The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson: Foreign Policy
I. The ______Pirates
l American shipping had been protected from powerful North African pirates by the British (before the Revolution) and the French (from 1778 – 1783), and then by paying $80,000/year in tributes until 1801
l When the pasha of ______(a sort of “pirate prince” demanded $225,000 from the U.S. in 1801, Jefferson refused to pay, resulting in the pasha declaring war against the U.S.
l Jefferson sent the U.S. Navy to the Mediterranean and successfully fought a 4-year long war against the pirates, although the frigate U.S.S. ______ was lost in the fighting
l Tribute payments to the Barbary states would not be completely eliminated until a second American naval expedition to the region in 1815
II. The Louisiana Purchase
l Louisiana had been reacquired by ______when Napoleon conquered Spain in 1800
l Napoleon decided that he could not afford to protect the territory due to a threat of war with England and a slave revolt in Haiti, so he offered to sell Louisiana to the United States – this would free up French troops to be used elsewhere and provide Napoleon with ready cash to cover his military expenses
l Jefferson was prepared to offer $10 million to France for just the port of ______, so he was shocked when Napoleon offered the entire Louisiana Territory (all 828,000+ mi² of it) for only $15 million
l Afraid that Napoleon would withdraw the offer, Jefferson agreed to the purchase, even though he doubted that he had the Constitutional authority to do so
l Once completed, the Purchase ______the size of the U.S. and extended its borders all the way to the Rocky Mountains
l The Purchase also began to build in Americans the belief that they were “destined” to control North America
III. The ______Wars
l In May 1803, Britain and France went to war for the third time since 1778
l Britain declared that all ships headed for European ports needed special licenses from the British government and would be subject to search by the British Navy
l France declared that ships obeying British orders would have their goods confiscated by the French government
l Britain began stopping U.S. ships to search them for British “deserters” and often forced crewmen from U.S. ships to join the crews of British ships instead, a practice called “______”
l This practice infuriated American citizens, leading some to call for war with Britain
l The USS ______incident
l In 1807, the British warship HMS Leopard attempted to stop the American warship USS Chesapeake
l The Chesapeake refused to stop and be boarded, so it was fired upon by the Leopard
l The attack killed 3 American sailors; ultimately, the Chesapeake surrendered and the British impressed four of her crewmen
l This attack led to even more calls for war against Britain
IV. ______Act of 1807
l Even though he was pro-France, President Jefferson wanted to avoid a war with Britain
l To prevent any further incidents which might lead to war, he convinced Congress to pass the Embargo Act, which stopped all ______between the U.S. and Europe
l The embargo ended up hurting the U.S. more than it did Britain or France
l American shipping companies failed; Southern farmers, who sold most of their ______(especially cotton and tobacco) in Europe, were ruined
l The Act was ultimately repealed in 1809, after Jefferson had left office