Today marks the bicentennial of what many historians refer to as both the second American War for Independence and also the first American Civil War. It's also the bicentennial of the war hardly any American can detail. It was on this date in 1812 that the United States Congress issued a Declaration of War against Great Britain in what would later be known as "The War of 1812." That declaration was signed by President Madison shortly after passage.
In Rhode Island, as in all of the New England states, the War of 1812 was extremely unpopular. Rhode Island, in fact, initially refused to commit any militia units to the war. The unpopularity of the action lead to the Hartford Convention which was an attempt by New England to secede from the United States. (That action was made moot by the end of the war just as the convention was wrapping up.) Despite its unpopularity, Rhode Islanders did play a part - including Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry who orchestrated a major defense on Lake Erie - and many Rhode Island merchants turned a sizable profit from supporting the war effort.
Today's photo shows a waterfront, warehouse, and home that is little changed from 1812. The area in the photo was owned by Caleb Carr, a Warren, RI shipwright. During the War of 1812, Carr built the Macdonough for James DeWoIf, Esq. of Bristol. It was a 300 ton brig that, after the war, was used in slaving operations by DeWolf, despite the fact that the slave trade had been banned in Rhode Island in 1774. Carr was also commissioned to build the Chippewa by Commodore Perry, a feat accomplished in just fifty seven days.
Post processing today was centered around the black and white conversion. I applied a brilliant warm filter in Topaz Adjust. Back in PSE I converted to b&w using a gradient map in color blend mode. From there I adjusted the levels slightly and applied a minor contrast adjustment. The top layer is a sepia photo filter.
