4.6The War of 1812 and the end of the first party system

Frustrated by British interference and encouraged by "War Hawks" hungry for expansion, Madison led the nation into the War of 1812. The war was militarily inconclusive—the British burned Washington, but Americans held at Baltimore and won a famous victory at New Orleans after peace was already signed.

The war's political effect was decisive at home. The Federalists, who had opposed it and flirted with disunion at the Hartford Convention, were discredited and soon collapsed. The 1810s became the "Era of Good Feelings," with the Republicans virtually unopposed. But one-party calm proved unstable: new divisions were already forming beneath the surface.