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23 August 2005
United States Once a Struggling Democracy, Vulnerable to Empires

By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File White House Correspondent

Washington -- The capital city of the United States today influences global affairs, but 191 years ago Washington was occupied by a foreign enemy, and national symbols such as the White House and the Capitol were put to the torch.

The incident, which occurred during the War of 1812, a conflict between the fledgling nation and the British Empire, might be one of the lowest points of American history. But the August 24, 1814, humiliation of having a U.S. president and the nation’s leadership flee the capital while its public buildings burned would serve as a backdrop to the writing of America’s national anthem, a celebration of the United States’ ability to prevail against the foremost military power of the time.

In light of the United States’ major role in world affairs since the mid-20th century, it is difficult for many, especially those in developing nations, to imagine a time when the United States itself was a new struggling democracy, threatened by the world powers of the day, and seeking to define its national identity. It also was engaged in the slow process of implementing its democratic form of government -- a process that began with the ratification of its constitution in 1789.

Many Americans know the words of the first verse to the “Star-Spangled Banner,” which is performed at the beginning of major public and sporting events, but the actions that led to its being written on September 14, 1814, including the humiliating destruction of their capital three weeks before, are less well known.

Anthony Pitch, who authored the book The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814, described the 1812-1814 military conflict between the United States and Great Britain as America’s “second war of independence” in an interview with the Washington File.

The war had its roots in Britain’s conflict with Napoleonic France, during which both European powers banned American trading ships from each other’s ports and Britain seized American sailors to fight against France in its navy. According to Pitch, 5,000 sailors, including 1,300 native-born Americans, were seized during a six-year period leading up to 1810.

In 1812, during the administration of President James Madison, the U.S. Congress declared war, despite the mismatch in military power: America had 20 warships compared to Britain’s 1,000-ship armada and battle-hardened troops.

It was a second war of independence for the Americans, Pitch says, because “not to have taken action would have meant that you’re prepared to see your sovereignty ignored and your independence shattered and your pride and your dignity in shreds. So they had to do something about it whether the odds were piled against them or not.”

THE BRITISH INVASION

In the summer of 1814, British ships moved into the Chesapeake Bay, approximately 50 miles from Washington. Washington then was “a tiny little forlorn village with 8,000 residents” including African-American slaves, with “absolutely no strategic value at all,” Pitch said.

Some U.S. leaders, most notably Secretary of War John Armstrong, did not believe the capital would be targeted by the invading force, but the British proved him wrong. Rear Admiral George Cockburn, second-in-command of British forces in North America, wrote to his superior, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane July 17, 1814, that the fall of a capital is “always so great a blow to the government of a country.”

The British army routed the American forces at Bladensburg, Maryland, on August 24, 1814, with Madison and members of his Cabinet looking on. The U.S. troops fled back into Washington, warning the city’s 8,000 residents and government officials that enemy forces would soon be entering the city. The president and other senior U.S. officials crossed the Potomac River into Virginia, and became refugees themselves.

WASHINGTON ABANDONED, LOOTED, BURNED

As Pitch describes in his book, panic ensued in Washington as nearly all its residents secured whatever horse, wagon and cart transport they could find and fled.

Approximately 800 were left in the city -- those who were “either slow moving, were not prepared to steal [horses], just couldn’t afford transportation, or had looked and could not find it,” Pitch said.

In the mayhem, the task of securing U.S. federal property and documents was left to clerks, often inexperienced, who were called upon to quickly decide what should be saved and transported out of the city, and what would be left and likely destroyed by the invaders.

“The State Department was very lucky,” Pitch said, because its senior clerk Stephen Pleasonton quickly bought durable linen to be fashioned into bags, into which priceless manuscripts like the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, international treaties, and some of President George Washington’s papers were placed and packed into carts and out of the city, preserving some of the nation’s most treasured documents.

When the British forces arrived, they offered Washington residents both safety and the protection of their private property so long as they did not take any hostile action against the occupation. But federal buildings suffered a radically different fate.

Rockets were fired through the roofs of the two wings of the U.S. Capitol, and all furniture, books, papers and other flammable materials were collected and set on fire. The flames that engulfed the buildings were visible to fleeing refugees miles away.

When British soldiers arrived at the White House, before setting the structure on fire, they found that the abandoned mansion’s elegant dining room was set for a meal. First lady Dolley Madison, who fled only moments before, had selflessly neglected her personal possessions to preserve state papers and a portrait of George Washington, which she had cut out of its frame and transported to safety in Virginia.

BIRTH OF A NATIONAL ANTHEM

Word of the destroyed capital and scattered government spread to Americans, Pitch says, a message that initially created “a sense of absolute desolation [and] melancholy.” The British occupation of the city lasted only 24 hours, but the flames continued to burn for days. Some Americans feared their independence would soon be lost as well.

But sadness and fear soon yielded to anger, Pitch said, an effect opposite to what the British expected. “[A]lmost immediately it galvanized everybody. They wanted payback.” When word came that Maryland’s largest city, Baltimore, was the next British target, approximately 15,000 people swarmed to its defense from nearby states and counties.

British forces quickly defeated the Americans at North Point, east of Baltimore, on September 12, but knew the city could not be taken until Fort McHenry, which defended its port, was subdued. The defense of the fort, Pitch says, “is what turned the tables” on what had been a successful British military campaign.

The defense of the fort against the world’s premier maritime force proved legendary. “Nobody fled. Nobody flinched. They held out for a day and a night while the British lobbed between 1,500 and 1,800 shells, each weighing over 200 pounds, on and around that fort,” Pitch said.

Francis Scott Key, a Washington lawyer who had come to Baltimore to negotiate the release of a civilian prisoner of war, witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry from a nearby truce ship.

As Pitch describes, Key “paced the deck of his ship in the darkness, hoping the explosions would continue because if there was silence, it might mean the fort had capitulated.” Just before dawn there was a lull and Key did not know whether this meant the fort had capitulated or the British had imposed a cease-fire. When the daylight broke, Key saw the American flag still flying over the fort and realized the defenders had prevailed.

Key took a letter out of his pocket and recorded his reaction. “Three days later the British withdrew and those words, which are now polished up, were set the tune of an old English drinking song and eventually became the official national anthem,” Pitch said.

EMERGENCE OF A NATIONAL IDENTITY

In order to fully appreciate the anthem, known as “The Star Spangled Banner,” Pitch says one must understand the context of the time in which it was written, particularly in the aftermath of the burning of Washington.

The destruction of the capital and the flight of U.S. leaders cannot be taken “as an isolated incident in American history,” Pitch said. “It is so tied in with what happened three weeks later. It explains why Fort McHenry held out, why it was so well defended, and what the result meant to the nation at large.

“In other words you see in three weeks the tables have turned from the lowest point in American history – the most humiliating moment, the capital captured and the public buildings burned, the president is forced to flee. You don’t get much lower than that. … And then, three weeks later, they hold out against the mightiest navy in the world, and the British had to withdraw,” he said.

The end of the war came with the 1815 Treaty of Ghent, signed two weeks before British forces were defeated at New Orleans. The former colonies retained their independence, and, despite incidents such as the burning of Washington, gained self-confidence and a more strongly defined national identity, Pitch says.

“The national character was polished up, and the disparate elements in this country realized they had a lot in common because they’d come through this two-and-a half-year war with the leading power of the day with flying colors, and that’s the lasting legacy. It helped forge a good feeling about being American,” he said.

The war’s most visible legacy is the “Star Spangled Banner,” and as Pitch says, “If you don’t know what happened in Washington, you cannot appreciate the full meaning of the national anthem.”

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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