1807]

Effects of the Embargo

327

on Great

thereof." Even this severe measure could not secure the enforcement of the embargo; it led, however, to resistance to federal authority on Lake Champlain and threatened to lead to more formidable armed resistance in New England. 236. Effects of the Embargo. It is difficult to say Effect of the precisely what effect the embargo had, either at home embargo or abroad. It probably hastened a commercial crisis in Britain. Great Britain, which would have occurred had there been no embargo. This crisis affected the working classes of Britain, but as they had no political power their wishes for a change in England's commercial policy passed unheeded. The rulers of Britain regarded the embargo as rather beneficial to her interests, inasmuch as it operated to weaken the Republican party in the North and to increase the strength and energy of the Federalists.

Napoleon welcomed it and made it the excuse for two On France. more decrees: one of them, issued at Bayonne (1808),

directed the seizure of all American vessels, on the ground that no ship flying the flag of the United States. could legally navigate the seas; the other decree, issued at Rambouillet (1810), ordered the confiscation of vessels then in French hands.

In America, the embargo pressed heavily on Jefferson's On America. political supporters, the tobacco planters of Virginia, as large portions of their tobacco crops were unsalable. Many planters were ruined; others were seriously crippled. The shipowners of New England and the Middle states saw their ships lying idle when rates of freights were at the highest point. They evaded the law as long as they could, and at length, when forced to desist, they turned their attention to manufacturing. From a constitutional and political point of view, the embargo worked a positive benefit, as the attempts to enforce it compelled the Republicans to resort to the implied powers under the Constitution, and to adopt almost the ground occupied by the Federalists in 1798, which Jefferson and Madison had so strongly condemned in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. By

Non-
intercourse

Act, 1809.
Schouler's
United

States, II,

207-219.

January, 1809, it was evident that to avoid civil strife the embargo policy must be abandoned. Madison had meantime been elected President (November, 1808), and to him Jefferson confided the initiation of a new policy.

237. The Non-intercourse Act, 1809. In February, 1809, it became known that Madison was in favor of a removal of the embargo in the following June; but no

sooner was the subject of repeal brought forward in Congress, than it was decided to repeal the embargo law at once. In its place was substituted a non-intercourse law. This would still prohibit commerce with Great Britain and France, but would, on the other hand, permit it with the few countries not under the control of either of the belligerents. The new policy, which was a better method of carrying out Jefferson's commercial theories, went into operation on the day of Madison's inauguration, March 4, 1309. Instantly, there was a great revival in the carrying trade; for, although Russia had now joined France in the

continental system, Spain and Portugal were

329

now free. This period witnessed a complete breaking down of the ordinary rules of international and commercial honesty. Napoleon gave licenses without number to British vessels to bring goods sorely needed by his soldiers into continental ports, while American papers, forged for the purpose, and also British protections,

concluded a treaty obliging Great Britain to withdraw the Orders in Council. Madison thereupon suspended nonintercourse with Great Britain. But Erskine had exceeded his instructions; the British government disavowed him, refused to ratify the treaty, and Madison was obliged to proclaim a renewal of non-intercourse with that country. The next British envoy was named Jackson. He proceeded to insult Madison, accusing him of having deceived Erskine, and repeated the accusation. Madison declined to communicate further with him and sent him home.

II, 313.

Bill, No. 2.

On May 1, 1810, Congress substituted for the Non- Macon's intercourse Act a modified commercial policy, which was contained in a bill known as Macon's Bill, No. 2, from the name of the member who introduced it. This law provided for the immediate cessation of non-intercourse; but in case

The
President

and Little

Belt.
Maclay's

one of the belligerents should revoke his decrees or orders, and the other should not, non-intercourse should be proclaimed against the refractory country. Both France and Great Britain promised to change their policy as soon as the other changed his. But that was all they would do. So the offensive decrees and orders continued, and so, too, did non-intercourse.

239. Declaration of War, 1812. In the gathering gloom of a May evening (1811), the American frigate President and the British sloop of war Little Belt found themselves near together. Owing to some mischance, not now clearly Navy, 1, 314. discernible, they fired on each other, and the Little Belt was badly crippled. This affair induced the American people to feel more kindly about the Chesapeake outrage, and reparation was accepted without a settlement of the whole question of impressment, which in this way remained to keep alive a spirit of resentment toward the British nation. Another cause of ill feeling was the ever-recurring Indian troubles in the West, some of which were plainly traceable to British intrigues. The most formidable of these was a revolt set on foot by an energetic Indian chief named Tecumthe or Tecumseh, who had formed a strong Indian federation. Gathering a small force of regulars, and volunteers from among the settlers of the West, William Henry Harrison marched to the principal Indian town on Tippecanoe River and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Indians (1811). Tecumthe joined the British, and thus justified the suspicions of the Western settlers.

Cause of the

War of 1812.
Johnston's
Orations,

I, 205-215.

Another cause of the approaching conflict was the tone of self-satisfied superiority with which the British government and people were accustomed not merely to look upon the American people, but to speak of them, and even to address representatives of the United States government. For example, Lord Liverpool, at the moment Prime Minister, declared in 1813 from his place in Parliament that America "ought to have looked to this country as the guardian power to which she was indebted not only for her comforts, not

1812]

Declaration of War

331

only for her rank in the scale of civilization, but for her very existence." The impressment controversy was now at its height, and British hostility to American commerce was as keen as ever. Bearing all these things in mind, it is not to be wondered at that the United States declared war against Great Britain; it is indeed remarkable that the outbreak of hostilities was postponed until 1812.

United

States,

II, 372;

Schurz's
Clay (S. S.).

The declaration of war was the work of a new set of Declaration of war, 1812. political leaders, whose influence for good or evil was to dominate American politics for the next forty years. Foremost among them was Henry Clay, born in Virginia, but Henry Clay. now living in Kentucky; perhaps no American politician Schouler's has ever had a more faithful band of followers or has ever shown worse judgment. Henry Clay entered the House of Representatives for the first time in 1811, and was at once elected Speaker. Another of the newcomers was John C. Calhoun of South Carolina; at this period he was an ardent advocate of nationalization and of devoting the federal resources to the promotion of the general welfare of the people, especially, he advocated a policy of protection (S. S.). to "young industries." Subsequently, he became the champion of the other side, and by his fearlessness and powerfully logical faculties set forth the cause of state's rights in the clearest and most forcible manner. Two years later, Daniel Webster of New Hampshire, the third of this group, Daniel entered Congress.

John C.
Calhoun.

Von Holst's

Calhoun

Webster.

Lodge's
Webster

(S. S.);

United

Clay represented the unrest of the Western people and their desire for the conquest of Canada. With the aid of other new men, he forced from the reluctant President his Schouler's consent to a declaration of war against Great Britain. It States, is said that Madison was given to understand that his III, 298. renomination for the presidency depended on his agreeing to this policy; it is certain that he was drawn into the conflict against his wishes; but the New England Federalists always called it "Mr. Madison's War."