Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in
VOA Special English.
week in our series, Steve Ember and Shirley Griffith have the story of Thomas
Jefferson's final acts as president, and the election of James Madison.
closing days of eighteen-oh-seven, President Thomas Jefferson signed a bill
banning all trade with Europe. No ships could enter the United States, and no
ships could leave. The purpose of the trade ban was to keep America out of the
war between Britain and France.
acted to protect American traders, ship owners and sailors. Yet those were the
people who protested loudest against the ban. They were willing to take the
chance of having Britain or France seize their ship and goods. They could make
no money without trade.
situation quickly turned into a political battle between Jefferson's party, the
Republicans, and the opposition Federalists.
newspapers attacked Jefferson. They charged that he supported the trade ban to
help Napoleon Bonaparte. They called him a tool of France.
senator wrote a pamphlet against the trade ban. He urged northeastern states to
refuse to enforce it. Then he went even further. He met secretly with the
British official sent to Washington to discuss the situation. He told the
British official that President Jefferson would be forced out of office because
of the trade ban.
Federalists tried hard to get Congress to end the ban. But they were not
Jefferson did not believe that trade bans -- embargoes -- were the best way to
settle America's problems with other nations. But at the time, he thought an
embargo was the only way to deal with Britain and France, short of war. And he
did not want war.
economic policies had brought much progress during his two terms as president.
He had been able to pay much of the national debt, and still reduce taxes. He
also had begun several projects to improve communication and transportation
throughout the country. He was afraid that a war would destroy everything he had
simply wished to give the trade embargo a fair chance. "For a time,"
he wrote, "I think the embargo is less evil than war. But after a time,
this will not be so. If the war should continue in Europe, and if Britain and
France continue to act against us, then it will be for Congress to say if war
would not be better than the embargo."
hoped that the loss of American trade would force Britain and France to change
their policies toward the United States. And he hoped the change would come
quickly, for he knew the American people would not accept a long ban on trade.
British traveler visiting New York City described what the embargo had done. He
wrote: "The port is full of ships. But all of them are closed. Only a few
sailors can be seen. Many of the counting houses are closed. The coffee houses
are almost empty. The streets near the water are almost deserted. Grass has
begun to grow upon the docks."
northern industrial states felt the loss of trade most strongly. But the
agricultural South also was affected. Rich southern farmers and planters
suddenly found themselves poor.
was one of their major crops. And Britain bought more American tobacco than any
other country. Its price fell so low because of the embargo that it had almost
no value. The price of wheat fell from two dollars a bushel to seven cents a
bushel. Good farmland dropped in value until it was worth almost nothing.
Opposition to the embargo was growing.
was strongest in the Northeast. Ship owners and traders there believed that the
embargo was wrong. They continued to export goods secretly.
traders began sending goods over land to Canada. From there, the goods were
sent on to Britain. Congress passed a law against this kind of trade. But the
shipments did not stop. Too many people were willing to violate the law for the
large amounts of money they could make by trading secretly with Britain.
August, eighteen-oh-eight, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin had lost all hope
that the embargo would be successful. Gallatin told President Jefferson:
"The embargo is now defeated by open violations, by ships sailing without
permission of any kind."
of Jefferson's supporters gave the president this advice: "If the trade
ban could be enforced, and if the people would accept it, then I am sure it
would be the wisest course. But if it cannot be enforced completely, and if the
people will not accept it, then it will not answer its purpose. And it should
not be continued."
however, was not ready to give up his plan. In his last State of the Union
message to Congress, he painted a bright picture of the nation.
reported that American industry was making progress. Many goods which had been
imported before the embargo were now being made at home. He said almost all of
the national debt had been paid. And he said more than one hundred gunboats had
been built -- enough, he declared, to defend the country.
said nothing about opposition to the embargo. Nor did he talk of the serious
economic problems caused by it. He said only that Britain and France still
refused to honor American neutrality, and so the embargo must continue.
of the nation was not so sure. Congress began debating a number of proposals to
either lift or amend the embargo. And the opposition Federalist Party used the
issue to increase its strength in northeastern states. Eighteen-oh-eight was,
after all, a presidential election year.
Jefferson had served two four-year terms as president. No law prevented him
from running again. But Jefferson had decided years before that a man should be
limited to two terms as president.
such a limit, Jefferson believed, a powerful man might be able to keep the
position for as long as he wished. George Washington had served two terms, and
then retired. Jefferson would do the same.
members of Jefferson's Republican Party wanted to be president. One was James
Madison, the secretary of state. The second was James Monroe, who had served as
a special assistant to the president. The third was George Clinton, who was
vice president during Jefferson's second term.
Republican Party chose Madison as its candidate for president. It chose Clinton
as its candidate for vice president. The Federalist Party named the same
candidates it had chosen four years earlier: Charles Cotesworth Pinckney for
president, and Rufus King for vice president.
Federalists were sure of victory in the election. They thought that Jefferson's
embargo on trade had angered the people and turned them away from the
Republican Party. Even some Republicans felt the election could go very badly
for their party.
Jefferson remained calm. He believed that most Americans understood what he was
trying to do with the embargo. And he believed they would vote for his party's
candidate. Jefferson was right. Madison was elected.
said earlier, Congress was trying to resolve the issue of the embargo before
Jefferson left office.
first months of eighteen-oh-nine, it finally approved a bill. The bill lifted
the ban on trade with all European countries except Britain and France.
had hoped to continue the embargo a little longer and with more powers to
enforce it. He was not satisfied with the final bill. But he signed it anyway
on March first. Three days later, the fifteen-month-old embargo was dead. And
the United States had a new president.
will be our story next week.
program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Steve Ember and
Shirley Griffith. Join us each week for THE MAKING OF A NATION – an American
history series in VOA Special English. Transcripts, podcasts and MP3s of our
programs are at voaspecialenglish.com.
program #42 of THE
MAKING OF A NATION