Bicentennial of a Muddle

[Valin]

The Corner

Fred Schwarz

June 1, 2012

 

 

Two hundred years ago today, President James Madison sent Congress a request for a declaration of war. Seventeen days later, after it had passed both houses by narrowish margins (79 to 49 in the House, 19 to 13 in the Senate), Madison signed the declaration. Thus began the conflict that we call the War of 1812 and our opponents in that war, the British, don’t call anything, because they had bigger frogs to fry at the time.

 

The war dragged on for two and a half years, and when the smoke had cleared on land and sea, it wasn’t a clear-cut victory or defeat for either side. While I’m hardly the NR staff’s biggest expert on this period, I’ll try to run quickly through a few ways that the war’s effects can be seen today:

 

(Snip)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Hh8W69cos

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8ehVBhFCQ

 

Complete Series Here