Worksheet

Lake Erie, 1813: Sourcing Madison's Case for War

Grade 8 early republic: Washington's Cabinet, the Bank fight, the first parties and the War of 1812 on Lake Erie, with Madison's adapted war message.

Grade 8Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toHIS.8.2

Play online Play as a game

PrintLetter-size worksheet Answer keyPrintable answers

Assign to classAssign to your classes, or get a join code

What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 C3 Framework standard
Printable answer key
12 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 8
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students explain how Washington's presidency and the Bank debate shaped the first political parties.
Students source an adapted excerpt of Madison's 1812 war message for purpose and missing points of view.
Students trace causes and effects of the War of 1812 in the Great Lakes region.

How to use

Read the passage and the source note together before students tackle the excerpt; have partners compare their evidence for the last question before writing.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

HIS.8.2

Describe the challenges of the early republic, including Washington's presidency, the first political parties and the War of 1812.

Preview

OwlSheets.com

Name Date

Lake Erie, 1813: Sourcing Madison's Case for War

Trace the early republic's tests from Washington's Cabinet to the War of 1812, then source a President's war message.

A new government is tested

At Put-in-Bay, Ohio, a tall stone column on South Bass Island overlooks the part of Lake Erie where a battle was fought in 1813. Read the passage from the park's reading program. Then answer the questions.

From Washington's Cabinet to Lake Erie, 1789–1814

1When George Washington took office in 1789, almost every choice he made could become a model for later Presidents. He chose a small group of advisers, later called the Cabinet, including Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. The new nation also owed large debts from the Revolution. Hamilton persuaded Congress to have the national government take over the debts the states still owed, and in 1791 Congress created the Bank of the United States with a 20-year charter. Jefferson argued that the Constitution did not give Congress the power to create a bank. Hamilton answered that the Constitution allowed laws that were "necessary and proper" for carrying out Congress's listed powers.

2Supporters of Hamilton's ideas became known as Federalists. Supporters of Jefferson and James Madison called themselves Republicans; historians today call them Democratic-Republicans. Washington disliked the growing split. He served two terms and then went home to Virginia in 1797, starting a two-term custom that later Presidents followed for well over a century.

3The Bank's charter ran out in 1811, and Congress voted not to renew it. Meanwhile Britain and France were at war. Britain's navy stopped American merchant ships, seized cargoes and took sailors off American ships, claiming they were British subjects, a practice called impressment. In the Northwest, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa had built an alliance of Native nations to stop American settlers from taking more of their land. In November 1811, troops led by William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, fought warriors of this alliance at Tippecanoe. Many Americans blamed British officials in Canada for supplying the alliance with guns.

4On June 1, 1812, President Madison sent Congress a message about Britain's actions and left the decision about war to Congress. The House voted 79 to 49 for war, and the Senate 19 to 13. Most Federalists voted no, especially those from New England, where many merchants depended on trade by sea. Without the Bank, the government had trouble borrowing the money it needed to pay for the war.

5In August 1812 British forces captured Detroit. To win back the Northwest, the United States needed control of Lake Erie. Oliver Hazard Perry's sailors built a small fleet at Erie, Pennsylvania, and on September 10, 1813, they defeated a British squadron near Put-in-Bay. Harrison's army then crossed into Upper Canada (today Ontario) and won the Battle of the Thames, where Tecumseh was killed, and his alliance broke apart. The Treaty of Ghent ended the war in December 1814 without changing borders. Today the Shawnee people are organized as three tribal nations based in Oklahoma.

In 1791 a senator says, "If the Constitution does not list a power, Congress should not use it." Whose side of the Bank debate is this senator taking?

A. Hamilton's, who said the Bank was necessary and proper
B. Jefferson's, who said Congress had no power to create a bank
C. Hamilton's, who wanted the nation to take over the states' debts
D. Jefferson's, who wanted the Bank's charter to last 20 years

Which chain of causes and effects does the passage support?

A. Congress does not renew the Bank → the government has no Bank when war begins → borrowing for the war is hard
B. Hamilton's debt plan passes → the Bank closes → the battle at Tippecanoe is fought
C. The Bank's charter ends → war begins → the Treaty of Ghent creates a new bank
D. The war begins → Congress closes the Bank → Perry builds a fleet

Use paragraph 4. Subtract the votes.

