The First American War, also known as the War of 1812, was a military conflict between the United States of America and the British Empire. The war was a long time in coming, and the efforts by the Congressional "War Hawks" to promote the expansion of American power into Canada and further west was met with force by British supported Indian tribes, who attacked the various settlements that sprung up in what was traditionally their land, in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The War Hawks pushed newly elected President James Madison to stand up to the British, though he tried to end the crisis diplomatically. Madison was forced to declare war in June 1812, however, when calls for war soon echoed across the union as the news of massacres and violent raids were heard in the eastern states.