Notes CH 11 Part 2
The Louisiana Godsend
Why is there a problem… Napoleon takes La. Back from Spain in 1800… his initial
intention is to create a new world empire, However, this was a secret at this point.
Spain takes away the right of deposit in 1802… The Pickney Treaty of 1795
signed after the Jay Treaty with GB… had given us this right… all of a sudden it was
withdrawn….
The problem was that western farmers sent their goods down the Miss. R. to
warehouses in NO so that it could be sold and shipped out… Without this right of
deposit… they have no way…other than crossing the Mtns (the miss r. does not flow
North to the gt lakes and there is no powered shipping yet)
Jefferson knew that without this support and with the possibility that Napoleon
coming to the new world… he would have to align the USA W/GB and that would
mean WAR etc…soooooo…. He sends Robert Livingston and James Monroe To
France with authorization to spend 10$milion to purchase NO and any lands
to the EAST…
What happens….The Haitian slave revolution led by Toussant la”Overture is
successful… Napoleons troops die in huge #’s from yellow fever… and Napoleon at
this point is fed up with the New World and decides to offer the USA ALL OF
LOUISIANA FOR 15$MILLION DOLLARS, he would use that $ to fund an attempt to
take over all of Europe…
How do we respond… of course we say YES…
828,000 square miles for 3 cents an acre-the richest river valley in the world… a
bargain…
Note: While in Paris Robert Livingston sees steam powered boats on the Seine…he
comes home and partners with Robert Fulton… and they begin the Transportation
revolution with Steam powered Riverboats in NYC…”Fulton’s Folly.”
Jefferson is troubled, however, it is not constitutional… to do this… BUT he decides
to do it anyway and the Senate approves this easily… it sets a precedent for the USA
acquire land & its people by purchase…repeated often in the future (this is another
example of jefferson’s consistent inconsistency)
This fulfills in Jefferson’s view the future of America as an Agricultural nation…He
calls LA. The “Valley of Democracy.”
In 1804, Jefferson asks Meriwether Lewis, his personal secretary, and a young
Army officer, William Clark, to explore the Northern part of the Louisiana
Purchase… Lewis and Clark’s expedition spent 2.5 years and made it to the Pacific
Coast in Oregon and back…with the help of Sacajawea…who actually gives birth to
her first child on the trip and saved the expedition several times…(see map of
expedition route on p 224)
Scientific observations, building relationships with the native peoples, maps, a
journal and samples of plants and animals are returned to Jefferson and with the aid
of the press advertising this bountiful land leads to hordes or pioneers heading
west along the Oregon Trail in upcoming decades….following the trappers as
guides across the West and beginning a true American story…Pioneer Men and
Women entering the wilderness and interacting with the varied physical geography as
well as the varied peoples that populate the West…THE AMERICAN STORY
The Aaron Burr Conspiracies
The purchase of Louisiana was obviously a gain for the USA…however…you may be
able to purchase the land…BUT …the question is can you GOVERN IT…the power of
the Federal gov’t is also expanded simultaneously…in its attempt to govern this vast
expanse…
Burr comes on the scene again…he first fails to lead NE into secession, Hamilton
exposes the plot and yet dies in a DUEL with Burr in NJ over the conflict.
Burr next plots with General James Wilkerson, military Governor of Louisiana, and a
spy for Spain, to break the Trans-Mississippi West away from the USA… In 1806
Burr with 60 rivermen meets Wilkerson in Natchez…but the General learned that
Jefferson knew what Burr was up to and betrayed Burr and fled to NO…Burr was
arrested and tried for treason…in a hearing led by Chief Justice John Marshall, Burr
is acquitted… Marshall and the Court rule that the intent of treason is not the same
as proving the act…Burr flees to Paris in an attempt to persuade Napoleon…he fails.
America: A Nutcracked Neutral
TJ is re-elected in a landslide in 1804…162 to 14. However, Napoleon, with the $$$
from America re-ignites the War in Europe that will last eleven years and lead to his
defeat….but in those 11 years he changes the face of Europe.