In the House, more members voted for war than against it.

Which conclusion do the votes and the details in paragraph 4 best support?

A. New England's merchants mostly pushed Congress toward war.
B. Congress was divided, though a majority in each house chose war.
C. Congress declared war on the same day Madison sent his message.
D. The Senate favored war by a wider margin than the House did.

Source the war message

Read the source note and the excerpt. Then answer the questions.

Source note: President James Madison, a Democratic-Republican, sent this written message to Congress on June 1, 1812. His party held a majority in both houses. Congress debated the message behind closed doors. The excerpt below is adapted and shortened.

Adapted from President Madison's message to Congress, June 1, 1812

1For years British warships have stopped ships sailing under the American flag on the open seas and carried off people sailing on them. Thousands of American citizens have been torn from their country and forced to serve on British warships.

2British warships have also waited just outside our own harbors, troubling ships that enter and leave. They have seized American ships and cargoes under blockades that were announced but never truly carried out.

3British orders have closed most of the markets of Europe to American ships unless those ships first stop at British ports and pay British fees.

4On our western frontier, warfare with Indian nations has broken out again. It is hard to explain this fighting without connecting it to the influence of British traders and soldiers who are in constant contact with those nations.

5We have tried patient protests and limits on our own trade. Whether the United States should go on accepting these wrongs, or defend its rights by force, is a serious question that the Constitution wisely leaves to Congress.

Use the source note and the excerpt. What was Madison's main purpose in this message?

A. To ask Britain's government directly to end impressment
B. To report the American victory at Put-in-Bay to Congress
C. To persuade Congress that Britain's wrongs justified war
D. To announce that Congress had already declared war

Excerpt paragraph 4 blames the frontier fighting on British influence. Circle the sentence from passage paragraph 3 that gives a different reason the Native nations were fighting.

Meanwhile Britain and France were at war.In the Northwest, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa had built an alliance of Native nations to stop American settlers from taking more of their land.In November 1811, troops led by William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, fought warriors of this alliance at Tippecanoe.Many Americans blamed British officials in Canada for supplying the alliance with guns.

Use only the passage and the excerpt. Sort each detail: is it in both, only in Madison's message, or only in the passage?

Britain's navy took sailors off American ships.British orders forced American ships to stop at British ports.Tecumseh's alliance fought Harrison's troops at Tippecanoe.British warships waited just outside American harbors.Congress refused to renew the Bank's charter in 1811.Americans had already tried limiting their own trade.

In both	Only in Madison's message	Only in the passage

Which group described in the passage would most likely have argued against Madison's message in 1812?

A. Democratic-Republicans who held a majority in Congress
B. Settlers who blamed British officials in Canada for the fighting
C. Sailors who had been taken off American ships by the British
D. Federalist merchants in New England who traded by sea

Why might a historian say this message was written to persuade, not only to inform?

A. It was written many years after the war had ended.
B. It gives the exact vote counts from the House and the Senate.
C. It was written by a British official who opposed the war.
D. It describes British wrongs and American patience, but no other view.

The war on the Great Lakes

Use the passage and the excerpt.

10.

How did the battle near Put-in-Bay help lead to the end of Tecumseh's alliance?

A. The victory forced Britain to sign the Treaty of Ghent that week.
B. Perry's sailors captured Tecumseh on the lake and sent him east.
C. Control of the lake let Harrison's army move into Upper Canada.
D. Perry's fleet won back Detroit before the fighting at Tippecanoe.

11.

The Treaty of Ghent changed no borders. Based on the whole page, whose situation in the Northwest did the war change the most?

A. Tecumseh's alliance, which lost its leader and broke apart
B. The British in Canada, who gave Upper Canada to the United States
C. New England merchants, who gained control of Great Lakes trade
D. The Bank of the United States, which reopened to pay for the war

12.

Two problems from Washington's time came back during the War of 1812: the split between the parties and the fight over the Bank. Which problem made the war harder for the United States to fight? Make a claim, use at least two pieces of evidence from the passage or the excerpt, and explain your reasoning.