The Embargo Act of President Jefferson and similar measures solved none of the difficulties they were intended to solve. The South suffered much hardship, tobacco and wheat shrinking to one-half their former value.
Then came the _Little Belt_ affair, when, in May, 1811, the United States frigate _President_ encountered the British sloop _Little Belt_, and, after a hot chase of several hours practically annihilated her. Never was news more welcome to American ears, and the _Chesapeake_ affair had been revenged. But the incident did not help to improve the situation. Lastly it was generally believed that England instigated the Indian attacks which led to the battle of Tippecanoe, where the Americans, under General William Henry Harrison, gained a complete victory, to which our readers' attention will be directed later.
All these causes would, perhaps, have been ineffective but for the revolution in the following year which took place in the American Republican party--the controlling party since 1801. Henry Clay of Kentucky, and John S. Calhoun of South Carolina, advocated war; others followed and President Madison joined them. They hoped to compel Europe to respect the American flag; they had confidence in the young Republic; they dreamed, perhaps, of an alliance with France, of an annexation of Canada. After long and stormy debates war was declared June 18th, the invasion of Canada had already begun!
The War of 1812 officially commenced on June 18th. Great Britain, indeed, had extended a reconciliatory hand but it was too late. The army of the United States numbered at that time 6744 regulars. Congress had authorised its increase to 25,000, and provided, at least by law, for a second volunteer army of 50,000 men. The militia of several States was likewise called on to co-operate with the regulars and the volunteers. But the result was very unsatisfactory. The regular army during the war never reached 10,000; the volunteers appeared only in small numbers, and the militia offered to serve only for short terms and preferably in their own States. The Treasury, with its "sinews of war" was in a precarious condition. The Union had to resort to loans to which the capitalists did not respond with alacrity. On the other hand the British troops in Canada numbered barely seven thousand men; their line of defence was one thousand miles long. England was contending in Europe with her great enemy, Napoleon. The English Navy was, however, the undisputed mistress of all the seas; the British North Atlantic Squadron counted three battleships, twenty cruisers, and fifty smaller ships.