16th United States Congress

Strongest political support for declaring war against Britain came from the West and South. A crucial foreign policy goal for many ?war hawks? in the War of 1812 was the capture and annexation of Canada. A primary domestic goal of the War of 1812 for many of the ?war hawks? was eliminating the Indian resistance to further westward settlement. Besides creating a pan-Indian military alliance against white expansion, Tecumseh and the Prophet urged Native Americans to resist white ways and revive their own traditional culture. Native American resistance east of the Mississippi River was effectively crushed in the two battles of Tippecanoe and Horseshoe Bend. The War of 1812 was bitterly opposed by New England Federalists.