![]() began the war on the offensive and ended it on the defensive. It was potentially ruinous because Great Britain could blockade American ports and attack vulnerable east coast cities and towns – which indeed happened as the war progressed. It was dishonorable because the Madison administration was intent on attacking America’s peaceful neighbor to the north, British Canada, and perhaps annexing it. It was unnecessary because the British had not attacked the United States and because compromise was still possible. According to the historian Charles DeBenedetti, “Domestic opposition to the War of 1812 was as vehement and widespread as any in American history.” The dissenters argued that the war was unnecessary, dishonorable, and ruinous to the nation. Nor did one-fourth of Democratic Republicans in the House of Representatives, who either abstained or voted against the war. Not one of the 42 Federalists members of Congress voted to authorize the war in June 1812. In fact, American citizens were sorely divided over this war. Watson in America ’s First Crisis: The War of 1812 (2014), “a nation emerged on the world stage stronger, more confident, and more united.” “As a result of the war,” writes Robert P. Scholarly accounts, of course, offer a more complex analysis of the issues, but many American accounts nonetheless elevate the claims of the White House over other views and secure those claims in the annals of history. Madison’s partisan account has been carried forward into popular American history, overriding the views of the opposition party (Federalists), antiwar dissidents, and other governments. It has been waged with a success which is the natural result of the wisdom of the legislative councils, of the patriotism of the people, of the public spirit of the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval forces of the country.” The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had become a necessary resort to assert the rights and independence of the nation. President James Madison fashioned the message just after the peace treaty was signed, telling the world that the war had been “necessary,” its conduct had been a “success,” and the American people had supported it: This is the party that agitated for war, pursued it through the Madison administration, and promoted a “mission accomplished” history of it in its aftermath. It is said that the victors write history, but in this case, it was the victorious political party, the Democratic Republicans, that wrote this heroic account of the war.
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