On June 1, 1812, President James Madison gave a speech to the U.S. Congress,
recounting American grievances against Great Britain, though not specifically
calling for a declaration of war. After Madison's speech, the House of
Representatives quickly voted (79 to 49) to declare war, and the Senate by 19 to
13. The conflict formally began on June 18, 1812 when Madison signed the measure
into law. This was the first time that the United States had declared war on
another nation, and the Congressional vote would prove to be the closest vote to
declare war in American history. None of the 39 Federalists in Congress voted in
favor of the war; critics of war subsequently referred to it as "Mr. Madison's
War."
The declaration of war was passed by the smallest margin recorded on a war vote
in the United States Congress. On May 11, Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was
shot and killed by an assassin, resulting in a change of the British government,
putting Lord Liverpool in power. Liverpool wanted a more practical relationship
with the United States. He issued a repeal of the Orders in Council, but the
U.S. was unaware of this, as it took three weeks for the news to cross the
Atlantic.
1812 - 1814
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Nebraska (hosted at US GenWeb Archives or USGenWeb War
1812 Project)
- 1883 Pensioners Census
- Adams County
- Antelope County
- Boone County
- Buffalo County
- Burt County
- Butler County
- Cass County
- Cedar County
- Cheyenne County
- Clay County
- Colfax County
- Cuming County
- Cuming County
- Dakota County
- Dawson County
- Dixon County
- Dodge County
- Douglas County
- Fillmore County
- Frontier County
- Furnas County
- Gage County
- Gosper County
- Greeley County
- Hall County
- Hamilton County
- Harlan County
- Hayes County
- Hitchcock County
- Howard County
- Jefferson County
- Johnson County
- Kearney County
- Knox County
- Lancaster County
- Lincoln County
- Madison County
- Merrick County
- Nance County
- Nemaha County
- Nuckolls County
- Otoe County
- Pawnee County
- Phelps County
- Pierce County
- Platte County
- Polk County
- Red Willow County
- Richardson County
- Saline County
- Sarpy County
- Saunders County
- Seward County
- Sherman County
- Sioux County
- Stanton County
- Thayer County
- Valley County
- Washington County
- Wayne County
- Webster County
- Wheeler County
- York County
- No Organized County
- 1883 Pensioners Census
Nebraska Subscription Military Databases
- The General Society of the War of 1812, 1976 Bicentennial Supplement to the 1972 Register Robert Glenn Thurtle Editor - Free Index
- The Roster of the General Society of the War of 1812
- War of 1812 Papers, 1789-1815
- War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815
- War of 1812 Service Records
- War of 1812, Prisoner of War Records, 1812-1815
- War of 1812: Miscellaneous Canadian Records
- Register of the General Society of the War of 1812