Dilemma 1: What should President Adams do to Protect American Ships?
-Adams wished to follow Washington’s policy of neutrality, but France made it difficult.
-The French hoped that Britain’s refusal to leave the Ohio River Valley would lead to war between the U.S. and Britain. Instead though, the U.S. sent John Jay to England to settle things. The result was the Jay Treaty , in which England pulled their troops out of the Ohio Valley.
-The French saw this as betrayal on the U.S. end and started attacking our
merchant ships. They seized over 316 U.S. ships.
-In hope of stopping these attacks President Adams sent three envoys over to France to discuss the situation. They thought they were going to speak with Minister Talleyrand, but instead were met by 3 secret agents, or x, y and z. This became known as the XYZ
Affair .
-The agents said there would be no peace talks unless the U.S. agreed to pay a
250,000 bribe and to loan France 32 million Francs. The three envoys refused
and went back to the U.S.
-The XYZ Affair made America furious. Adams still did not want to go to war,
but he did order Congress to begin training 10,000 new men for the army and for
the creation of 12 new war ships.
-Congress also authorized American Warships and Privateers , privately owned
ships to launch a half-war on the seas. They were allowed to seize any French
ship they desired.
-Adams was never a popular man, but during this instance be very popular among
Americans. Now he had to decide if doing the popular thing, going to war on France, was the best choice for the U.S.
What Happened: Adams Pursues Peace
-Adams knew that war would be good for him and his party’s popularity, but not good for the country. So in 1799 he sent a peace mission to France. His Federalist party members were furious.
-When the mission arrived in France there was a new leader, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon was very eager to make peace with both Britain and the U.S. He had already ordered an end to the seizure of U.S. ships and the release of captured American sailors.
-#1 Napoleon agreed to end France’s 1778 alliance with the U.S.
-This alliance had been nothing but trouble since our Revolutionary War. In
exchange the U.S. agreed to not ask France to pay for all the ships they seized.
So the U.S. government would have to pay the American ship owners for their
lost property.
-Choosing the Olive Branch over the Arrows of War cost Adams his popularity.
Disagreement over this situation caused many problems in his party, the Federalists. This cost him votes in the election of 1800, the Federalist party also lost national support and over the next few years the party slowly faded away.
*-Adams left the nation at peace with no permanent alliances that could drag us to war.

Dilemma 2: How Should President Jefferson Deal with Pirates?
-By 1803 Britain and France were at war again, and as a result they began seizing
American ships that were trading with their enemy. Even with this going on, Jefferson still tried to follow the policy of neutrality.
-Not only were our ships being seized, but the British were also impressing , or kidnapping American sailors to serve in the British navy. The British used the excuse that the men who they impressed were British deserters.
-The peak of American anger over impressment came in 1807 when a British ship
the Leopard opened fire on a U.S. ship the Chesapeake when the Americans
refused to let the British on their ship. 21 U.S. sailors were killed or injured.
-In the Barbary States of North Africa, the American ships faced different threats. It was piracy or robbery at sea. For many years pirates sailed around the Mediterranean Sea preying on merchant ships and holding their crews for ransom.
-Under Washington and Adams we quietly sent tribute to the Barbary States rulers
in exchange for the safety of American ships.
-By the time Jefferson became president the U.S. had paid the Barbary States
around $2 million in tribute. Still the ruler of Tripoli demanded more tribute.
To prove he was serious about this, he declared war on the U.S.
-So the question for Jefferson, go to war with Tripoli, and he hated war,
or pay them tribute, which he also hated doing.
What Happened: Jefferson Solves Half the Problem
-Jefferson hated paying the tribute more than he hated war. So inn 1802 he sent a small group of ships to the Mediterranean to protect American shipping. This small war went on for a few years until the U.S. ship the Philadelphia, ran into a hidden reef. The captain and crew were held for ransom.
-A year later Tripoli agreed to stop demanding tribute payments, and in return the
U.S. paid $60,000 ransom for the crew of the Philadelphia. A much better
bargain than the $3 million they first demanded.
-Other Barbary States pirates still attacked ships in the Mediterranean, so
U.S. and British naval forces finally destroyed all pirate bases.
-At this same time Jefferson tried to get the British and French to leave U. S. ships alone.
This was to no avail. Between 1803 and 1807 Britain had seized around a 1,000 U.S. ships and France had done about half that.
-Since diplomacy failed Jefferson proposed an Embargo , a complete halt in trade
with other nations. The Embargo Act of 1807 said that no foreign ships could
enter U.S. ports and no U.S. ships could leave, except to trade at other U.S. ports.
-Jefferson hoped this would cause Britain and France so much pain that they
would leave U.S. ships alone.
-The Embargo though was actually more painful for the U.S. Over 55,000
seaman lost their jobs, deserted docks rotted. Newspapers called it Jefferson’s
“Dambargo”. So the Embargo Act was repealed in 1809. U.S. ships returned to
the seas, and the attacking continued to take place.

