Page:The British invasion of Maryland, 1812-1815.djvu/11

 The causes which led up to the declaration of war against Great Britain on June 18, 1812, were too complex, and extended over too great a period of time, to be set forth here at length. The union of states was so loosely knit as to be little more than a con federation, and the long political struggle of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist parties, accentuated by sectional jealousies, had strained the bonds almost to the breaking-point. When war was declared, the country was discordant, disunited and unprepared. The majority in Congress in favor of war was small, being but thirty-nine in the House and six in the Senate. Of the Maryland delegation in the House six voted for and three against war, while in the Senate they were divided.

In Maryland, as elsewhere throughout the country, party feeling was bitter and violent and found its expression in deeds as well as words. The enemies of President Madison proclaimed in derision that "his administration was like the street in Baltimore, called by his name, which began at the poor-house, went by the jail, then passed the penitentiary, and ended on Gallows Hill." The drift of the war sentiment is well expressed in the reso- lutions introduced in the Maryland Legislature during the sessions from 1811 to 1815, the eighth Senate having been elected in the former year and continuing throughout the period, while a new House of Delegates was elected each year. The following resolu- tions were passed at the November session, 1811:

"WHEREAS, It is highly important at this eventful crisis in our foreign relations, that the opinions and feelings of every section of the union should be fairly and fully expressed ; Therefore, we the legislature of Maryland do Resolve, That in the opinion of this