ed Europe. None of the
things about which the war was fought were even mentioned in the treaty.
But this did not really make much difference. For the British had
repealed their orders as to American ships before the news of the
declaration of war reached London. As for impressment, the guns of the
_Constitution_ had put an end to that.

[Illustration: THE OLD STATE HOUSE. Where the Hartford Convention met.]

[Sidenote: New England Federalists.]

[Sidenote: Hartford Convention, 1814.]

274. The Hartford Convention, 1814.--While the New commissioners
were talking over the treaty of peace, other debaters were discussing
the war, at Hartford, Connecticut. These were leading New England
Federalists. They thought that the government at Washington had done
many things that the Constitution of the United States did not permit it
to do. They drew up a set of resolutions. Some of these read like those
other resolutions drawn up by Jefferson and Madison in 1798 (p. 175).
The Hartford debaters also thought that the national government had not
done enough to protect the coasts of New England from British attacks.
They proposed, therefore, that the taxes collected by the national
government in New England should be handed over to the New England
states to use for their defense. Commissioners were actually at
Washington to propose this division of the national revenue when news
came of Jackson's victory at New Orleans and of the signing of the
Treaty of Ghent. The commissioners hastened home and the Republican
party regained its popularity with the voters.

[Illustration: A REPUBLICAN SQUIB ON THE HARTFORD CONVENTION.]

[Sidenote: Gains of the war.]

[Sidenote: The American nation.]

275. Gains of the War.--The United States gained no territory after
all this fighting on sea and land. It did not even gain the abolition of
impressment in so many words. But what was of far greater importance,
the American people began to think of itself as a nation. Americans no
longer looked to France or to England as models to be followed. They
became Americans. The getting of this feeling of independence and of
nationality was a very great step forward. It is right, therefore, to
speak of this war as the Second War of Independence.

[Illustration: JAMES MONROE.]

CHAPTER 26

THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING, 1815-1824

[Sidenote: Monroe elected President, 1816, 1820.]

[Sidenote: Characteristics of the Era of Good Feeling. _McMaster_, 26