Abstract:
In May 1811, thirteen months before the start of the War of 1812, the United States frigate President and the British sloop-of-war Little Belt fought an hour-long battle approximately fifty miles off the North Carolina coast. When the firing ceased the Little Belt had suffered heavy damage and thirty-two casualties. The President sustained only minor damage and one wounded sailor. The brief battle had significant ramifications for Anglo-American relations. The victory of the U.S.S. President four years after the defeat of the Chesapeake redeemed the honor of the United States and its navy. Because the action occurred near the spot of the previous bout, some Americans and Britons suspected the scrape did not happen accidentally. Newspaper editors and political leaders hostile to the president alleged that President Madison ordered the attack as a means to halt the impressments of American sailors or possibly to draw the United States into a war with Great Britain. In both nations sentiment for a conflict increased as many Britons believed the United States had sullied their national honor and numerous Americans concluded that a victory over Britain would come with ease. The President-Little Belt Affair also confirmed the American tactical theory holding that the United States Navy could never destroy Britain's, but that lone, swift ships could defeat single British vessels in head-to-head duels. This strategy proved extremely successful in the opening months of the War of 1812. While the President-Little Belt Affair did not start the War of 1812, it did serve as an important event leading up to the conflict. Without this occurrence Americans might never have summoned the courage to fight their former master and the British might never have developed the desire to struggle with a nation thousands of miles away while their empire resisted Napoleonic France. The President-Little Belt Affair proved an essential part of the road to the War of 1812.