Great Britain controls the Seas, and Napoleon controls the continent…the Tiger and
the Shark… Both are fighting in one of the most Legendary wars in world history
and at this point they really don’t care about America at all…. However, as a pawn in
the game….America is manipulated by both nations, abused by Both nations…
Britain passes its “ORDERS IN COUNCIL,” AND NAPOLEON MAKES HIS “BERLIN
AND MILAN DECREES.” These trade restrictions attempt to control all trade with
Europe…. All Vessels were forced to stop in Britain first before landing in Europe
according to the British OIC…and according to the Napoleonic decrees, which orders
the seizure of all ships who stop in Britain…there was no way to trade with either
without upsetting the other…AMERICA WAS STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND A
ROCK 
The British were brutal towards America… The French, if our ships did stop in
Britain seized our ships and stole their cargoes…
IMPRESSMENT: Seamen forcibly taken off American merchant and Naval ships and
forcibly enlisted in the Royal Navy…some 6000 US citizens were forcibly taken
between 1808 and 1811 alone…(THIS is a Key reason for WAR)*** USS
Chesapeake…in 1807, 10 miles off the coast of Virginia is attacked and boarded by
British Navy… 4 American sailors are taken, killing 3 and wounding 18…Britain does
not apologize…
The Hated Embargo*** & Madison’s Gamble
How doe America react to the impressments and attacks? TJ (Madison later)
and Congress clearly want to avoid WAR…”peaceful coercion” is the
philosophy… this idea that the USA would use economic pressures to
manipulate an improved behavior by the British and French, who were at
war… is attempted until war begins…remember that TJ has cut our military
spending to almost nothing, built “mosquito” ships, so therefore we are very
weak…
Could this work? Britain and France were heavily dependent on America for
raw materials for their industries and food… both TJ and Madison hoped that
by denying these powers these goods it would influence their future
behavior…thus “peaceful coercion…”
****Three Acts of Congress attempt to influence the warring nations to leave
us alone…and hope that our actions could keep us out of this horrendous war
in Europe…
These 3 measures, esp. Embargo Act, crushes our economy and there are
many, esp. in New England, who suffer tremendously…but it hurt all of the
country, mounds of Cotton, Grain, and Tobacco sat on the docks all from the
South and West..
*1 Embargo Act 1807 -1809 – this act continues until the final days of TJ’s
Presidency…IT FORBADE THE EXPORT OF ALL GOODS FROM AMERICA WITH
ANYONE IN THE WORLD, WHETHER IN OUR SHIPS OR ANYONE ELSE’S…wow…
(of course many, in the great Am. Tradition attempt to ignore this and
smuggle, esp along the Canadian Border…but enforcement was harsh)
Effects: mentioned above…and also the short resurgence of the Federalist
party…in NE they borrowed the pre-pres Jeffersonian idea of “nullification”
and even spoke of secession…Britain and France withstood the attempted
manipulation…due to opening mkts. In Latin America and the
world…However, the policy continues with some minor adjustments under
Madison…
**2 Non-Intercourse Acts, 1809-1810- A slight adjustment to the
embargo…these acts passed by Congress and signed into law by new President
James Madison…. REOPENED TRADE WITH ALL NATIONS OF THE WORLD
EXCEPT BRITAIN AND FRANCE…
***3 MACON’S BILL NO.2, 1810-1812: this is the last of the Acts passed under
the philosophy of “peaceful coercion,” and this is what brings us to WAR…
in this instance Madison and Congress take a gamble….continuing to allow our
trade with all other countries…except… an offer to BR & FR… if either would
repeal their Orders in Council (GB) or Berlin & Milan Decrees
(FR)…allowing us to freely trade as a NEUTRAL nation should be able to..Then
the USA would embargo the other….
