>> you can watch this and other american artifacts programs again at any time by visiting our website, cspan.org/history. watch american artifacts every sunday at 8:00 a.m., 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span3. you're watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. for more information follow us on twitter at cspan history. >> up next on american history tv, we go to for the mchenry national monument and historic shrine in baltimore for a ceremony commemorating the start of the war of 1812. the united states declared war on great britain on june 18, 1812, and hostilities continued into the treaty of gent was ral ratified in 1815. it brings together

representatives of the united states, great britain and canada who also celebrate the 200 years of peace that followed the war. this event is ban hour. p . well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i'm bob schieffer, and i'll be your moderator today for the special ceremony to mark the beginning of the war of 1812 bicentennial, from enemies to allies, 200 years of peace. if i could add a personal note, i was here in this very place at the buy centennial celebration in 1976, and it was a wonderful night. i was a white house correspondent in those days, and president ford had come up for the occasion. it was the big flag up and the spotlights were on it and they -- you know, the fireworks were going off in the background, and everybody was having a good time.

i looked off, and in the crowd i saw a man holding up a little dog. i thought he was holding up the dog to show it to his friends, but then i realized he was holding the dog up so the little dog would get a better view. he said -- i heard him say, look, sparky, there goes the president. so i think we have got another day here today worthy of something to tell not only our grandchildren but the grandpuppies, if any of them are here. you know, it is said in the book of psalms there are days made in heaven. certainly this is a day made in heaven to honor our friends, the british. i think they got it exactly right. well, let's get started. to welcome us here this for the national monument and historic

shrine, here are the for the mchenry guard and drum corps. well, they tell me they've already performed. weren't they great? so we have a great act to follow them, though. welcome to the podium maryland's senior senator in the u.s. congress, the honorable barbara mikuls mikulski. >> can i move this over? good morning, everybody. well, hasn't the weekend just been fan fatasticfantastic?

the great weather and crowds and participation commemorating the war of 1812. i want to welcome our distinguished ambassadors from britain and canada, ambassador westcott and duer and ray mavis and fort mchenry superintendent tina orcut. the congressional delegation is here and the mayor is here and she's been everywhere over the weekend. i know that governor o'malley, i believe, will be coming shortly. we're so excited about being here to commemorate this war of 1812 in a very fitting theme, enemies no more. some call the war of 1812 a forgotten war, but i believe it was the war that forged our nation because as the united states entered the war, it was a loose collection of states. when we emerged, we were on the

path to becoming a truly great, great nation. it was during this war at the battle of baltimore that we gained an enduring icon of national patriotism and our national anthem inspired by the naval battle here at fort mchenry was born. this is just a wonderful place. now, for me this is a very special area because this is the third congressional district. it was senator paul sarbanes' congressional district in theous, and we welcome you today. it was my seat when i was in the house of representatives. ben carden, who was a third congressional here, and now john sarbanes. so if you're a member of the 3rd congressional district, this is your congressional district. we pass the baton and we pass the fort. the story of fort mchenry in the

battle of 1812 and the battles of '13, '14 and '15 that have been fought in our country are well-known and told. you've heard them all weekend, and you will continue to hear them. because of the great historic significance of what happened here, it was the job of the maryland congressional delegation working with our fantastic park service to continue to tell the story. that's why we worked so hard and fought so hard both in the federal law books and the federal checkbook to have a brand-new visitors center and to be able to have the historic path to tell the sfoer and to be able to have commemorative coins to pay for it. i want to salute specifically senator paul sarbanes who initiated this in the senate, and i was his abled ally. at that time congressman ben carden was in the house where we worked together along with mr. cummings who put legislation

there to come up with a $14 million state-of-the-art visitors center to tell the story not only for this commemoration but for generations to come so they would know what happened here, why it happened, and how it let on. our very good colleague senator john sarbanes established the trail anchored at fort mchenry, and travels through, including the famous battle of north point in which he represents that district. it was there that we turned the tide. we've been working in the federal checkbook and in the federal law book to commemorate this. i say to all of you here as we talk about the battle of 1812, know that here at fort mchenry a very special place in the heart of america, of marylanders, but we baltimoreans.

