Editing Martin Van Buren (section)

====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/>