In 1807, an event took place which nearly led to war.
The British frigate Leopard, cruising along the coast, hailed the American frigate Chesapeake, and demanded permission to search the ship.
The captain of the Chesapeake refused. Without a word of warning, the Leopard fired into the Chesapeake, killing and wounding more than twenty men.
The American captain had not dreamed of such an outrage. His vessel had just put to sea and everything was in confusion. He did not even have a gun in condition to return the fire. So he lowered his flag and surrendered.
The officers of the Leopard then came on board and carried off four men from the crew.
The United States would have declared war at once if England had not apologized.
The President, at this time, was Thomas Jefferson. He was a man of peace. He called a session of Congress to see if the trouble could not be settled without war.
As a result of this session, a law was passed known as the Embargo Act. By this law, no vessel was allowed to sail from the United States to any foreign country.
In order to enforce the law, Congress ordered a number of gunboats to be built. These were to sail up and down the coast, and prevent any vessel from entering or leaving the ports.
Lieutenant Perry was ordered to superintend the building of a fleet of these gunboats at Newport. After they were built, he was put in command of them, and ordered to patrol Long Island Sound.