The War of 1812 was a U.S. war of expansion against the British and their indigenous allies. It was the first declared war in US history (besides the Revolutionary War). The Federalist Party, which was dominant in New England, opposed the war and tried to secede from the USA, and thousands of slaves fled to British Canada. In response to Zebulon Pike's forces burning York (now Toronto), the British conquered and burned down Washington, D.C.. The USA also invaded Spanish-occupied Florida to fight against the Muskogee Confederacy.[1]
Background
In 1807, Tecumseh began uniting various indigenous nations against settler colonialism. In 1809, William Henry Harrison bribed representatives Delaware, Miami, and Potawatomi nations to cede their land, and Tecumseh condemned their treaty. In 1810, he moved south to form an alliance with the Muskogees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. After being defeated at the Prophet's Town in 1811, indigenous forces went to the Fort Malden in British Canada to get supplies and made an alliance with the British, whom they had previously distrusted.[2]
Aftermath
After the war, the British withdrew to Canada and left indigenous peoples vulnerable to U.S. expansion.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Vine (2020). The United States of War: 'Invading Your Neighbors' (pp. 121–7). Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520972070 [LG]
- ↑ Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014). An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: 'The Birth of a Nation' (pp. 84–7). ReVisioning American History. [PDF] Boston: Beacon Press Books.