After the Napoleonic wars and until mid-victorian days,the school declined again both in number and repute.
I know that the war of 1812 kinda occupied the US during the Napoleonic Wars, but who was the US rooting for? I could kinda see France as they helped during the war of independence, and the US still had bad fellings for Britain after, again, the war of independence. Sorry for my English.
Neither. While there were many sympathetic to Napoleon who reflected American ideals better, both France and Britain were in a state of undeclared war with the US at sea for most of the Napoleonic Wars. France and Britain both raided American ships for trading with the enemy and pressed American sailors into service with their fleets.
In response to all this, Thomas Jefferson instituted the Embargo Act, an overall economic disaster where US Ships were ordered not to trade with France or Britain, but could still trade in via ports such as in the Caribbean. The US also benefited from the war, however - France sold Louisiana to America to raise funds.
Ultimately, the US joined France in the War of 1812 because at the time it seemed like Napoleon's victory was inevitable (nobody thought Russia would be a French defeat) and because French diplomacy was more proactive at the time. The US demanded that both the UK and France stop raiding American ships, and France was quicker to give its assurances, along with a proposal to declare war on the UK. The UK dragged its feet, so it seemed, in that split moment, as if France were the more dependable partner.