In many ways, the War of 1812 was devastating to America both economically and in lives lost. But, when the war cut off imports to America, it created a new market for goods manufactured at home. American industrial pioneers like Francis Cabot Lowell capitalized on this need and accelerated the American Industrial Revolution. These pioneers developed new, large business enterprises using power-driven machinery to produce products in mass that were previously individually produced in the home or a small shop. Francis Cabot Lowell, born in Massachusetts, 1775. In 1811, just prior to the war, he visited England and was impressed by the British textile mills. This visit, along with the growing demand for manufactured goods inspired Lowell to create his own manufacturing enterprise in the United States. In 1813, Lowell and several partners formed the Boston Manufacturing Company. The new enterprise featured a power loom that was based upon the British model with significant technological improvement. Lowell and his partners also hatched a new way to raise money. They sold $1000 shares in the company, devising a shareholder corporation plan that would quickly become the standard for American businesses wishing to raise funds. Francis Cabot Lowell died just 4 years later, but his Boston Manufacturing Company was expanding and rewarding its investors very handsomely. In 1821, dividends paid out were an astounding 27.5%.
New factories like Lowell's gave hope to an America that was embroiled in war. President James Madison closed out his 1813 State of the Union address with a message of thankfulness and hope. He proclaimed that all of America should be thankful for the abundant blessings they have received, the peace and stability of our free institutions, "and, above all, for the light of divine truth and the protection of every man's conscience in the enjoyment of it", that is the freedom to worship God as we please. America had been very much blessed, but not spared the evils of war. Yet, when compared with the loss of liberty and rights of nations, Madison called war the lesser of two evils. At our own nation's founding, our founders chose a degraded condition and state of war, rather than losing our freedom and independence. Now, Madison suggested that in 1813 none who understood the value of that great and glorious event would ever shrink from a struggle to preserve the freedoms we gained in it.
But, President James Madison went even further, and suggested that the war itself was a contributing factor to successes like the opening of the Lowell factory. While the good citizens of this nation were willing to sacrifice their property and their wealth to resist the injustice and infringements on their rights, it is a consoling and peculiar fact that upon reflection the damage that war normally brings to a nation did not occur. Normally, a state of war has a baneful effect on the internal improvements and the prosperity of a nation, but Madison stated that in this case the war itself led to internal improvements and advantages which mitigated such calamities. The war did not interrupt American commerce, but led to an increase in the number of manufacturers and factories in our country. America was building an independent economy, and would in the future become a leading exporter of goods.
Madison continued that not only was war good for the American economy, it also helped build a more secure nation. Yes, much of America's treasure was spent on the war, but a very significant portion of that treasure was spent on building a defense system that is "necessary to our permanent safety". Through war, we developed a national means of retaliating against illegal seizures on the seas and "predatory incursions" on the land. Through the fighting of the war, the masses of our nation have developed the military discipline, zeal and valor that yield a "greater respect for our rights and a longer duration of our future peace", and through war our nation has been put to the test. As Madison stated, "the union of these States, the guardian of the freedom and safety of all and of each, is strengthened by every occasion that puts it to the test"
And finally, President Madison exclaimed that "the war, with all its vicissitudes, is illustrating the capacity and the destiny of the United States to be a great, a flourishing, and a powerful nation". A great nation that is worthy to be on the world stage, and "authorized by its own example to require from all an observance of the laws of justice and reciprocity". "Justice and reciprocity" is what America was looking for, and she put her "trust in the smiles of Heaven on so righteous a cause".
Here is the full excerpt from Madison's 1813 State of the Union Address.
"It would be improper to close this communication without expressing a thankfulness in which all ought to unite for the abundance; for the preservation of our internal tranquility, and the stability of our free institutions, and, above all, for the light of divine truth and the protection of every man's conscience in the enjoyment of it. And although among our blessings we can not number an exemption from the evils of war, yet these will never be regarded as the greatest of evils by the friends of liberty and of the rights of nations. Our country has before preferred them to the degraded condition which was the alternative when the sword was drawn in the cause which gave birth to our national independence, and none who contemplate the magnitude and feel the value of that glorious event will shrink from a struggle to maintain the high and happy ground on which it placed the American people.
With all good citizens the justice and necessity of resisting wrongs and usurpations no longer to be borne will sufficiently outweigh the privations and sacrifices inseparable from a state of war. But it is a reflection, moreover, peculiarly consoling, that, whilst wars are generally aggravated by their baneful effects on the internal improvements and permanent prosperity of the nations engaged in them, such is the favored situation of the United States that the calamities of the contest into which they have been compelled to enter are mitigated by improvements and advantages of which the contest itself is the source.
If the war has increased the interruptions of our commerce, it has at the same time cherished and multiplied our manufactures so as to make us independent of all other countries for the more essential branches for which we ought to be dependent on none, and is even rapidly giving them an extent which will create additional staples in our future intercourse with foreign markets.
If much treasure has been expended, no inconsiderable portion of it has been applied to objects durable in their value and necessary to our permanent safety.
If the war has exposed us to increased spoliations on the ocean and to predatory incursions on the land, it has developed the national means of retaliating the former and of providing protection against the latter, demonstrating to all that every blow aimed at our maritime independence is an impulse accelerating the growth of our maritime power.
By diffusing through the mass of the nation the elements of military discipline and instruction; by augmenting and distributing warlike preparations applicable to future use; by evincing the zeal and valor with which they will be employed and the cheerfulness with which every necessary burden will be borne, a greater respect for our rights and a longer duration of our future peace are promised than could be expected without these proofs of the national character and resources.
The war has proved moreover that our free Government, like other free governments, though slow in its early movements, acquires in its progress a force proportioned to its freedom, and that the union of these States, the guardian of the freedom and safety of all and of each, is strengthened by every occasion that puts it to the test.
In fine, the war, with all its vicissitudes, is illustrating the capacity and the destiny of the United States to be a great, a flourishing, and a powerful nation, worthy of the friendship which it is disposed to cultivate with all others, and authorized by its own example to require from all an observance of the laws of justice and reciprocity. Beyond these their claims have never extended, and in contending for these we behold a subject for our congratulations in the daily testimonies of increasing harmony throughout the nation, and may humbly repose our trust in the smiles of Heaven on so righteous a cause."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29455
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/lowell_hi.html
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