During President Jefferson's second term, relations between the United States and Europe became increasingly tense. Great Britain was at war with France, again. President Jefferson wanted to keep the United States out of the conflict, but neither France nor Great Britain respected US neutrality.
Both Britain and France tried to prevent Americans from trading with their enemy. British and French war ships regularly seized American merchant ships. The British even captured and forced American sailors to serve in their Navy! This was known as impressment.
President Jefferson knew that Britain and France both relied on the United States for natural resources. He thought that if he cut off trade, the two European nations would miss US resources so much they would agree to let the merchant ships travel freely.
In 1807, Jefferson asked Congress to pass the Embargo Act to forbid American ships from trading with European nations, but the new law backfired. Britain and France just traded with other countries but the US was without any trading partners. Americans became furious at President Jefferson because they began losing money. The Embargo Act hurt the US economy and punished Americans instead of France and Britain. Without this trade, the United States economy began to collapse.
The money generated by trading exports declined from 108 million in 1807, to 22 million in 1808. President Jefferson’s Embargo Act had failed. Faced with criticism and hostility on all sides, Jefferson decided not to seek a third term as president. The passage of the Embargo Act was the worst thing that happened to Jefferson during his presidency. Voters elected James Madison (Democratic Republican) fourth President of the United States.
When James Madison became the fourth US president in 1809, England and France had been at war for years. Thomas Jefferson had kept the country neutral and had prevented the US from being drawn into a foreign conflict. Neutrality, however, seemed impossible.
Under new President James Madison, the US began trading with Europe again in March of 1809.
But Americans were still upset with the British for the impressment of its soldiers and focused most of their anger on Great Britain because this. Britain seized far more ships than France and France didn't impress American soldiers. Americans felt outraged at the thought of US citizens being forced to serve the British crown. Britain had the strongest navy in the world. The U.S. Navy was still small and the US wanted to avoid war at sea with a superior power.
After years of the British impressing US soldiers and under mounting pressure, Congress was called into session in November 1811 to discuss with the problems with Great Britain. Congressmen who supported going to war were referred to as War Hawks, and the ones who didn't want war were called Peace Doves. The hawks were extremely vocal and they calling for war with Great Britain over the impressment of US soldiers.
Led by newly elected speaker of the House of Representatives, Henry Clay, the hawks looked at Britain as an enemy. They hoped that war with Great Britain would lead to an invasion of Canada and significant territorial gains for the United States.
In June 1812, the British government decided it was willing to re-open trade with the United States. Unfortunately, by the time President Madison got the message, it was too late. The two nations were already at war!