On June 18, 1812, the U.S. Congress formally declared war against the British Empire. Responding to a myriad of ongoing grievances stemming from the Napoleonic Wars, and pressure from Western ‘Hawks’ whose constituents clamored for confrontation, the War of 1812 began a little over two weeks before America celebrated its thirty-sixth year as an upstart and growing republic. From New York to New Orleans, Americans held festivities honoring their independence and the revolutionary generation who endured the hardships to bring that dream to fruition. The second Anglo-American conflict thus punctuated the traditional July 4^th toasts held throughout the country, and the optimistic spirit that existed among Americans eager to consummate what first began in 1776.

“Among the many pleasing events which have recently occurred in our infant Metropolis,” Washington DC’s National Intelligencer reported, “we notice with real pride and satisfaction the animated and brilliant celebration of the late Anniversary of our country’s independence.” The day began with “salutes at sunrise,” the “national standard” hoisted in prominent places throughout the city, and gatherings taking place at 9am to begin the all-day festivities. Public halls were thrown open for cheering crowds dressed in their Sunday best, and marine bands of committed players, who volunteered to animate the day with a marathon of martial music, acted as beacons for assemblies keen to hear the patriotic orations that followed the customary public reading of the Declaration of Independence:

Here indeed was a sublime spectacle! On the 36^th Anniversary of our political birth, the record of our freedom, containing an inimitable exposition of the principles and causes of the revolution, solemnly read by a venerable patriot of its time; and an elegant address, taking a comparative view of the present and the former crisis of our country, delivered by the son of another patriot of the revolution, in the presence of our constitutional rulers, the sons and disciples of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Hancock, Mercer, and the other fathers of the nation, to an audience in fact composed, as it were, of the United States. The public mind was irresistibly led to a retrospect of the heroic times of ’76.[1]

The toasts began around sunset. Banquets of all sizes were held throughout the United States that day, and the order of the toasts – which often differed slightly depending on the city, state, and region – reflected the values and aspirations of a country committed to independence, and thus usually began by honoring the Founding Fathers. “We would not survive that anniversary of it,” the first toast asserted, “which would cease to witness our independence and honor sustained, and vindicated in a spirit worthy [of] the heroic times of ’76.” The U.S. Constitution came second, which was “Imperishable as the virtue of the Republic” – followed by tributes to the current president, memory of George Washington, and the “other heroes and sages of the Revolution.”[2]    

In a year when the Twelfth Congress worked to prepare the nation for war – passing acts to bolster its unprepared and underfunded forces on land, and at sea – the enemy usually remained unnamed when toasting. “The Army – Every soldier a landholder… The Navy – An infant Hercules, destined, by the presage of early prowess, to extirpate the race of pirates and freebooters.” The tenth toast likewise refused to address the enemy by name, but instead invoked the “People” themselves, who would “never unbrace the armour of defence, nor relax the attitude of war, until arms achieve, against every aggressor, all that has been denied to justice.” Even Spanish American “Patriots” were invoked, since most Americans believed their revolutionary struggles for independence were the natural offspring of the movement first begun in 1776. Bunker Hill was also toasted, Thomas Jefferson’s “happy retirement,” and the  current conflict, which did not receive a name until midcentury. More importantly, in an era of monarchical resurgence and reaction in Europe, Americans understood that they alone were in the fight – as the U.S. sought to distance itself from the continent that bore the intellectual and spiritual heritage of its European ancestors – the admonition of America’s first president: "The War – We have selected an adversary without electing an ally. We have taken up arms against the most inveterate and atrocious aggressor, and the most vulnerable to our just resentment, but withheld our friendship from all pretenders, until it be earned by some better atonement than ambiguous delays and hollow truces."[3]         

[1] “Washington City. Wednesday, July 8.” National Intelligencer, Washington DC, July 8, 1812

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.