Changes

===War of 1812===

===War of 1812===

British insults continued, especially the practice of using the Royal Navy to intercept unarmed American merchant ships and "[[impressment|impress]]" (conscript) all sailors who might be British subjects for service in the British navy.  Madison's protests were ignored, so he helped stir up public opinion in the west and south for war. One argument was that an American invasion of Canada (that is, modern Ontario) would be easy and would provide a good bargaining chip. (Since 1940 American and Canadian historians have agreed that Americans did not desire to acquire Canadian lands, but to stop British aid to the hostile Indians.) Madison carefully prepared public opinion for what everyone at the time called "Mr. Madison's War", but failed to build up the army, navy, forts, and state militias. After he convinced Congress to declare war, Madison was re-elected President over [[DeWitt Clinton]] but by a smaller margin than in 1808.   Some historians in 2006 ranked Madison's failure to avoid war as the sixth worst presidential mistake ever made.<ref name = "CTV">[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060218/presidential_errors_060218/20060218?hub=World CTV]</ref>  

British insults continued, especially the practice of using the Royal Navy to intercept unarmed American merchant ships and "[[impressment|impress]]" (conscript) all sailors who might be British subjects for service in the British navy.  Madison's protests were ignored, so he helped stir up public opinion in the west and south for war. One argument was that an American invasion of Canada (that is, modern Ontario) would be easy and would provide a good bargaining chip. (Since 1940 American and Canadian historians have agreed that Americans did not desire to acquire Canadian lands, but to stop British aid to the hostile Indians.) Madison carefully prepared public opinion for what everyone at the time called "Mr. Madison's War", but failed to build up the army, navy, forts, and state militias. After he convinced Congress to declare war, Madison was re-elected President over [[DeWitt Clinton]] but by a smaller margin than in 1808. Historians in 2006 ranked Madison's failure to avoid war as the sixth worst presidential mistake ever made.<ref name = "CTV">[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060218/presidential_errors_060218/20060218?hub=World CTV]</ref>  

[[Image:1812bloody.jpg|thumb|400px|American cartoon 1812, Madison gives King George a black eye and bloody nose, referring to an American naval victory in 1813.]]

[[Image:1812bloody.jpg|thumb|400px|American cartoon 1812, Madison gives King George a black eye and bloody nose, referring to an American naval victory in 1813.]]