Summary
In 1803, the Peace of Amiens collapsed and France and Britain resumed making war
against each other. Clinging to neutrality, and trading with both nations,
America prospered at first. However, the US soon found itself in the midst of
an economic battle. Britain had blockaded the northern coast of Europe to
prevent its enemies, the coalition of France, Germany, and Spain, from trading
through these lines. Napoleon responded to the blockade with the Berlin Decree
of 1806, declaring that all neutral ships which stopped at Britain before coming
to the continent would be seized by the French fleet. Britain responded by
ordering all ships bound for the continent to stop at Britain, upon penalty of
seizure. Napoleon quickly retaliated with the Milan Decree (his army had
moved), which stated that all neutral ships even consenting to a British search
would be seized. Between these various orders, both the British and French
seized many American merchant ships.
To make matters worse, the British changed their policy on what was known as the
re-export trade. According to the British rule of 1756, US ships were not
permitted to fill in for French ships trading between the West Indies and Europe
during time of war. The solution to this restriction had traditionally been
to ship goods from the West Indies to America, unload them, and then reload them
to be shipped to Europe as American goods. However, in 1805, in a case
involving the USS Essex, the British ruled this practice illegal, and
began searching outgoing ships off the coast of the US for contraband.
As if these economic impositions were not enough, the British added the threat
of impressment. The British navy experienced huge numbers of desertions due to
low wages and morale. Many of these deserters found work sailing on US vessels.
The British, ever in need of sailors, began stopping American ships, mustering
the crew, and impressing those who were or had been British subjects into the
royal navy. They often seized naturalized or even natural-born American
citizens as well. With the French seizing ships in European ports, and the
British accosting ships at sea, Thomas Jefferson sent diplomats to try to
work out an agreement with Britain. The envoy walked away with a treaty so weak
Jefferson refused to even show it to the Senate.
Anglo-American tensions reached a head in the Chesapeake-Leopard
Affair. On June 22, 1807 the British naval frigate HMS Leopard
followed the American naval frigate USS Chesapeake out of Norfolk harbor
in Virginia, and opened fire upon it after a request to board had been denied.
The Chesapeake, not prepared for battle, lost three men and had twenty
wounded, and permitted the British to board. The British naval officers
boarded, seized four men who had deserted the royal navy, hanged them from a
yardarm, and sailed away.
Jefferson, outraged, issued a proclamation banning all British warships from
American waters. Congress took measures to expand the army, and on December 22,
1807, passed the Embargo Act. The act prohibited any ship from leaving a US
port for a foreign port, effectively ending both exportation and importation.
Jefferson described the act as a means of peaceful coercion.
Despite
substantial damage to the British economy, the Embargo Act hit the US harder.
Merchants, artisans, and farmers alike, all suffered because of trade isolation.
Unemployment was rampant and debtors prisons were filled. By December 1808, the
Embargo Act was vociferously despised throughout the nation. Congress finally
voted to terminate the act on March 3, 1809, replacing it with a non-intercourse
law preventing trade with Britain and France and granting the President the
power to determine when it should be resumed. Jefferson had announced he would
not run for re-election even before the failure of the Embargo Act. James
Madison, his secretary of state, won the election of 1808 and became president
March 4, 1809.
