Many new englanders saw the war of 1812 as a plot hatched by

When embargo failed to remedy the situation and Great Britain refused to rescind the Orders in Council (1807) and France continued its decrees, certain Democratic-Republicans known as war hawks felt compelled to go to war. Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun pushed a declaration of war through Congress, stressing a short war had the added benefit of permitting the United States to grab valuable farmlands in the British colony of Canada. Vehement protests erupted in those parts of the country where the opposition Federalist political party held sway, especially in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The governors of these two states as well as Rhode Island refused to place their state militias under federal control for duty outside their respective states. In the elections that followed in a few months, some members of Congress who voted for war, paid the price. Eight New England congressmen were rejected by the voters, and several others saw the writing on the wall and declined to seek reelection. There was a complete turnover of the New Hampshire delegation.