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274 PART 3 REVOLUTION AND REPUBLICAN CULTURE, 1754%u20131800The War of 1812 and the Transformation of%u00a0Politics What elements of Federalist political philosophy survived the end of the First Party System?The Napoleonic Wars that ravaged Europe after 1802 brought new attacks on American merchant ships. American leaders struggled desperately to protect the nation%u2019s commerce while avoiding war. When this effort finally failed, it sparked dramatic political changes that destroyed the Federalist Party and split the Republicans into National and Jeffersonian factions.Conflict in the Atlantic and the WestAs Napoleon conquered European countries, he cut off their trade with Britain and seized American merchant ships that stopped in British ports. Britain responded with a naval blockade and seized American vessels carrying sugar and molasses from the French West Indies. The British navy also searched American merchant ships for British deserters and used these raids to replenish its crews, a practice known as impressment. Between 1802 and 1811, British naval officers impressed nearly eight thousand sailors, including many U.S. citizens. In 1807, American anger boiled over when a British warship attacked the U.S. Navy vessel Chesapeake, killing three, wounding eighteen, and seizing four alleged deserters. %u201cNever since the battle of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation as at present,%u201d Jefferson declared.The Embargo of 1807 To protect American interests, Jefferson pursued a policy of peaceful coercion. The Embargo Act of 1807 prohibited American ships from leaving their home ports for foreign destinations until Britain and France stopped restricting U.S. trade. A drastic maneuver, the embargo overestimated the reliance of Britain and France on American shipping and underestimated the resistance of merchants, who feared the embargo would ruin them. In fact, the embargo cut the American gross national product by 5 percent and weakened the entire economy. Exports plunged from $108 million in 1806 to $22 million in 1808, hurting farmers as well as merchants. %u201cAll was noise and bustle%u201d in New York City before the embargo, one visitor remarked; afterward, everything was closed up as if %u201ca malignant fever was raging in the place.%u201dDespite popular discontent over the embargo, voters elected Republican James Madison %u2014Jefferson%u2019s heir and closest political ally %u2014to the presidency in 1808. A powerful advocate for the Constitution, the architect of the Bill of Rights, and a prominent congressman and party leader, Madison had served the nation well. But the conflict he inherited with Britain and France appeared unresolvable. Just before he took office, Congress replaced the Embargo Act with the less restrictive Non-Intercourse Act of 1807, which restored some overseas trade while attempting to pressure Britain and France more directly. This act failed as well, both in its effort to ensure U.S. neutrality and in its attempt to restore and protect American commerce.Western War Republican congressmen from the West had additional grievances with Great Britain. They pointed to its trade with Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley in violation of the Treaty of Paris and Jay%u2019s Treaty. Bolstered by British guns and supplies, the Shawnee war chief Tecumseh revived the Western Confederacy in 1809. His brother, the prophet Tenskwatawa, provided the confederacy with a powerful nativist ideology. He urged Native Americans to shun European Americans, %u201cthe children of the Evil Spirit . . . who have taken away your lands%u201d; renounce exam tipAs you read, consider how the events surrounding the War of 1812 show the United States attempting to establish a new global presence.Embargo Act of 1807An act of Congress that prohibited U.S. ships from traveling to foreign ports in an attempt to deter Britain and France from halting U.S. ships at sea. The embargo caused grave hardships for Americans engaged in overseas commerce.%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.