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232 PART 3 REVOLUTION AND REPUBLICAN CULTURE, 1754–1800

Conflict in the Atlantic and the West

As Napoleon conquered European countries, he cut off their commerce with Britain
and seized American merchant ships that stopped in British ports. The British minis-
try responded with a naval blockade and seized American vessels carrying sugar and
molasses from the French West Indies. The British navy also searched American mer-
chant ships for British deserters and used these raids to replenish its crews, a prac-
tice known as impressment. Between 1802 and 1811, British naval officers impressed
Embargo Act of 1807 nearly eight thousand sailors, including many U.S. citizens. In 1807, American anger
An act of Congress that prohibited U.S. ships
from traveling to foreign ports in an attempt boiled over when a British warship attacked the U.S. Navy vessel Chesapeake, killing
to deter Britain and France from halting three, wounding eighteen, and seizing four alleged deserters. “Never since the battle
U.S. ships at sea. The embargo caused grave of Lexington have I seen this country in such a state of exasperation as at present,”
hardships for Americans engaged in overseas
commerce. Jefferson declared.
The Embargo of 1807 To protect Amer-
ican interests, Jefferson pursued a policy
of peaceful coercion. The Embargo Act of
1807 prohibited American ships from leav-
ing 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 under-
estimated 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 farm-
ers as well as merchants. “All was noise and
bustle” in New York City before the embargo,
one visitor remarked; afterward, everything
was closed up as if “a malignant fever was rag-
ing in the place.”
Despite popular discontent over the
embargo, voters elected Republican James
Madison — Jefferson’s heir and closest political
ally — to the presidency in 1808. A powerful
advocate for the Constitution, the architect of
the Bill of Rights, and a prominent congress-
man 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
Tenskwatawa, “The Prophet,” 1830 Tenskwatawa added a spiritual dimension to overseas trade while attempting to pressure
Native American resistance by urging a holy war against the invading whites and calling Britain and France more directly. This act
for a return to sacred ancestral ways. His dress reflects his teachings: note the animal-skin failed as well, both in its effort to ensure U.S.
shirt and the heavily ornamented ears. However, some of Tenskwatawa’s religious rituals
reflected the influence of French Jesuits; he urged his followers to finger a sacred string neutrality and in its attempt to restore and
of beads (such as those in his left hand) that were similar to the Catholic rosary, thereby protect American commerce.
“shaking hands with the Prophet.” Whatever its origins, Tenskwatawa’s message tran-
scended the cultural differences among Indian peoples and helped his brother Tecumseh
create a formidable political and military alliance. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, Western War Republican congressmen
DC/Art Resource, NY. from the West had additional grievances

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