Jersey Scared: In 1812, New Jersey's Legislature Wanted to Give Peace a Chance

If the State of New Jersey is associated with any conflict in American history, it is the War of Independence. Our state is justifiably known as the "Crossroads of the Revolution." A look at any map of the state, even a modern version, would amply demonstrate this with the abundance of national parks and historic sights. Washington saved the Revolution at Trenton, boosted it at Princeton, preserved it (and the Continental Army) through two harsh Morristown winters. Almost every New Jersey city, town and township has an assortment of Revolutionary-Era street names; Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Lafayette.

Broadside image, War of 1812

Okay, but what about the next war? Ah, it may have been a while since you were in history class, but there were several conflicts between the Revolution and the Civil War. The next war is commonly believed to be some kind of repeat of the Revolution, but believe me, it wasn't. It was the War of 1812. It was a long war that resulted in a massive foreign invasion, the burning of Washington, D.C. (with the Capitol and White House reduced to smoldering ruins) and the rise of one ruthless, genocidal Democrat by the name of Andrew Jackson. Jackson, if you recall, decimated an invading British army at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814.

But what about New Jersey? Surely, the patriots of the Garden State, upon hearing of the war's start in 1812, were ready to repeat their noble duty. Certainly they were ready to grab their muskets, brush off their boots and rush the Shore to give the invading British the hearty welcome they deserved. Yes, of course, these New Jerseyans mobilized to defend the Garden State. They were, surely, Jersey Strong.

Yeah, try Jersey Wrong. Or at least, Jersey Scared. War was the last, the very lastoption they wanted. In November of 1812, with the conflict already raging, the New Jersey Legislature sent a comprehensive petition against the war to Congress. In my opinion the petition is one of the most fascinating documents in American History, and predicts many of the constitutional arguments and controversies that would be at the center of future wars - especially Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The document opens by declaring that the national government had foolishly rushed into conflict, and by doing so, threatened the political and economic gains of the hard-fought Revolution. It puts the blame of conflict solidly on the shoulders of the president, that being the Madison Administration.

"The admonitions of prudence, the force of reason and justice, and the remonstrances of thousands have been alike ineffectual and disregarded-a great, prosperous and happy nation, without preparation have suddenly plunged into an unnecessary, and as we fear, hopeless war."

New Jersey's leaders also warned Federal Authorities, in an almost defeatist like fashion, of who the nation had taken on:

"...war with Great Britain, in which the present administration has plunged the United States, was inexpedient, ill-timed and most dangerously impolitic---sacrificing at once countless blessings, and incurring all the hazards and losses of men and treasure, necessarily resulting from a contest with a nation possessing so many means to annoy and distress us."

The Legislature then brought up a now accepted belief in American military doctrine: if you're going to have a war, know - or at least have a plan - for how it will end:

"The [Madison] administration being evidently chargeable with the multiplied disasters which have attended our arms, and consigned to captivity or death so many thousands of brave men, without the attainment of a single important object."

What really worried Trenton wasn't Britain, it was a certain vertically-challenged, maniacal French leader: Napoleon. Britain, it seemed, could be reasoned with; it might be open to compromise, whereby a "Devil's Deal" with the self-declared French emperor would be much more hazardous. In fact, the Trenton representatives not only citied this, but threw in a not so vague threat of the Garden State's secession from the Union itself:

"...we view with inexpressible concern the course of that destructive policy which leads to a connexion with the military despotism of France; and if it should happen, as our fears suggest, that a convention or confederacy with that power...will be considered by us more dangerous than the war itself, and as tending, in its consequences, to the dissolution of the union of the United States."

How long would the war go on? What were its goals? To answer these questions, Trenton demanded that Congress turn away from the machinations of war and instead immediately engage upon an investigation into how it all got started.

Today, of course, we know that one of the foremot causes of the War of 1812 was the British practice of impressment, or blatant kidnapping of American sailors at sea. New Jersey's sustenance was still largely maritime-based at this time, and the presence of the Royal Navy right off our coast was a constant and sometimes visible one. In the years between the Revolution and 1812, British warships had taken Americans aboard their ships to work and fight - and die. Frequently, many of those taken were not, in fact, born here and were recent British and Irish Immigrants. The British, in their defense, frequently citied this fact.

For the Representatives at Trenton, this British concern was acknowledged. Yes, the petition stated, impressment was horrendous and must be stopped, but:

"a principal object of the war is to obtain redress against the British practice of impressment...we do hereby declare our solemn conviction that a war at the expense of American blood and treasure to protect British subjects on the high seas from their due allegiance to their country, would be unjust, and that the abuse of this practice in regard to American seamen may be guarded against by an arrangement between the two foreign governments..."

So what about all of those immigrants serving on American ships? The answer couldn't be sharper: if the British want them, they can have them. Don't endanger American peace and commerce for their sake! Not exactly the noblest of statements, I'd say...but these are desperate words in desperate times.

While, to my knowledge, the war never directly touched New Jersey territory, it would indeed wind up to be the profitless disaster that the Trenton representatives had predicted. The war, fought to a draw, devastated portions of the U.S. and Canada, and was settled by the Treaty of Ghent. And that New Orleans battle? It occurred two weeks after the peace treaty was signed. Talk about missing the email!

Still, I think we shouldn't be too hard on our early legislators. They were just a tiny component of an emerging nation with a shaky constitutional order. They were afraid, but their concerns led to important questions that should be asked before and during any national conflict.