IV 112th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 685 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 8, 2012 Ms. Hochul (for herself, Ms. Slaughter, and Mr. Higgins) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned RESOLUTION Recognizing the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 and the ensuing 200 years of peace and cooperation between the United States and Canada.

Whereas the United States declared war on Great Britain on June 18, 1812; Whereas communities across the United States banded together to defend the American freedoms that had been won in the Revolutionary War; Whereas roughly 20,000 brave Americans gave their lives in the War of 1812, and an additional 4,500 were wounded; Whereas despite the vastly superior size of the military of Great Britain, the United States forces won a number of significant victories; Whereas the town of Lewiston, New York, served as the headquarters for the United States Army during the Battle of Queenston Heights, the first major battle of the War of 1812; Whereas major battles of the War of 1812 that were fought on the water, including American victories on the Great Lakes, demonstrated the superior bravery and strategic prowess of the United States maritime forces; Whereas the decisive victory of Oliver Hazard Perry over a British fleet near Put-In-Bay, Ohio, in the Battle of Lake Erie ensured that the United States gained control of the Great Lakes and that critical portions of the Old Northwest Territory remained part of the United States; Whereas the war came to the State of New York in late December 1813 when the village of Black Rock, just miles from Buffalo, was burned by the British; Whereas Buffalo, New York, is said to have seen more of the war than any other United States town, and the British torched Buffalo despite previous assurances that private property would be spared; Whereas Great Britain attacked the capital of the United States, Washington, DC, burning to the ground the United States Capitol Building, the White House, and much of the rest of the city; Whereas the British Royal Navy sailed up the Chesapeake Bay in an attempt to capture Baltimore, Maryland; Whereas United States forces at Baltimore’s Fort McHenry won a key battle, withstanding nearly 25 hours of bombardment by British forces and rebuffing the attempted invasion; Whereas Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer, saw an American flag flying over Fort McHenry after the British attack and composed the work that would later become The Star-Spangled Banner, the United States National Anthem; Whereas, on December 24, 1814, the United States and the British Empire signed the Treaty of Ghent, officially ending the War of 1812; Whereas General Andrew Jackson, who would later become the seventh President of the United States, won the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and then emerged victorious from the Battle of New Orleans, which, though fought after the Treaty of Ghent had been signed, was a great source of pride and momentum for the United States; Whereas the end of the War of 1812 ushered in 200 years of peace between the United States and the nations of Canada and Great Britain; Whereas the War of 1812 Bicentennial Peace Garden Trail celebrates the strong relationship the United States and Canada have enjoyed since the end of the War of 1812, and marks historical sites in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada; and Whereas the trade partnership between the United States and Canada is the world’s strongest, trading nearly $1,000,000 in goods and services each minute and more than half-a-trillion dollars in goods and service each year, sustaining millions of jobs in both countries: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives recognizes the brave soldiers that died in the War of 1812, 200 years ago, and honors the peace and close friendship that the United States and Canada have shared in the 200 years since the end of the War.