War!
For independence, for territory, for democracy. A close look at eight major conflicts shows how American presidents waged the battles that shaped the nation
WAR OF 1812
Why: Britain, then at war with France, was seizing U.S. merchant ships off France. Moreover, many western Americans believed that the British in Canada were inciting Indian attacks on pioneers. Congress declared war on June 18, 1812.
Number of soldiers: 286,730. The United States fought the war using regulars, militias, even bayou pirates.
Casualties: 6,765
Cost of war: $90 million, $2.2 billion in 2002 currency
Sacrifices asked for by President James Madison: None specific, but the sea-trading New England states'economies were savaged by commercial losses.
Wartime song: Francis Scott Key penned "The Star-Spangled Banner" after he witnessed Baltimore's Fort McHenry withstanding a British shelling.
Public mood: Mixed. Was least popular in Federalist New England.
Antiwar movement: Some Federalists convened a convention to debate a constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult to declare war.
Strange but significant: America's huge victory at the Battle of New Orleans occurred two weeks after the Treaty of Ghent ended the war on Dec. 24, 1814. News traveled slow back then.
How it ended: Essentially a draw. No territorial gains for either side.
Lesson for today's war makers: Don't initiate a war if you don't have enough ships to win it. - Thomas K. Grose
MEXICAN WAR
Why: To defend the United States' annexation of Texas and establish the Rio Grande as its border. President James Polk also saw the war, which began on May 13, 1846, as a chance to acquire the Mexican territories of California and New Mexico.
Number of soldiers: 78,718
Casualties: 17,435, but many died of diseases like malaria, cholera, and dysentery rather than in combat
Cost of war: $70 million, $1.1 billion in 2002 money
Wartime song:The first two verses of the popular "Marines' Hymn" (From the Halls of Montezuma) are thought to have been penned at the end of the war.
Public mood:The notion of Manifest Destiny--Americans had a God-given right to expand their territory--was popular, and most citizens supported Polk's goals.
Antiwar movement: Abolitionists opposed what they saw as an attempt to add more slave territory to the nation. The war also prompted poet-philosopher Henry David Thoreau to write "Civil Disobedience."
Strange but significant: In the final campaign to capture Mexico City, Gen. Winfield Scott brought more than 8,600 men ashore at Vera Cruz in the first ever large-scale amphibious landing. Following a brief siege, the city surrendered.
How it ended: Once their capital fell, the Mexicans surrendered. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on Feb. 2, 1848, established the Rio Grande border and ceded 1.2 million square miles to the United States, expanding the territory of the United States by a third, including the states of California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming.
Lesson for today's war makers: The law of unintended consequences: Polk got the land, but the war fueled the conflict over slavery, fracturing the Democratic Party and leading to the Civil War. - Michelle Andrews
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