Proclamation by Jefferson and Madison.

Congress passed the Embargo Act in December of 1807 to restrict trading with European nations during the Napoleonic Wars. President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison, leaders of the Democratic-Republican party, pushed for this measure despite objections from the Federalist Party.

The United States stood to suffer greatly because of restrictions placed on England and its allies by France and on France by England. Ships could possibly be lost to both sides if the US did not abide by the restrictions imposed by the warring powers. Britain with its strong navy did more damage to Americans than could the French. British war ships seized American sailors off American merchants and impressed (forced) them into service on the British warships. At that time, British treatment of sailors was brutal and cruel and beyond anything that Americans would tolerate in their own navy. Impressment was a disaster for the American sailors and their families. The Chesapeake Affair, an unprovoked attack by the British ship, Chesapeake, on an American ship, brought the U.S. and Britain to the brink of war. Jefferson and Madison considered war at this point, but the Army and Navy were not ready, so they decided to use economic pressures to punish the British. (Jefferson and Madison were both wary of a standing army and strong navy, and must shoulder much of the blame for the unpreparedness.)

In addition, both Jefferson and Madison preferred to use what we today call economic sanctions rather than war. Economic sanctions had been used by colonies before the Revolution, and Jefferson and Madison wished to try them again.

The Federalists would have supported measures against France. However, they were pro-Great Britain, "the Mother Country," and resisted any sanctions against her. They believed that England was struggling for its survival, and they regarded Jefferson and Madison as tools of Napoleon. They fought the embargo and turned a blind eye to smuggling in New England, the Federalist stronghold.

The embargo was a failure. It failed to produce the recognition of American neutrality that Jefferson and Madison had envisioned. Traders in New England were hurt by the inability to do business with foreign nations, a pain only partially alleviated by smuggling. At the same time, Southern farmers were hit with huge losses because of the lack of markets for their goods. Illegal trading grew and calls for more states rights increased in response to the Embargo Act.

In March of 1809, Jefferson retired to Monticello and Madison took over as President. He was resolved to continue the use of economic sanctions as an alternative to war. That year, Congress passed the Non-Intercourse Act, which repealed the Embargo Act and allowed Americans to trade with all Europeans nations other than England and France. Not unexpectedly, it failed. In 1810 it was replaced by Macon's Bill No. 2. This bill provided for trade with both Britain and France unless one of those powers revoked its restrictions; in that case, the President was authorized to forbid commerce with the country that failed to revoke its offensive measures.

Ultimately, economic sanctions failed, and President James Madison recommended war with Great Britain in 1812. Madison, however, believed until his death that the sanctions had failed because of smuggling and because the Federalists had encouraged the British to believe the sanctions were unpopular and would not last. The Federalists would eventually pay for their pro-British policies. The party declined after the successful conclusion of the War of 1812 and disappeared forever from the American scene.

There is another larger sense in which Jefferson and Madison have triumphed. Today, the use of sanctions in preference to war is embedded in U.S. policy.