The sight inspired him, and he hastily scratched a poem, “The Star Spangled Banner” on the back of an envelope. The next morning he looked out across the water and saw the American flag still flying at the fort. Continued frustration over seizures, impressment, and the problems on the frontier led Madison to ask for a declaration of war against England in June 1812.Īrtist vision of the Battle for Fort McHenryĪ Washington lawyer named Francis Scott Key watched the siege from a boat in the harbor. Both countries continued to seize American ships and harass citizens. The Non-Intercourse Act proved just as ineffective as the embargo and in 1810 the government tried another plan, a measure called Macon’s Bill Number 2, which reopened trade with both warring countries but promised that if either dropped its restrictions, non-intercourse would resume with the other. Instead of an embargo, Congress created the Non-Intercourse Act, which reopened trade with all countries except France and England and gave the president the power to reopen trade with whichever one of these countries gave up its restrictions. Insisting on neutral rights and freedom of the seas, he continued Jefferson’s policy of “peaceable coercion” by a different but no better means. James Madison’s presidency had been entangled in foreign affairs from the beginning. Some Americans began to talk about attacking Canada to route the British, destroy the Indians, and open up new lands for Americans.
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