Margaret Kinard Latimer:

YOUNG Mr. Calhoun entered Congress
prepared for a showdown. It was
June 3, 1812, and the ambitious congress-
man from South Carolina would recom-
mend war against England. The Foreign
Relations Committee, of which he was
chairman, had deliberated only two days
on President Madison's message, but,
after a forceful report in favor of war,
John C. Calhoun presented a bill of dec-
laration. A majority of the House fol-
lowed his lead and on June 4 passed the
act, the Senate concurring with some re-
luctance on June 18. Madison's signature,
also of June 18, marked the official be-
ginning of war.

The grievances against European
powers for interfering with American
ships and sailors on the high seas had
gathered momentum in a continuous
stream of events for more than a decade.
The Jeffersonian policy of conciliation,
restrictive measures, minimum arma-
ments, and "peace at any price" had gen-
erally insured against violent ruptures.

Until the Twelfth Congress, legislation
aimed at France or England had in real-
ity been a jockeying of party strength in
Congress. Although party voting was far
from regular, the major portion of the
Republicans and the Federalists debated
hotly on the embargo and the succeeding
restrictive measures. The erratic stands
of the Quids accentuated the hodge-
podge nature of congressional opinion as
did certain courses taken by the New
Englanders. Believing that the Republi-
cans would never be forced into a war,
Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts and
many of his fellow New England Feder-
alists voted steadily for armament and
naval increases in order to antagonize
the administration. Quincy wrote to Har-
rison Gray Otis on November 26, 1811,
even suggesting that New England stand
for war. ¹ However, when it became evi-
dent that the young Republicans in the
Twelfth Congress had plunged their
peace-loving party into just that war, the
Federalists pitched their tents in the op-
posite camp.

Henry Adams estimated that only a
third of Congress was in favor of war
early in 1812, yet on June 4 the bill in the
House was carried 79-49. ² The crystal-
lization of sentiment had been the work
of an enthusiastic group of leaders in the
Twelfth Congress who were responsible
for a notable change in congressional for-
eign policy within the span of a few
months. The story of the "War Hawks" is
familiar, but still eminently impressive.
It is important enough to warrant ampli-
fication and correction.

Of the five or six major "War Hawks"
prominent in most accounts of the war,
three were young South Carolina Repub-
licans in Congress for the first time. John
C. Calhoun, William Lowndes, and
Langdon Cheves arrived in Washington
with a motive in mind; they came if not
pledged, at least committed, to oppose

From Margaret Kinard Latimer, The American Historical Review, LXI ( July 1956), 914-29. Re-
produced by permission.

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