During Jefferson's administration the English government was involved in a long war with Napoleon, who had made himself Emperor of the French, and had conquered a great part of western Europe. During this war England was in need of seamen for the navy. The officers of the English navy were allowed to impress British seamen from merchant-vessels—that is, to force them to serve on people-of-war. But England had also long claimed the right to impress her own subjects when found on ships of other nations. Every person born in Great Britain who sailed before the mast in an American vessel was liable to be seized by an English person-of-war. More than this, English naval officers were allowed to judge whether a person was a native of England or not, and thousands of natives of America were impressed on British ships. It was very exasperating to Americans to have their ships stopped on the high-seas and searched, and their citizens forced to serve in the navy of a foreign power. But England was all-powerful on the sea, and the United States had to bear with such insults or give up sailing ships.

During this war between England and France, which shook the whole civilized world, our country tried to be neutral. But England wished to interrupt our trade with the countries under control of France, while Bonaparte issued orders to check our trade with England. The decrees which these two powers issued one after the other became so severe at last that our ships could not sail to any port without the greatest danger of being seized by the cruisers of one or the other power. As the English were much stronger at sea than the French, they did us the more harm.

If our country had been strong, it would not have borne such outrages, but it was then far from being prepared for a war with England. President Jefferson was very anxious to avoid war, and to go on paying off the debt of the country, which was his leading purpose. The President thought that the United States might get the offensive decrees repealed by stopping all its trade with the outside world. An act was therefore passed in December, 1807, forbidding the departure of vessels from American ports. This was known as "The Embargo of 1807," or "Jefferson's Embargo." The embargo was the only very unfortunate act of Jefferson's administration, which, up to this time, had been most popular. It was like destroying our own commerce to keep others from ruining it. While our ships rotted in port, English ships got the trade we had lost. New England and New York suffered heavily by the destruction of their commerce, and there were even some hot-headed people in the Eastern States who talked of dissolving the Union. The embargo was called a "terrapin policy," as though the country had pulled its head and feet into its shell, as a terrapin does when frightened. The embargo lasted about fourteen months. The law was repealed in 1809.

In 1808, James Madison, of Virginia, was elected to succeed Jefferson. He was the candidate of the Republican, or Democratic, party, for, notwithstanding the unpopularity of the embargo, the Federalist party was now so much in the minority that it carried but a little over one fourth of the electoral vote. George Clinton, of New York, was elected Vice President.

In 1811 the irritation of the American people against England was increased by the outbreak of an American Indian war in the Northwest. It was believed that English agents furnished arms to the American Indians and encouraged their hostility to the settlers. The American Indians were at this time under the control of the great Shawnee chief Tecumseh and his brother, who was called "the Prophet," and who pretended to speak by inspiration. In July, 1811, General Harrison, Governor of Indiana Territory, fought a battle with the American Indians at Tippecanoe and Tecumseh, who was absent when this defeat took place, afterward entered the British service.

Tecumseh and "the Prophet." — These two American Indians were brothers, born at the same time, and of the Shawnee tribe. Tecumseh was a warrior, while his brother wrought upon the superstitions of the American Indians by falling into trances and pretending to be a prophet. He carried about a string of sacred beans and other objects of reverence. He and Tecumseh deserted their own tribe and settled on the Wabash, where the fame of the prophet's visions drew multitudes of American Indians from various tribes to him. When any chief or other influential person opposed the schemes of the brothers, the Prophet had influence enough to have him put to death for witchcraft. Tecumseh took the position that all the country belonged to all the tribes in common, and that the tribes who had sold their lands to the Europeans had done what they had no right to do. He wished to force the government to give up all lands north of the Ohio. He traveled from tribe to tribe, trying to form a confederacy of all. The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in his absence, and the defeat of the American Indians there deranged his plans. But the successes of the British in the Northwest revived his scheme. He was made a brigadier-general in the British army, and at the surrender of Detroit the British general Brock put his own scarf on Tecumseh as a mark of distinction. The Shawnee, though fond of this decoration, put the scarf on Round Head, an older warrior of the Wyandott tribe. Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of the Thames, in Canada, in 1813. He was one of the ablest people of his time.

In June, 1812, the United States declared war against England. Preparations were immediately made for invading Canada; but the Americans had rushed into war without being ready, and they met nothing but disaster at first.

The Canadian authorities, on the other hand, had taken every precaution against invasion. The first blow was struck by them in the far-off wilderness. Fort Mackinaw, on an island in the straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, was captured by a force of English and American Indians before the American commander there had heard of the declaration of war. This removed all restraint from the already angry American Indians of the upper country, and gave to the English the support of the American Indian tribes.

General Hull, who had been sent to invade Canada by way of Detroit, was now an old person, unfit to command. He showed dullness and timidity, and when attacked in Detroit by a force of English, Canadians, and American Indians, he surrendered that post on the 16th of August, to the great grief of his troops and the indignation of the whole country.