Dilemma 3: What Should President Madison Do to Protect Sailors and Settlers?
-James Madison offered France and Britain a deal to protect Americans at sea. It was that if you agree to stop attacking U.S. ships, the U.S. will stop trading with your enemy.
-Napoleon agreed to Madison’s deal right away, but at the same time told his navy to keep seizing U.S. ships that were headed to British ports. Madison believed him and cut off all trade with Britain.
-The British though kept seizing U.S. ships and impressing American sailors. So
Madison began to think about moving away from Washington’s policy of isolationism and going to war with Britain.
-New Englanders and Federalists did not want to go to war. The merchants were worried that a war would lead to a blockade of their ports by the British Navy. They would rather take their chances with the sea. People in the South and West favored war.
They didn’t like the impressing of U.S. sailors and they accused the British of stirring up trouble with Native Americans in the states and territories of the Northwest.
-As settlers moved into the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys they pushed Indians off their lands. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh tried to unite Native Americans up and down the Mississippi River to fight back. In the Battle of Tippecanoe Creek, William Henry
Harrison and his militia group from Indiana took on Tecumseh’s men. After the battle
British weapons were found on the battlefield.
-This angered many Americans, and several congressman from South
Carolina and Kentucky started calling for war against the British. They became known as the War Hawks. They felt the only way to make the Western Frontier safe was to drive the British out of Canada and add it to the U.S.
-Losses at Sea, National Pride, and a desire to make the frontier safe for settlement were all reasons why people were calling for war. Madison was still not sure about war. Were we strong enough to go to war?
What Happened: Madison Launches the War of 1812
-Congress declared war on Britain on July 17, 1812 at President Madison’s request. This was a big step for a nation with an army of 7,000 poorly trained men and a navy of 16 ships.
-War Hawks were excited over war. They thought it would be easy to take
Canada, but for three straight years U.S. forces were turned back when they entered
Canada.
-The British had a hard time too. They lost navy battle on Lake Erie to Oliver
Hazard Perry and his U.S. naval forces. Tecumseh died fighting with the British in land battles related to this event.
-By 1814 Napoleon and the French were defeated in Europe, so the British were able to send 15,000 more troops to Canada to fend off the U.S. Our hopes of conquering
Canada were over.
-That same year, another British army invaded D.C., burned many building downs, including the Capitol Building and the White House. Madison had to flee for his life. The British then attacked Baltimore, where the American lawyer Francis Scott Key watched as the British bombed Fort McHenry. This took place all night and Henry was thrilled to see the American Flag still waiving when dawn broke. He wrote down his feelings in a poem that later became the Star Spangled Banner.

-After the U.S. won at the Battle of Lake Champlain, most people back in Britain would not have wanted to continue fighting the war. The problem was that it took time for the word to travel back there, so the British moved forward with their invasion of New
Orleans.
-General Andrew Jackson was the U.S. leader defending New Orleans with a group of 7,000 militia, free African Americans, Indians and pirates. Over 7,500 British troops marched into town and were destroyed by the U.S. forces. Over 2,000 British troops were killed or injured compared to 20 Americans.
-This was the greatest American victory of war, and it was unnecessary. Two weeks earlier, U.S. and British leaders met in Ghent, Belgium and signed a peace treaty ending the war. Word of this didn’t get to New Orleans until after the battle.
-Results of the war: Both sides claimed victory, but neither side really won the war of
1812. The Treaty of Ghent didn’t really solve any of the issues that caused the war either.
1. Indian resistance in the Northwest weakened after Tecumseh’s death.
2. National pride in the U.S. grew fast. Many viewed this war as the second for independence.
3. Politically this war damaged the Federalists, because they opposed the war.
Two future presidents came out of this war.

Dilemma 4: What Should President Monroe Do to Support the New Latin American Nations?
-Monroe became President in 1817, and was ready to return the nation to Washington’s policy of neutrality and isolationism. Most Americans were turning their attention away from Europe and towards the revolts going on from Mexico to the tip of South America.
-In Mexico the revolt against Spanish rule was inspired by a priest named Miguel Hidalgo. Hidalgo told a crowd of poor Indians that it was time to recover their lands that were stolen by the Spanish hundreds of years earlier. It inspired a revolution that lasted 10 years, when Mexico won independence in 1821.
-Simon Bolivar, led a revolution in 1810 in northern South America by saying, “Spaniards! You will receive death at our hands! Americans! You will receive life!”
-Jose de San Martin, a revolutionary leader in Argentina led the struggle for independence in the South. By
1825 Spanish troops were finally cleared out of South America all together.
-Many Americans and British supported these revolutions in Latin America. Spain did not allow other nations to trade with their colonies in Latin America, so now that they were free of Spanish rule, the New
Latin America had an open door to foreign trade.
-Some European countries were upset and talked about helping Spain recover their lost colonies.
In 1823 Britain asked the U.S. if they wanted to join together to tell the world to leave Latin America alone.
-Monroe asked former presidents whether the U.S. should do something to support the new Latin
American nations.
What Happened: The U.S. Issues the Monroe Doctrine
Jefferson and Madison both thought it was a good idea to join Britain and send a warning to the nations of
Europe.
-John Adams, the secretary of state, agreed with Jefferson, but he felt we should do it more dignified and speak for ourselves. Monroe agreed.
-In 1823 Monroe gave a speech to Congress announcing his policy, it became known as the Monroe
Doctrine . It stated that the nations of North and South America were not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. Also that the U.S. would view efforts by Europeans to take over any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous
-European nations saw this move as arrogant. On the other hand Americans loved it. Americans were proud to stand up for the people of Latin America.
-For the next few years the Monroe Doctrine joined isolationism as the basic principle of U.S. foreign policy. This doctrine asserted that the U.S. would not accept European interference in American affairs. There was also a hidden message in this, that the U.S. was no longer a weak collection of quarreling states, but a strong and confident nation.