Jefferson, Madison, Gallatin and the Resourcing of the War of 1812

Abstract

Even with the American victory in the Revolution, the future of the country was by no means assured. As the Hamiltonian Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans jousted for power, the frontier remained in a state of continuous warfare, and the financial system was still at somewhat of an experimental stage. Fortunately, the United States, due as much to luck and geography as any other factor, managed to avoid the entanglements of the French Revolution and the military conflict that followed for nearly 20 years. However, by 1814, British troops were once again laying waste to the American countryside and its capital city, only this time, no foreign political, military, or financial support emerged. The failure to prepare the country for this contingency nearly cost the United States its newly won independence.