****Reaction: Napoleon tricks us… stating , in 1810, that they would be happy
to repeal their DECREES…IF…. Britain does so as well…MADISON, with little
choice America had to trade with one…, ACCEPTS THE FRENCH OFFER AS AN
IMPLIED PROMISE…AND PLACES AN EMBARGO AGAINST GREAT BRITAIN…
EFFECT: THIS ULTIMATELY LEADS TO WAR (another cause [see 11 part 2 RQ’s
for the list of causes]
NOTE: The Law of Unintended Consequences… Ironically, as much damage as
the three acts mentioned above and the subsequent War of 1812- 1815 does
to the US economy…IT FORCES THE BEGINNING OF THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION IN AMERICA… TJ and Madison with their philosophy of “peaceful
coercion,” and eventually War actually inspires many Americans to create and
begin MANUFACTURING and INDUSTRIAL businesses to replace the goods
once purchased for foreign countries… This BOOM begins a transformative
change in the American Economy and is the spur to the development of the
Industrial Giant America becomes… eventually replacing agriculture as the
primary economic engine of the USA… TJ and Madison both dreamed of an
American Agricultural Nation of small independently owned farmers… the
dream is given a fatal blow by their own policies…ironically 
Tecumseh and the Prophet (other reasons to go to war…)
****Note: great short articles are posted in the documents section for both chapters 11
& 12… including one on Tecumseh and his brother from “Smithsonian” magazine 
WAR HAWKS – newly elected congressmen… most were Young, from South and
West…(Those that support war are called HAWKS …those that oppose DOVES)
Why war? Wanted their own glory…like the rev. generation…, hated being
bullied by impressment, trade restrictions, and having the British on their frontier
inciting the Indians, calamitous and continuous battles arise during this period
across all of the frontier [quote Henry Clay bbox p229 in digital edition of textbook]
Tecumseh & Tenskwatawa (Prophet)
Shawnee brothers who attempt to create a Confederacy of all Native American
tribes east of the Miss. River. They inspire many in a vibrant movement which
stressed unity and cultural renewal by returning to their traditional ways and
eschewing European influences…esp. selling Natives Land…[see bbox quote bottom
p 230 in digital edition of textbook] they also encouraged no use of alcohol and
their goal was to push the white settlers back and preserve their lands. {great
article in the docs}
American response: WH Harrison, Gov. of Indiana Territory, raises an Army and in
the fall of 1811 at TIPPACANOE…the Prophet, Tecumseh was traveling and speaking
to other tribes, meets Harrison’s army and is crushed… The Battle of Tippacanoe
makes Harrison and national hero (later elected as the 1st Whig Pres. in 1840 with
the slogan, “Tippacanoe and Tyler, too”) This drives Tecumseh into an alliance with
the British during the War of 1812…he later dies during the War at the Battle of the
Thames in southwestern Ontario…and with him his dream of an Indian
Confederacy…
****NOTE: here are links to two short pieces about Tecumseh… I especially love the
bottom poem; attributed to him…it was most recently used in a movie about the
American Seal Teams… A father who dies asks his fellow Seal to give this to his
son…WOW
Docs:
- Concerning the philosophy of Tecumseh…
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/tecumosages.html
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Wisdom/Tecumseh.html (scroll to last quote at
the bottom of the page – CALLED “WISE WORDS OF TECUMSEH”…a poem…”Live
your Life”) THIS IS A GREAT POEM AND LESSON FOR LIFE****
Mr. Madison’s War
Why do we go to War? We are bullied for many years and we attempt “peaceful
coercion,” but are backed into a corner… Madison and the Republicans came to
believe that only a vigorous assertion of American rights could demonstrate the
viability of American Nationhood and of democracy as a form of government…”If
America could not fight to protect itself, its experiment in republicanism would
be discredited in the eyes of a scoffing world.”
There were various causes: Impressment, Inciting the Indians in the West,
Unreasonable Trade restrictions, Expansionists in Congress wanting to acquire both
Canada and Florida…yet most significant is protecting the honor of our nation…
Madison asks Congress for a Declaration of War against Britain June 1, 1812
The House of Representatives voted in favor: 79 -49
The Senate votes in favor: 19 -13
The Nation was clearly DIVIDED. (sectionally and politically)
-Most support for the war was from the Democratic-Republicans who lived in the
South and West.
-Most opposition for the war was from Federalists who lived in New England.
Eventually, the actions of the Federalists during the war will bring discredit and a
fatal blow to the party…disappearing completely after 1816. NE-Federalist policies;
lent $ to Britain, sent food to Canada, invited Br. Armies into NY, Gov’s did not
permit their militias to serve outside their states...often called “Blue Lights,” due to
the citizens putting blue lanterns in their windows to warn British ships off the
coast of an American Naval ship leaving port , as a warning.
AMERICA IN 1812 GOES TO WAR AGAINST THE MOST POWERFUL NATION ON
EARTH, AGAIN…THIS TIME DIVIDED…AND NOT PREPARED FOR WAR. THIS IS
THE LAST SCENE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GENERATION AND DUE TO AN
UNPREDICTABLE CONCLUSION…. THE RISE OF THE POST-REVOLUTIONARY
GENERATION AND NEW AMERICA.
.