here history was made and observed. for one group of americans, when you came up the port -- when you came up the chesapeake bay and made a port turn to come in, you saw the great flag. for generations of immigrants, like my great-grandmother, like the sarbanes family, like the carden family, when you saw that flag, you knew you were in the united states of america. that flag over fort mchenry was like our statue of liberty welcoming everybody to a new country, a new land, a new opportunity. whether you came from poland or greece or anywhere looking for opportunity, the sarbanes family even named a diner when they moved to salisbury called the mayfl ds mayflower because we believed in this country. when my great-grandmother stepped off the boat women

didn't have the right to vote. she had good old money in her pocket, but a big dream in her heart. that's what america has meant. then there were others that staled up and came by. some a man by the name of frederick douglas, a slave who left st. michaels down on the eastern shore. when he passed by, that flag didn't belong to him in his heart, but here in baltimore he learned to read. he learned to write. he learned he had a voice. he became the leading orator of the abolition movement and he carried the flag to a new sense of height to free the slaves and free america. that was born coming past fort mchenry. as other battles occurred, it was here at the great fort mchenry observed the great arsenal democracy. i say to our allies here today, i was a little girl during world war ii, and i would be out here. what did you see if you came? you saw beckham steel with the

smokestacks producing steel. you could see maybe over to the martin marietta airport where the blue angels took off yesterday where we were making the great seaplanes to fight for democracy. around the corner where the condos are now were two shipyards who made liberty ships every three weeks, a liberty ship sailed out of baltimore with great danger but a belief it it was their duty to be part of that great arsenal of democracy. so we say to our allies here today, we were glad to support and fight the great fight against facism. we're so honored that you were allied together in the global war against terrorism. it's not only terrorism that we fight here in baltimore in that war. we also fight war, we also fight poverty, disease. we're trying to save lives and to save the planet. we're so pleased that we're allies in science, in technology, and the new

breakthrough. so we say to our allies, we fought one war 200 years ago, but that was a war for us that was so crucial. since those 200 years with canada and the greatest unguarded border in the world and one of our greatest friends and one of our most wonderful neighbors and to people of great britain, we say we admire you. we salute you. we pay our respects to the queen on her 60th anniversary on the throne and we say thank you. thank you for standing with us wherever there was a job to be done to fight for freedom, you were there and we were together. so here we hope we continue to be a great arsenal of democracy, and perhaps one of greatest exports is you can fight battles, you can win wars, you can become allies, but democracy is our greatest tribute. so on behalf of the maryland delegation, we saw god bless fort mchenry, god bless our

allies and god bless the united states of america, the country we hold dear. thank you. >> this is part of the u.s. national park service, and here to say a word of welcome from the park service the superintendent the fort mchenry monument and historic sloohrine tina orcutt. tina. >> good morning. the national park service could be prouder to hold this historic event with governor o'malley and the maryland war of 1812 buy centennial commission. on behalf of the department of interior, ken salazar secretary, we welcome you to the birthplace

of the "star-spangled banner." i hope you enjoy this morning's events. thank you. >> now the royal canadian air force band vocalists and her majes majesty's royal marine band, please stand for the national anthem "o, canada." ♪ o canada our home and native land true patriot love in all thy sons command ♪ at the western port

and a message now from the prime minister of canada, steven harper.

