Chapter 11
The Trials and Travails of the Jeffersonian
Republic
Part 3
Precarious Neutrality
In 1804, Jefferson won with a margin of 162 electoral votes to 14 for
his opponent, but the celebrating for T.J. was essentially nonexistent
because in 1803, Napoleon had deliberately provoked Britain into
renewing its war with France, and the still too young United States
was once again on the verge of being sucked into an unwanted
conflict.
As a result , American trade sank as England and France, unable to
hurt each other ( England owned the sea thanks to the Battle of
Trafalgar while France owned the land thanks to the Battle of
Austerlitz), resorted to indirect blows instead.
In 1806, London issues the Orders in Council, which closed ports
under French continental control to foreign shipping, including
American, unless they stopped at a British port first.
Precarious Neutrality
Likewise, Napoleon ordered the seizure
of all ships , including American, which
entered at British ports.
Impressment (illegal seizure of men
and forcing them to work on foreign
ships) also infuriated the U.S. as some
6,000 Americans were impressed from
1808-1811.
Precarious Neutrality
In 1807, a royal frigate the Leopard confronted
the U.S. frigate, the Chesapeake, about 10 miles
off the coast of Virginia, and the British captain
ordered the seizure of four alleged deserters.
When the American commander refused, the
U.S. ship received three devastating broadsides
that killed three Americans and wounded 18. In
an incident when England was clearly in the
wrong, Jefferson still clung to peace.
The Hated Embargo
In order to try to stop the British and French
seizure of American ships, Jefferson
resorted to an embargo on BOTH countries.
• Jefferson thought that Britain and France relied
on American goods (raw materials, food), BUT it
was actually the opposite - Americans relied on
Europe’s manufactured goods.
• Also, the U.S. still had a weaker army and navy.
The Hated Embargo
The Embargo Act of 1807 forbade the export of goods from the
United States to any country, regardless if the goods were transported
by American ships or foreign ships.
This resulted in deserted docks and rotting ships in the harbors. The
embargo actually hurt the same New England merchants he was trying
to protect.
The Hated Embargo
The commerce of New
England was harmed more
than Britain or France’s
commerce.
Farmers of the South and
West were alarmed by the
mounting supply of
unexportable cotton, grain,
and tobacco.
Illegal trade mushroomed in
1808 and smuggling was
common again
The Hated Embargo
Finally, coming to their senses and feeling the
public’s anger, Congress repealed the act on
March 1st, 1809, three days before Jefferson’s
retirement, and replaced it instead with the NonIntercourse Act, which reopened trade with all
nations in the world except France and Britain.
But this had basically little effect on helping the
damaged economy because Americas #1 and #2
trade partners were France and Britain!
Thus, economic coercion continued from 18091812 when war finally struck.
The Hated Embargo
The embargo failed for two main reasons.
(1) Jefferson underestimated the bulldog
British and their resilience in not being
forced to depend on American goods.
(2) He didn’t continue the embargo long
enough, or tightly enough, to achieve its
purpose.
The Hated Embargo
Even Jefferson admitted that the
embargo ended up three times more
costly than the war itself and he could
have built a strong navy instead with the
money used from potential tariff revenue.
Thus, during the time of the embargo, the
Federalist Party – considered largely toast
after Hamilton’s death - regained some of
its lost power due to the weak economy.
The Hated Embargo
On the bright side, however, during the
embargo, resourceful Americans opened
new (and reopened old) factories.
Thus—the embargo ultimately helped to
promote industrialism in America, clearly
another irony since Jefferson had been
committed to an agrarian nation while his
archrival Hamilton had been devoted to
industry!
The Hated Embargo
• Also, the embargo actually DID affect
Britain, and had it been continued over an
extended time, it MIGHT have succeeded.
• In fact, two days before Congress
declared war in June 1812, London
ordered the Orders in Council to be
suspended. Had America known this fact,
the coming war would have likely have
been averted!
Madison’s Gamble
• After Jefferson’s term
ended, James Madison took
the oath of the presidency
on March 4, 1809 – and
continued the embargo…….
Madison’s Gamble
•
In 1810, Congress adopted a bargaining
measure called Macon’s Bill No. 2, which
while permitting American trade with all
the world, also promised American
restoration of trade to France and/or
England IF either dropped their
commercial restrictions.
