Although Jefferson was re-elected in 1804 by a landslide victory, his
popularity diminished greatly during his second term. The source of his
troubles lay in Europe, where England and France were involved in the
long, bitter Napoleonic Wars. England could not defeat Napoleon on land,
but her navy was superior. Hence she blockaded the continent. France
retaliated by counter-blockades. The United States, with a large
merchant fleet but scarcely any navy, was caught in the middle. Hundreds
of American ships were seized and their cargoes confiscated. Both
England and France violated American neutral rights, but England, with
the world’s strongest navy, was the chief offender. When a British
warship, the _Leopard_, fired on and impressed American seamen from an
American frigate, the _Chesapeake_, off the coast of Virginia, the
United States was ready to fight.
President Jefferson, however, was determined to avoid war and answered
the _Chesapeake_ incident with a proclamation excluding British warships
from American waters, but the British would not agree to stop impressing
American seamen. In addition, to deal with the seizure of American
ships, Jefferson persuaded Congress to pass the Embargo Act. This act
forbade American ships to leave for foreign ports. The result was that
American ships rotted in the harbors and depression hit American
business. Yet England and France were not hurt enough to come to terms.
The Embargo Act had to be repealed.