>> i'm pleased to join president obama and prime minister cameron in marking the 200th anniversary of the deck lar rags of the war of 1812. for canadians the war of 1812 was a defining moment in the entity as a distinct north american nation. nevertheless nose were bloody and sad days for they divided peop peoples whose future events would reveal to be natural allies. in the years that followed the war, another conflict was widely expected. hostility was gradually put aside. differences were settled and our two great countries, canada and the united states, became the best of friends. today we mark today the courage of those fallen long ago, british, american, and canadian alike, and we cherish what was born of their sacrifice, prosperity, partnership and

peace. may these blessings flourish and may they forever guide our lives as neighbors. >> let's welcome now to the canadian ambassador to the united states, his excellent gary duer. >> thank you very much, mr. shafer, secretary of navy, the governor o'malley, senator, ambassadors, friends. it's wonderful to be here and speak at this beautiful, beautiful historical site. the site, of course, which inspired the "star-spangled banner," a great national anthem in our world. certainly for canada this is a very, very important event to commemorate. we, of course, had this war that began in 1812. some of the skirmishes began

before that. we worked together around the world as countries that believe and fight for democracy wherever it's at risk. we certainly know that in our history books we get a little bit of the war of 1812. we hear about the burning of the factory or burning of toronto. we hear about the burning of the white house, but there is much more to this war, much more to this conflict, and much more to the peace that arose from its completion than what is often appreciated in our collective histories. so this commemoration event i think is a wonderful opportunities to continue to educate each other on the great

accomplishments. we certainly know that canada, the united states and the uk. since the end of that war have worked together in many, many conflicts as allies. we worked together in the first world war. we were foeg in the second world war and we were in korean and we are together and remain together our leaders today at the g-20 meeting are discussing how to keep our word safe with the conflicts in syria and their looking at what the positive results were in working together in libya and we are also together in dealing with the potential threat of nuclear capacity in the country of iran and what it may represent in the middle east and security that is

so good to us. for canada it certainly is interesting to look at the comments of the former president thomas jefferson when he predicted a country of only 400,000 people in dealing with the country of the united states with 7 million people. then it was only a matter of marching into the neighborhood of quebec to have victory. so this was -- we were able after this war to identify our character of being able to have a country that is sometimes underestimated, sometimes punches above its weight and celebrates peace with our neighbor, the united states, and with the people of the uk in the commemoration of the anniversary of the kaish of the 60th anniversary of our imagine jes trion the throne. may good bless our country and may god keep our soldiers safe

fighting shoulder to shoulder to shoulder on behalf of democracy in afghanistan today. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. >> now once again the canadian air force vocal group and her majesty's royal marine band, god save the queen. ♪ god save our gracious queen ♪ long liv live our noble queen♪ ♪ god save the queen ♪ happy and glorious ♪ to reign over us

♪ god save the queen ♪ oh lord god arise ♪ scattered thine enemies ♪ ♪ and make them fall ♪ god for their politics ♪ god bless their strength ♪ and their hopes we fix ♪ god save tus all ♪ >> now, if you would let's welcome the british ambassador to the united states, sir peter westmancott. mr. aambassador.

>> thank you. >> governor, senators, congressmen, dear friends, thank you so much for this opportunity to be here along with my canadian colleague. thank you for honors us with this little bit of english weather. i don't think any british representative has the right to say anything about the weather having watched her ma jesy stand for hours in the cold rain weeks ago. we salute for her steadfastness for 60 years on the throne. as several people have remarked and others do later on, there is a sense in which the war of 1812 became a bit of a forgotten war. for the brits i think it was when there was something else going on in europe when we dealt with napoleon causing grief to british interests. of course, the reason why we ended up with provoking our

american friends, if i should say that without sounding too disloyal, into the declaration of war by president madison was that the american merchant fleet had become so extraordinarily powerful and important during the years before that that it did pose a threat to the blockade, which we and the french were applying to international trade as we fought each other. of course, we brits find it a little bit difficult to understand why you declared war on us and not on napoleon. maybe it was something to do with the legacies of wars of independence and that sort of thing. it's touching on the fact that the 18th of june is a very important anniversary. it's the moment when the sad war of 1812 began. it is also an occasion that we don't talk about this too much when we're in france in which the battle of waterloo took place. perhaps more recently it is the occasion back in the dark days of 1940 when we had both

