Editing Martin Van Buren (section)

===Border violence with Canada===
[[File:DENT(1881) 1.213 DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|"Destruction of the ''Caroline''", illustration by John Charles Dent (1881)]]

====Caroline episode====
{{Main|Caroline affair}}
British subjects in [[Lower Canada]] (now Quebec) and [[Upper Canada]] (now Ontario) rose in rebellion in 1837 and 1838, protesting their lack of [[responsible government]]. While the initial insurrection in Upper Canada ended quickly (following the December&nbsp;1837 [[Battle of Montgomery's Tavern]]), many of the rebels fled across the [[Niagara River]] into New York, and Upper Canadian rebel leader [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] began recruiting volunteers in [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]].<ref name=AoD>{{cite book|title=Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott|last=Eisenhower|first=John S. D.|page=178|author-link=John Eisenhower|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-8061-3128-3}}</ref> Mackenzie declared the establishment of the [[Republic of Canada]] and put into motion a plan whereby volunteers would invade Upper Canada from [[Navy Island]] on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. Several hundred volunteers traveled to Navy Island in the weeks that followed. They procured the steamboat ''[[Caroline affair|Caroline]]'' to deliver supplies to Navy Island from [[Fort Schlosser]].<ref name=AoD/> Seeking to deter an imminent invasion, British forces crossed to the American bank of the river in late December&nbsp;1837, and they burned and sank the ''Caroline''. In the melee, one American was killed and others were wounded.<ref name=companion>{{cite book|title=The Reader's Companion to the American Presidency|editor1-last=Brinkley|editor1-first=Alan|editor2-last=Dyer|editor2-first=Davis|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780395788899/page/113 113]|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=New York|year=2000|isbn=978-0-395-78889-9|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780395788899/page/113}}</ref>

Considerable sentiment arose within the United States to declare war, and a British ship was burned in revenge.<ref name=MVforeign>{{cite web| url=https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/foreign-affairs| title=Martin Van Buren: Foreign Affairs| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia| access-date=March 6, 2017| date=October 4, 2016| archive-date=March 18, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318084347/https://millercenter.org/president/vanburen/foreign-affairs| url-status=live}}</ref> Van Buren, looking to avoid a war with Great Britain, sent General Winfield Scott to the [[Canada–United States border]] with large discretionary powers for its protection and its peace.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Patriot War|last=Ross|first=Robert Budd|pages=11–12|date=1890|publisher=The Detroit Evening News, revised for the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8d8BAAAAMAAJ |access-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> Scott impressed upon American citizens the need for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, and made it clear that the U.S. government would not support adventuresome Americans attacking the British. In early January&nbsp;1838, the president proclaimed neutrality in the Canadian independence issue,{{sfn|Nowlan|2012|p=329}} a declaration which Congress endorsed by passing a neutrality law designed to discourage the participation of American citizens in foreign conflicts.<ref name=MVforeign/>

====Patriot War of 1837–1838====
{{Main|Patriot War}}
During the Canadian rebellions, [[Charles Duncombe (Upper Canada Rebellion)|Charles Duncombe]] and [[Robert Nelson (insurrectionist)|Robert Nelson]] created an armed secret society in Vermont, the [[Hunters' Lodges|Hunters' Lodge]]. It carried out several small attacks in Upper Canada between December 1837 and December 1838, collectively known as the [[Patriot War]]. Washington responded using the Neutrality Act. It prosecuted the leaders and actively deterred Americans from subversive activities abroad. In the long term, Van Buren's opposition to the Patriot War contributed to the construction of healthy [[Special Relationship|Anglo-American]] and [[Canada–United States relations]];. It also led, more immediately, to a backlash among citizens regarding the seeming overreach of federal authority,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Choosing Peace and Order: National Security and Sovereignty in a North American Borderland, 1837–42|last=Lacroix|first=Patrick|pages=943–960|volume=38|issue=5|date=2016|journal=The International History Review|doi=10.1080/07075332.2015.1070892|s2cid=155365033| issn=0707-5332 }}</ref> which hurt congressional Democrats in the 1838 midterm elections.
[[File:Disputed Border in the East.jpg|thumb|Rival claims in yellow. The diplomats split the difference along the dotted line.]]

====Northern Maine: the Aroostook "War"====
A new crisis surfaced in late 1838, in the disputed territory on the thinly settled [[History of Maine|Maine]]–[[New Brunswick]] frontier. Americans were settling on long-disputed land claimed by the United States and the United Kingdom. The British considered possession of the area vital to the defense of Canada.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|pp=164–166}} Both American and New Brunswick lumberjacks cut timber in the disputed territory during the winter of 1838–1839. On December&nbsp;29, New Brunswick lumbermen were spotted cutting down trees on an American estate near the [[Aroostook River]]. When American woodcutters rushed to stand guard, a shouting match, known as the [[Battle of Caribou]], ensued. Tensions escalated with officials from both Maine and New Brunswick arresting each other's citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historycentral.com/Ant/Aroostock.html|title=1837 – Aroostook War|publisher=Historycentral|access-date=March 17, 2017|archive-date=March 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318172510/http://www.historycentral.com/Ant/Aroostock.html|url-status=live}}</ref> British troops began to gather along the [[St. John River (Bay of Fundy)|Saint John River]]. Maine Governor [[John Fairfield]] mobilized the state militia.

The American press clamored for war; "Maine and her soil, or BLOOD!" screamed one editorial. "Let the sword be drawn and the scabbard thrown away!"<ref>Michael T. Perry, "'Maine and Her Soil, or Blood!': Political Rhetoric and Spatial Identity during the Aroostook War in Maine". ''Maine History'' 47.1 (2013): 68–93 [https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=mainehistoryjournal online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627120411/https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=mainehistoryjournal |date=June 27, 2023 }}.</ref>  In June, Congress authorized 50,000&nbsp;troops and a $10&nbsp;million budget<ref>{{cite web|title=The High Comedy of the Bloodless Aroostook War|url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-high-comedy-of-the-bloodless-aroostook-war/|publisher=New England Historical Society|location=Stonington|access-date=March 17, 2017|date=March 10, 2015|archive-date=October 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006062020/http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-high-comedy-of-the-bloodless-aroostook-war/|url-status=live}}</ref> in the event foreign military troops crossed into United States territory.

Van Buren wanted peace and met with the British minister to the United States. The two men agreed to resolve the border issue diplomatically.{{sfn|Silbey|2002|p=128}} Van Buren sent General Scott to the scene to lower the tensions. Scott successfully convinced all sides to submit the border issue to arbitration. The border dispute was put to rest a few years later, with the signing of the 1842 [[Webster–Ashburton Treaty]].<ref name=MVforeign/>{{sfn|Nowlan|2012|p=329}}