•
Now, Napoleon had his opportunity to
capitalize:
- In August of 1810, he announced that
French commercial restrictions had been
lifted, and the United States, desperate for
recognition of the law, declared France
available for American trade.
•
Of course, the sly Napoleon lied, and never
really lifted restrictions, but in the meantime,
America had been duped into believing so
and now entered potential warfare against
Great Britain!
Tecumseh and the Prophet
• In 1811, a 2nd generation of new, young
politicians swept away the older
“submission men” to take over
Congress. They appointed Henry Clay
of Kentucky, then 34 years old, to be
their leader as Speaker of the House.
• The western politicians cried out against
the Indian threat on the frontier. These
young, aggressive Congressmen were
known as “War Hawks”.
• Native American tribes had watched
with increasing apprehension as more
and more whites settled in Kentucky, a
traditionally sacred area where
settlement and extensive hunting was
not allowed except in times of scarcity.
•
The Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, decided that the time to act was now. He set about
gathering all of the tribes who had traditionally lived between the Appalachian
Mountains and the Mississippi River and urged them to unite in a last attempt to push
the “foreigners” back across the mountains.
•
Tecumseh argued eloquently for the Indian’s to not acknowledge the White
man’s “ownership” of land, and urged that no Indian should cede control of
land to whites unless ALL Indians agreed.
•
Tecumseh’s resistance movement was the last real Indian defiance of U.S.
encroachment east of the Mississippi River.
Scene from “Tecumseh” – Outdoor Drama at Chillicothe, Ohio
Tecumseh and the Prophet
• On November 7, 1811, American general
William Henry Harrison advanced upon
Tecumseh’s headquarters at Tippecanoe
(in present day Indiana) defeated the
Prophet, and burned the camp to the
ground.
• Tecumseh was reluctantly forced to side
with the British when his united Indian
movement was thwarted at Tippecanoe.
• He was ultimately killed by Harrison’s
Kentucky regiment at the Battle of the
Thames in 1813, and the Indian
confederacy dream perished.
• Simon Kenton, a scout in the American
army, personally identified Tecumseh’s
body, and the corpse was taken by the
Shawnee and secretly buried. To this
day, no one knows where…..
Simon Kenton was known to the Indians as "the
white man who cannot be killed" because, no
matter what they did to him, he kept coming back.
Simon Kenton & Tecumseh
•
Meanwhile, in the South, General
Andrew Jackson crushed the
Creek Indians at the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend on March 27,
1814, effectively breaking the Indian
rebellion and leaving the entire area
east of the Mississippi open for safe
settlement.
•
The War Hawks cried that the only
way to get rid of the Indians was to
wipe out their base, Canada, the
British headquarters in America
from where they were supplying the
hostile tribes.
•
Ultimately, war was finally declared
against Britain in 1812, with a
House vote of 79 to 49 and a very
close Senate vote of 19 to 13
showing obvious American disunity
over the matter of war.
Mr. Madison’s War
• Why did America go to war with Britain and not France?
Because England’s impressments of American sailors
stood out, France was allied more with the JDRs, and
Canada was a very tempting prize that seemed relatively
easy to capture, a “frontiersman’s frolic.”
• However, New England, which was still making lots of
money trading with Britain, despised the idea of war with
their most valuable customer!
• Federalists opposed the war because (1) they were
more inclined toward Britain anyway and (2) if Canada
was conquered, it would add more agrarian land to the
USA and only increase JDR supporters.
Mr. Madison’s War
In brief, America’s reasons for
entering the War of 1812 were…
• To avenge the manhandling of
American sailors.
• To defend American rights,
specifically “freedom of the
seas” – the U.S. wanted the right
to sail and trade without fear.
• To gain more territory; the
possibility of land – the U.S.
might gain Canada or Florida.
• To wipe out continued Indian
resistance. Americans were still
upset about British guns being
given to Indians.
Mr. Madison’s War
• The nation became sectionalized: Generally,
the North was against war, the West and the
South were for the war.
• Thus, a disunited America had to fight both
Old England and New England in the War of
1812, since Britain was the enemy while
New England tried everything that they
could do to frustrate American ambitions in
the war……..
Washington’s Warning from the Grave