The full story of the French Revolution and Empire will not be repeated here, but suffice it to say that the American Revolution stirred passions far beyond the Anglo-American realm. For a time the French Revolution was seen as a successor event of the American Revolution. But the two revolutions were very different. The American Patriots never claimed that George III did not have the right to rule; they merely argued that he did not have the right to rule them. By stark contrast, King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed, and instead of leading to the creation of a democratic republic, the French Revolution led to the autocratic rule of the Emperor Napoleon.
Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most skillful and successful military commanders in the history of the world. His French armies overran most of Europe and penetrated deep into Russia before succumbing to the Russian army and the Russian winter in 1812. During the first decade of the 1800s, central and southern Europe were dominated by Napoleon, who declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804. His French army rolled over everything in its path during the wars of the French Empire, just as they had during the French revolutionary wars of the 1790s. While the French pos-possessed a powerful navy, they were challenged at sea by the traditional naval might of the British Empire. The Royal Navy, led during that period by Lord Horatio Nelson, was well-nigh invincible on the seas. In the three great sea battles of Trafalgar, Copenhagen, and the Nile, Nelson crushed the Danish and French fleets and
Controlled the Atlantic and Mediterranean for most of the time when Napoleon was in power.
Foreign Affairs under Jefferson. Napoleon resumed war against the allied nations in 1803, which created a dangerous situation, but left America free to pursue its own interests. American neutrality promised lucrative trade opportunities; there was no direct threat to American security from the fighting in Europe. In 1805 Napoleon triumphed on land at the Battle of Austerlitz. Lord Horatio Nelson defeated the French fleet decisively at the Battle of Trafalgar in the same year. Thus the contest became known as the struggle between the tiger and the shark.
Although pro-British (Hamilton) and pro-French (Jefferson) sentiments had existed since the 1790s, Americans felt detached and aloof from the struggles until the problems escalated during Jefferson's second term. From 1795 to 1805 friendship with Great Britain prevailed despite incidents at sea. Further, the XYZ and Genet affairs were still fresh in American memory. Jefferson always went out of his way to avoid war, except when he saw it as the only solution, as with the Barbary pirates. He preferred what he called "peaceable coercions,"37 and commercial coercion, which was "peaceful," could be an effective tool in international politics.
America was the most important neutral in the conflict (as she would be in later wars.) During the struggle in Europe, American merchants were making huge profits on food and other goods from the highest volume of trade that had gone on in decades. For a time, the warring powers did little to interfere with neutral trade, but as a war grew more intense, that situation was bound to change. When Great Britain had gained mastery of the seas, it did. Great Britain, France, and Spain had long restricted trade between their colonies and the mother country to cargoes carried in their own ships. With their own merchant fleets hemmed in, France and Spain were happy to allow American ships to carry trade between the Caribbean and Europe. Under the British Rule of 1756, however, colonial ports not open in peacetime were not open to neutrals in time of war—British peacetime rules still applied. When it became apparent that American trade was in fact aiding the French cause, the British objected.
For American merchantmen, however, a loophole existed. American vessels were free to carry goods between European colonial ports and the American homeland. When Great Britain sought to restrict trade between French colonies in Europe, Americans resorted to what was called the "broken voyage." They brought goods from British and French colonies to the American ports, then reshipped them as U. S. goods. Legally the goods had to be actually imported before being reshipped, but whether they were in fact imported was hard to prove.
In 1800 the U. S.S. Polly brought Cuban sugar to Massachusetts, then shipped it to Spain. The British determined that importation and reshipment in such a manner was a broken voyage and thus acceptable. But in 1805, according to the Essex ruling, the mere payment of import duties did not constitute evidence of good faith importation. The British demanded more proof that the goods were in fact imported. If the ship put into port in the U. S., it had to demonstrate that the goods did not make a continuous voyage. It was difficult to prove a negative.
In 1806 Congress passed an act adopting non-importation of certain goods from Great Britain as retaliation for Great Britain's interference with American neutral rights. Great Britain in turn proclaimed a blockade from the Elbe River to Brest. Jefferson sent William Pinckney,
37 Jefferson letter to Robert R. Livingston, September 9, 1801.
193
A Maryland lawyer, to join James Monroe, the American ambassador to Great Britain, to try to work out a new treaty to replace Jay's Treaty, which was about to expire. The two ministers were able to gain some concessions from the British, who were concerned about the non-importation act. Jefferson vetoed the treaty, however, because it did not contain a clause on British impressment of American sailors (see below). British ships continued to hover off the American coast, capturing violating merchantmen and sending them to Nova Scotia. Many American ships were seized after the Essex ruling. The game got rougher as H. M.S. Leander "accidentally" hit a U. S. ship, killed first mate John Pierce, whose body was paraded around New York City to a great hue and cry.
World History
