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CHAPTER 7 Hammering Out a Federal Republic, 1787%u20131820 275alcohol; and return to traditional ways. The Shawnee leaders found their greatest support among Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Odawa, and Ojibwe warriors: Native nations of the western Great Lakes who had so far been largely shielded from the direct effects of U.S. westward expansion. They flocked to Tenskwatawa%u2019s holy village, Prophetstown, in the Indiana Territory.As Tecumseh mobilized his followers for war, William Henry Harrison, the governor of the Indiana Territory, decided on a preemptive strike. In November 1811, when Tecumseh went south to seek support from the Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks, Harrison took advantage of his absence and attacked Prophetstown. The governor%u2019s 1,000 troops and militiamen traded heavy casualties with the confederacy%u2019s warriors at the Battle of Tippecanoe and then destroyed the holy village.The War of 1812With Britain assisting Indigenous nations in the western territories and seizing American ships in the Atlantic, Henry Clay of Kentucky, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John C. Calhoun, a rising young congressman from South Carolina, pushed Madison toward war. Like other Republican %u201cwar hawks%u201d from the West and South, they wanted to seize territory in British Canada and Spanish Florida. With national elections approaching, Madison issued an ultimatum to Britain. When Britain failed to respond quickly, the president asked Congress for a declaration of war. In June 1812, a sharply divided Senate voted 19 to 13 for war, and the House of Representatives concurred, 79 to 49.The causes of the War of 1812 have been much debated. Officially, the United States went to war because Britain had violated its commercial rights as a neutral nation. But the Federalists in Congress who represented the New England and Middle Atlantic merchants voted against the war; and in the election of 1812, those regions cast their 89 electoral votes for the Federalist presidential candidate, De Witt Clinton of New York. Madison amassed most of his 128 electoral votes in the South and West, where voters and congressmen strongly supported the war. Many historians therefore argue that the conflict was actually %u201ca western war with eastern labels%u201d (see %u201cAP%u00ae%u00a0Claims and Evidence in Sources,%u201d pp. 276%u2013277).The War of 1812 was a near disaster for the United States. An invasion of British Canada in 1812 quickly ended in a retreat to Detroit. Nonetheless, the United States stayed on the offensive in the West. In 1813, American raiders burned the Canadian capital of York (present-day Toronto), Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a small British flotilla on Lake Erie, and General William Henry Harrison overcame a British and Native American force at the Battle of the Thames, taking the life of Tecumseh.Tenskwatawa, %u201cThe Prophet,%u201d 1830 Tenskwatawa added a spiritual dimension to Native American resistance by urging a holy war against the invading whites and calling for a return to sacred ancestral ways. His dress reflects his teachings: note the animal-skin shirt and the heavily ornamented ears. However, some of Tenskwatawa%u2019s religious rituals reflected the influence of French Jesuits; he urged his followers to finger a sacred string of beads (such as those in his left hand) that were similar to the Catholic rosary, thereby %u201cshaking hands with the Prophet.%u201d Whatever its origins, Tenskwatawa%u2019s message transcended the cultural differences among Native American peoples and helped his brother Tecumseh create a formidable political and military alliance. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC/Art Resource, NY.Battle of TippecanoeAn attack on Shawnees and their allies at Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe River in 1811 by American forces headed by William Henry Harrison, Indiana%u2019s territorial governor. The governor%u2019s troops traded heavy casualties with the confederacy%u2019s warriors and then destroyed the holy village.skills & processesARGUMENTATIONWhat do you think is the most persuasive explanation for the United States%u2019s declaration of war on Great Britain in 1812?%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.