Which War?

 Burning The White House in the War of 1812

I was having Sunday dinner with my mother, my niece, and her two daughters at my mother's residence. One of the oldsters seated nearby, having finished their dinner, got up to leave, and my mother needed to read the inscriptions on his sweatshirt out loud:

"If you can read this, thank a teacher"

and

"If you can read this in English, thank a veteran."

Since the young girls studied American history, I asked them which war the sweatshirt referred to.
Obviously, it could not refer to the American Revolution, for both sides spoke English. Ditto the War of 1812. Ditto, ditto the Civil War.
So it had to be the Spanish-American War or later.

One of the girls, Madison, said that they were studying the War of 1812 in school.
So I asked, "Who was the US President during the War of 1812?"

I waited. I looked at them both, then turned to the elder.
"Madison...?" I asked, addressing her.

"Madison... ?"

She got it. No one else did.

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