churchill's wartime speech where he talked about the finest hour and the end of the battle of britain and when general degaulle, president degaulle as he subsequently became launched his famous appeal to the french people over bbc london in order to keep the people of france fighting in the war and which was, in fact, a very important moment when we were feeling a little bit on our own in those dark days when the europeans did begin to come together before our friends from across the atlantic came to help us win in the conflict. so the 18th of june is actually a very important occasion. from this war, of course, a lot of things emerged. there was a lot of economic damage. there was huge debt. there was a great deal of economic damage from the blockade and from the two years of that war. there were also many great things that emerged from it. we heard about the "star-spangled banner" written just here in response to some minor skirmish with a british

invader off the coast here, and we salute that. it was a moment when british canada did itself immense glory and performed militarily very heroically with small numbers. it was also if i may say so perhaps the moment when the united states military came of age, when that staged the population of united kingdom outnumbered the population of the americas by 2-1. when the british had what was regarded as one of the biggest and best trained navies in the world, and there it was. all my naval colleagues don't like me to say this, we did sustain a number of losses against the americans, even if they were ship-to-ship rather than fleet-to-fleet. i have to add that. otherwise i should be lynched afterwards during the naval events. more than coming of age militarily, there was this extraordinary sense of union that emerged from the war of 1812. 18 states came together dealing with a problem which this

emerged with the british and from that it came it seems to me a strong sense of union and from that after the trials and tribulations and the awfulness of the civil war later on emerged this extraordinary union of the united states of america, which became the strongest, the most prosperous, and the most important democracy the world has ever known. from these two years of war, 1812 to 1814, which itself fed into the creation of peace in 1815 in europe, many positive things emerged. i am privileged and proud to be given the chance with my canadian colleague to be with you today to share a little bit in that anniversary. thank you so much pour honoring the british with your other friends and allies for the role we played then and the fact that ever since in the 200 years since that war britain, america, canada have stood side by side in new russ different conflicts never again fighting with each other and invariably on the side of justice and of peace. thank you very much.

>> now a word from the british prime minister. >> onnored gentlemen. it is my great pleasure to participate in this historic event as we mark the anniversary of the war of 1812 and commemorate the long-lasting alliance between the united states and the united kingdom. now, it's true that our shared history had a turbulent beginning. indeed visiting the white house earlier this year, i was a little embarrassed to confess this managed to burn the place down. today as you sit at fort mchenry, the sight so ably defended by u.s. soldiers against the brits, you can't help but think of the battle of baltimore, the event that inspired the star-spangl"star-s banne banner". in part i suppose you can sort of thank the british for your national anthem. now, the war's origins may be

obscured today, but what maps maerts since the end the two countries have been allies for almost 200 years. that eelgsship has strengthened constantly in depth and breadth. generations of british and american servicemen and women who fought together from normandy to the korean peninsula to afghanistan. there is no more tangible illustration of our two nations defending our valuables and the interests than the mutual sacrifice made by our service men and women. but ours is not just a security alliance, it's also in business, education, research and personal ties where you can see the strength of our goals. foreign direct investment between britain and america is the largest in the world now standing at nearly $1 trillion. this creates and sustains around a million jobs on each side of the atlantic and provides a

strong foundation for bilateral trade, which is worth nearly $200 billion every year. in research our trans-atlantic partnerships produced a staggering eight nobel prizes in science in 2010. and in education and 14 of the top universities either in the u.s. or uk including maryland own john hopkins university and it's no wonder nearly 9,000 uk students and more than 40,000 american students cross it is bond each year for their studies. they develop into international friendships, research collaborations and business partnerships, science inonovatos and business men and women, athletes and artists and mufshgians shape the world and work foeg for the mutual benefit for both our countries. today may be the