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Chapter VI - Caught in the Middle Again, War Fever Rises
Caught in the Middle Again, War Fever Rises
Whereas Jefferson's first term was highly successful and productively conflicts with England and France during his second term proved disastrous for Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty." Until 1805 Jefferson had successfully avoided entanglement in European conflicts. In fact, American commerce steadily benefited from the struggle between England and France because America became the largest supplier of wheat and other produces to war-torn Europe. In 1805 Napoleon mastered western Europe when his troops defeated the armies of English allies, Russia and Austria, at Austerlitz. That same year, however, British Commander Lord Nelson also defeated the French and Spanish naval forces at the Battle of Trafalgar. Failing to strike decisive blows at one another, neither France nor Britain felt compelled to honor American neutrality or international law. Both continued to wage a savaged total war blockading and counter-blockading each other's trade with the hapless United States caught in the middle.
Finally, an incident at sea swept the United States into the European conflict and also demonstrated America's lack of military prowess. In June 1807 the forty-gun frigate U.S.S. Chesapeake left Norfolk, Virginia. Ten miles out in waters considered American territory, the British frigate Leopard abruptly accosted the Chesapeake. When the American captain refused to allow the British to search his ship for British deserters, the Leopard fired on the Chesapeake, killing three and wounding eighteen. Ill-prepared for battle, the captain of the Chesapeake surrendered and hopelessly watched as the British seized four American citizens' one of whom was hanged for desertion from the British Navy. Americans throughout the nation angrily clamored for revenge against Britain for this impressment of United States sailors. A Washington newspaper editorialized: "We have never, on any occasions witnessed such a thirst for revenge." Like John Adams, however, Jefferson resisted the war fever and tried a less drastic solution which ultimately led to disaster.
Jefferson stubbornly attempted to channel public outrage into plans for "peaceable coercion." On December 4, 1807, Congress passed the Embargo Act which stopped all export of American goods and prohibited American ships from clearing foreign ports. Unfortunately, the act also ended importation since foreign ships found it unprofitable to return from America without any goods. By 1808 exports fell eighty percent, devastating lucrative American trade. In New England, unemployment soared, idle ships rotted in port and "grass grew on the wharves," as newspapers vindictively attacked the "Dambargo." One popular cartoon showed John Bull, the symbol for England, holding the head of a cow and Napoleon holding the tail, while Jefferson vainly milked it without a bucket. One New Englander scornfully compared the embargo to "cutting one's throat to cure the nosebleed." Smuggling operations sprang up overnight, and merchants who were able to leave port before the embargo took effect made tremendous profits selling to France and Britain.
Those countries intended to suffer from the Embargo Act were only mildly afflicted. The British citizens most hurt were factory workers and West Indians who had no real voice in British government. In fact, English merchants actually profited since they quickly took over the trade relinquished by Americans. Furthermore, since the British blockade of Europe had already ended most trade with France, the embargo had little practical effect on the French. It did, however, give them a valid excuse to seize American ships that managed to escape the embargo. The French simply reasoned that the ships must be British ships in disguise since the embargo barred American ships from the Atlantic.
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