breastworks below the city. On January 8, 1815, the British tried to storm these works, but the withering fire from the long rifles of the western frontiersmen mowed them down like grass. General Pakenham, the British commander, was killed, and nearly two thousand of his men lay dead or wounded in front of the American lines. Jackson's loss in this assault was only thirteen men. The battle of New Orleans ended the fighting in the War of 1812 and made Andrew Jackson its greatest hero. The attempts of the British to invade the United States in 1814 were no more successful than the efforts of the Ameri

Our sense

cans to overrun Canada had been in 1812 and 1813.

The Results of the War of 1812.-After the return of peace in Europe in the spring of 1814 neither Great Britain nor the United States had any good reason for prolonging the war between them. Negotiations for

peace began in the summer of that year, but as neither side was willing to yield all that the other

wanted, it was not until December 24, 1814, that a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent in Belgium. There was not a word in this treaty about the issues which caused the war. Each nation was left just as it was in 1812. At first thought it seemed that the thirty thousand lives and the two hundred million dollars which the War of 1812 cost the American people had been thrown away.

But as a matter of fact the War of 1812 had a very great effect upon our people. It taught them to think and feel and act like a nation. It showed them, through a bitter experience, of nationality that a nation ought to provide for its own defense. Never since 1812 has the United States been so unprepared to maintain the rights of its citizens as it was then. The skill and the valor of our navy in this war won respect abroad and gave our coun

stimulated

try a better standing than ever before among the nations of the world. Henceforth our sailors and our commerce enjoyed the freedom of the sea.

The War of 1812 had a far-reaching influence upon the politics and the industries of our country. The Federalists

of New England opposed the war, and this attitude made their Political and party so unpopular that it ceased to exist after the election of industrial 1816. The Republican party turned from timid leaders like results Jefferson and Madison and began to follow bold and aggressive men like Clay and Calhoun. As the embargo, the non-inter

course law, and the war cut off the supply of European goods, our people began to make more things for themselves. In this way the war wonderfully stimulated American manufacturing. When the charter of Hamilton's bank expired in 1811 the Republicans refused to recharter it. But five years' experience

with the poor paper money of state banks brought them to establish a second United States Bank in 1816. Finally, the sad lack of good roads during the war led to a great demand for turnpikes and canals.

The War of 1812 marks the end of an era in our national life. For twenty-five years the French Revolution and the

great Napoleonic wars which grew out of it had colored all our The end of history. Our thoughts and our interests were largely deter- an era mined by events across the sea. But after 1815 we turned our backs upon Europe and faced westward. The next generations were chiefly concerned with the problems of their own government and with the development of the marvelous resources of their own country.

The Settlement of Our Boundaries.-The War of 1812 left us with some questions yet to be settled with our neighbors, Boundary England and Spain. The northern and western boundaries agreements of the Louisiana purchase had never been definitely determined. with England In 1818 we agreed with England that the northern boundary of the United States from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains should be fixed at forty-nine degrees north latitude. But we also claimed that the country beyond the Rocky

Florida acquired

An Interview between General Jackson and Weatherford, a Chief of the Creek Indians

Mountains which Lewis and Clark had explored belonged to us. England disputed this claim and said that the Oregon country was her territory. By the Oregon country both nations meant the present states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and the Canadian province of British Columbia. By the treaty of 1818 England and the United States agreed to the joint occupation of Oregon. Joint occupation meant that for the present this rich region on the Pacific Coast should be free and open to traders and settlers from both nations.

For some time our people had been coming to believe that the Gulf of Mexico was their natural boundary on the

south. We gained our first foothold on the Gulf coast when we bought Louisiana. We claimed that Louisiana extended eastward along the coast as far as the Perdido River. With good reason Spain denied this claim, but between 1810 and 1813 the United States occupied West Florida by force and thus came into possession of the fine harbor of Mobile. The present state of Florida still belonged to Spain, but after the War of 1812 the people of our southern states complained loudly that its swamps were a refuge for pirates, robbers, runaway slaves and hostile Indians. Early in 1818 General Jackson pursued an Indian war party into Florida, captured the Spanish fort at Pensacola, and put to death two British subjects whom he accused of inciting the Indians to murder the settlers across the border. Spain was now given to understand that she must protect our citizens against marauders from Florida or cede that province to the United States. As she could not do the former she sold Florida to the United States in 1819 for five million dollars.

defined

The western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase had been in dispute ever since 1803. We claimed that Louisiana included the vast territory of Texas, but this Spain would never admit. Our Mexican In the treaty by which we acquired Florida in 1819 we gave up boundary our claim to Texas and agreed to a western boundary which ran in an irregular line from the mouth of the Sabine River to forty-two degrees north latitude and thence along that parallel to the Pacific. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821 this boundary line became our Mexican border.

The Monroe Doctrine.-Spain had possessed a vast empire in America ever since the sixteenth century. The Spanish colonial rule was grasping and tyrannical, and the people Fall of the of Latin America were oppressed by heavy taxes and restric- Spanish Empire in tions on their trade. During the Napoleonic wars in Europe America the Spanish colonies on the mainland of America, following the example of the English colonies in 1775, rebelled against their mother country. San Martin and Simon Bolivar were the heroes of this struggle for freedom. By 1820 Mexico and the Spanish countries in South America had virtually won their independence though Spain still refused to acknowledge it.

Shortly after the final downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo The Holy in 1815, the rulers of Prussia, Russia, and Austria signed an Alliance

agreement to help each other to govern their respective peoples in accordance with "the precepts of justice, charity, and peace." Nearly all the countries on the continent of Europe came into this union, which was called the Holy Alliance. The real purpose of the Holy Alliance was to prevent the growth of democratic ideas and to crush every attempt of the peoples of Europe to win the right to govern themselves. When Spain rose in rebellion against an oppressive king in 1820 the Holy Alliance suppressed the revolt and restored the tyrant to his throne. Spain now appealed to the Holy Alliance to help her get back her colonies in the New World.

The Holy Alliance was disposed to grant this request, but England and the United States were strongly opposed to such Our interests action. England was developing a rich commerce with the threatened Latin American countries and she did not want to see this trade go back to Spain. The United States shared in this growing trade, and our people warmly sympathized with the young republics to the south. Morever, we feared that if Europe began to interfere with the affairs of America, there was no telling where such interference would stop. Russia already threatened the Pacific Coast. There were rumors that she meant to get California and that other European nations might seize territory in America.

England suggested that we join her in telling the Holy Alliance to keep its hands off the new Latin American states. The Monroe But President Monroe and his secretary of state, John Quincy Doctrine Adams, preferred to act alone. In his message of December 2, 1823, Monroe declared that the American continents were no longer open to colonization by European powers. This was a notice to Russia to keep away from our Pacific Coast. It was heeded by that country, which soon agreed not to settle south of fifty-four degrees forty minutes, the southern limit of Alaska. With the Holy Alliance in mind, Monroe further declared that any attempt by European powers to oppose or to control the destiny of the Latin American states would be considered an unfriendly act by the United States. Europe was warned that it must not try to extend its political system to any part of North or South America. The warning was effectual, and the Holy Alliance made no effort to recover for Spain her former colonies in America.