The Dawn's Early Light: The climatic shaping of "the land of the free" during the hazardous events of 1814 in Washington, Baltimore, and LondonHistory. Summer 1814, Torn by internal conflict, plagued by an empty treasury, embittered by the human cost of a war that couldn't be won, the United States seemed on the point of collapse. With the British blockade strangling her trade, the economy of the young nation was in ruins, and now Washington itself lay at the mercy of an invading English army., ISBN13: B002CD3KJ6 ISBN10: B002CD3KJ6 Material Type: hardcover