"Heaven, to be sure," he wrote to Monroe, "has interposed
most wonderfully in our behalf, and I am filled with gratitude when I
look back to what we have escaped."
By curious irony, the victory had no bearing upon the formal results
of the war. A treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent two weeks
before, and the news of the pacification and of the exploit at New
Orleans reached the distracted President at almost the same time. But
who shall say that the battle was not one of the most momentous in
American history? It compensated for a score of humiliations suffered
by the country in the preceding years. It revived the people's
drooping pride and put new energy into the nation's dealings with its
rivals, contributing more than any other single event to make this war
indeed a "second war of independence." "Now," declared Henry Clay when
the news reached him in Paris, "I can go to England without
mortification." Finally, the battle brought Andrew Jackson into his
own as the idol and incarnation of the West, and set the western
democracy decisively forward as a force to be reckoned with in
national affairs.
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