Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

Jefferson’s Foreign Policy

- Jefferson felt all along that the government should focus on domestic affairs and stay out of foreign affairs

- his idea of neutrality was doomed from the beginning because of the many merchants trading all over the world and westward expansion from the Louisiana Purchase

- expansion would bring Americans into closer contact with people from other nations who had already established settlements in the West

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

- lastly, Jefferson had little control over the actions of England and France

- the U.S. was fortunate to stay out of European wars after the French Revolution

Problems with France and England

- however, by 1805, England started clamping down on American ships that were providing supplies to their enemies

- England set up a partial blockade, which angered France and put our merchants into a difficult situation

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

- if our merchants followed the British stockade, the French would seize our ships and vice-versa

- England also interfered with the U.S. trade by impressment of American sailors to work on British ships

- from 1803 to 1812, England had impressed about 6,000 U.S. sailors

- many politicians & citizens were angry with Jefferson for not declaring war on England!

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

Trade as a Weapon

- instead of declaring war, Jefferson asked Congress to pass legislation that would stop all foreign trade

- in 1807, Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807, which no longer allowed U.S. merchants to sail to foreign ports & closed American ports to British ships

- the act was a disaster that ended up hurting our economy

- the embargo became a major issue in the election of 1808, which was won by James Madison

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

- by the time Madison took office, Congress had repealed the embargo and replaced with a law that allowed merchants to trade with any country except England & France

- this law proved no more effective than the embargo!

- Americans were furious with the British for their interference with shipping, impressment, and stirring up Native American resistance to frontier settlements in the Northwest Territory & Louisiana Territory

Tecumseh and Native American Unity

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

- since the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, Native Americans had lost a lot of land in Ohio & Indiana

- Tecumseh, a Shawnee chief, vowed to stop the loss of Native American land though the unification of many tribes

- in 1809, William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana Territory, signed the Treaty of Fort Wayne with chiefs of the Miami, Delaware, and Potawatomi tribes Tecumseh

William Henry Harrison

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

- the treaty sold over 3 million acres of land, but Tecumseh refused to recognize the treaty

- in November of 1811, the Shawnee tribe was defeated by Harrison’s forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe, severely crippling his efforts to unite more tribes against the U.S.

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers

War Hawks

- after the Battle of Tippecanoe, Tecumseh allied his warriors with the British in Canada

- many Americans began demanding war against England and they were named War Hawks

- War Hawks wanted the British out of Canada and their aid to the Native Americans stopped; some Americans wanted war because of the British violations at sea

- urged on by future president, Andrew Jackson, and War Hawks, Congress declared war on England June 18, 1812!!!

Ch.10, Sec.3 – Problems with Foreign Powers