This document provides an overview of key events during the presidency of James Madison, including: - Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader, formed a Native American confederacy in 1811 to resist American settlement in the Northwest Territory but was defeated by William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe. - Settlers began raiding towns in Canada in response to British interference with American expansion, effectively starting the War of 1812 between the US and Britain. - During the War of 1812, British forces burned Washington D.C. in 1814 but were later repelled from Baltimore after the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. - The decisive American victory at

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 5: James Madison

2. MADISON’S
MAJOR ISSUES
Victory in the War of 1812

3. TECUMSEH
• Shawnee tribal leader who
resisted American settlement
efforts in present-day Indiana
and other areas of the
Northwest Territory.
• Organized a rebellion against
the territorial governments,
including that of William Henry
Harrison, the Governor of
Indiana and, later, the President
of the United States.
• Rebellion became war when
Britain provided Tecumseh’s
forces with military support,
motivated by concerns over
American territorial expansion.

4. TECUMSEH’S CONFEDERACY (1811)
Tecumseh formed a loose confederation of
Native American tribes on much of the
territory acquired via the Louisiana Purchase.
The British promised
to officially recognize
the sovereignty of
the confederacy if
Tecumseh could
further resist the
settlement efforts of
the United States.
Tecumseh was
essentially defeated
when the Americans,
under Harrison’s
leadership, launched
a pre-emptive strike
against him at the
Battle of Tippecanoe.

5. THE NORTHWEST
ORDINANCE (1787)
In 1787, before George Washington
became President, one of the first
acts of the Congress of the
Confederation was to annex a swathe
of territory northwest of the Ohio
River. This territory makes up present-
day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota.

6. THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: THE WAR OF 1812 (1812-1816)
In response to the
British efforts to
hinder American
settlement of the
Northwest Territory,
settlers began
raiding towns and
villages in Canada.
In effect, these raids
put the United States
at war with Great
Britain again. Great
Britain remained the
world’s strongest
naval empire, a
formidable enemy for
the infant republic.

7. THE BURNING OF
WASHINGTON, DC
In 1814, the war was not going well
for the United States. British naval
forces sailed into Chesapeake Bay
to reach Washington, DC, where
they set fire to many buildings
including the White House. To this
day, Great Britain remains the only
foreign power to have invaded and
occupied part of the United States.

8. THE BATTLE OF
BALTIMORE
Less than a month after the burning of
Washington, DC, the British attacked
Fort McHenry in Baltimore. The
Americans managed to repel the
attack, after which a tattered American
flag inspired the poet Francis Scott
Key to write what became the national
anthem, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’

9. THE STAR-
SPANGLED BANNER
O say, can you see
by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed
at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare,
the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled
banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave?

10. THE BATTLE OF
NEW ORLEANS
• The decisive battle of the War
of 1812 was the Battle of New
Orleans, fought in 1815.
• The British had planned to
attack and conquer New
Orleans, and then sail up the
Mississippi River to sever the
western United States from the
eastern United States.
• A decisive American victory
forced the British to withdraw
all military forces from the
Louisiana Territory.

11. THE BATTLE OF
NEW ORLEANS
• The American forces were led
by Major General Andrew
Jackson. His victory at New
Orleans brought him enough
fame to allow him to be elected
President in 1828.
• Jackson’s victory also
increased American military
prestige internationally. The
United States Navy had
defeated the most powerful
naval force in the world. The
victory sent out the message
that the United States could
successfully defend its territory.

12. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 2: Westward Expansion and Civil War
Part 5: James Madison