor of Massachusetts had been secretly in contact with the enemy and sought a separate peace. It was under this backdrop that the election of 1815 was taking place.
