The News On the East Coast
In January 1815, people in the cities of the East
knew only that a large British force had landed and that fighting was
going on. An editor of Niles Register, a Baltimore newspaper,
wrote that "great interests" in all the Nation were anxiously awaiting
news. Some leaders of the New England States, meeting in Hartford, were
strongly suspected of planning to secede from the Union. The Capitol in
Washington was in ruins. The Federal Government was in bad financial
condition. Men feared that the negotiations at Ghent would fail or that
the resulting treaty would not be ratified. It was possible that one of
these outcomes, coupled with probable defeat at New Orleans, could have
broken up the Union.
The relief of the Government was extreme when the
news of victory at New Orleans finally reached Washington on February 4.
The National Intelligencer used its largest type for the
headline: ALMOST INCREDIBLE VICTORY!!! People went wild with delight. A
heavy fall of snow did not dampen the celebration in Philadelphia. All
over the East the fireworks and rejoicing were greater than for any
other victory of the War of 1812.
Nine days later, news of the signing of the Peace
Treaty at Ghent completed the people's happiness. The envoys to
Washington from the Hartford Convention were glad to slip back to their
own States without presenting their demands to the Federal Government.
Even the Massachusetts Legislature gave thanks for the victoryto
God if not to Andrew Jackson.
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