The Embargo Act
Although Jefferson was re-elected in 1804 by a landslide victory, his popularity diminished greatly during his second term. The source of his troubles lay in Europe, where England and France were involved in the long, bitter Napoleonic Wars. England could not defeat Napoleon on land, but her navy was superior. Hence she blockaded the continent. France retaliated by counter-blockades. The United States, with a large merchant fleet but scarcely any navy, was caught in the middle. Hundreds of American ships were seized and their cargoes confiscated. Both England and France violated American neutral rights, but England, with the world’s strongest navy, was the chief offender. When a British warship, the Leopard, fired on and impressed American seamen from an American frigate, the Chesapeake, off the coast of Virginia, the United States was ready to fight.
President Jefferson, however, was determined to avoid war and answered the Chesapeake incident with a proclamation excluding British warships from American waters, but the British would not agree to stop impressing American seamen. In addition, to deal with the seizure of American ships, Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass the Embargo Act. This act forbade American ships to leave for foreign ports. The result was that American ships rotted in the harbors and depression hit American business. Yet England and France were not hurt enough to come to terms. The Embargo Act had to be repealed.