Jefferson Foreign Policy Review

· For each document – 1) write the meaning of the document in your own words,

2) Draw a picture representing the actions described in the document (except for documents G+H), and

3) explain how Jefferson’s actions either strengthened or weakened America’s foreign policy position

Document A

1. Meaning2. Picture3. Strengthen or Weaken

America’s Position

Document ABritish Order in Council, 1807, Documents in American History, Vol. I, ed. by Henry Steele Commager, Milton Center, p. 200

“His Majesty is thereupon pleased, by and with the advice of his privy council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that no vessel shall be permitted to trade from one port to another, both which ports shall belong to or be in the possession of France or her allies, or shall be so far under their control as that British vessels may not trade freely thereat; and the commanders of His Majesty's ships of war and privateers shall be, and are hereby, instructed to warn every neutral vessel coming from any such port, and destined to another such port, to discontinue her voyage, and not to proceed to any such port; and any vessel, after being so warned, or any vessel coming from any such port, after a reasonable time shall have been afforded for receiving information of this His Majesty's order, which shall be found proceeding to another such port, shall be captured and brought in, and together with her cargo shall be condemned as lawful prize….”

Document BBerlin Decree of 1806, Documents of American History, Vol. I, ed. Henry Steele Commager, Milton Center, p. 199. “All commerce and correspondence with the British islands are prohibited. In consequence, letters or packets, addressed either to England, to an Englishman, or in the English language, shall not pass through the post-office and shall be seized…. All magazines, merchandise, or property whatsoever, belonging to a subject of England, shall be declared lawful prize….No vessel coming directly from England, or from the English colonies, or having been there since the publication of the present decree, shall be received into any port. Every vessel contravening the above clause, by means of a false declaration, shall be seized, and the vessel and cargo confiscated, as if they were English property.” Document CAlexander Hamilton Lukewarmly Backs Jefferson (1803) "Hamilton on the Louisiana Purchase: A Newly Identified Editorial from the New York Evening Post," William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, vol. 12 (1955), pp. 273-276, passim. “At length the business of New Orleans has terminated favorably to this country. Instead of being obliged to rely any longer on the force of treaties for a place of deposit, the jurisdiction of the territory is now transferred to our hands, and in future the navigation of the Mississippi will be ours unmolested. This, it will be allowed, is an important acquisition; not, indeed, as territory, but as being essential to the peace and prosperity of our Western country, and as opening a free and valuable market to our commercial states. This purchase has been made during the period of Mr. Jefferson's presidency, and will, doubtless, give éclat to his administration. Every man, however, possessed of the least candor and reflection will readily acknowledge that the acquisition has been solely owing to a fortuitous concurrence of unforeseen and unexpected circumstances, and not to any wise or vigorous measures on the part of the American government….”

Document D "A Federalist (Philip Barton Key) Attacks the Embargo (1808) Annals of Congress, 10th Congress, 1st session, vol. 2, cols. 2122-2123. “But, Mr. Chairman, let us review this [embargo] law and its effects. In a commercial point of view, it has annihilated our trade. In an agricultural point of view, it has paralyzed industry. . . . Our most fertile lands are reduced to sterility, so far as it respects our surplus product. As a measure of political economics, it will drive (if continued) our seamen into foreign employ, and our fishermen to foreign sandbanks. In a financial point of view, it has dried up our revenue, and if continued will close the sales of Western lands, and the payment of installments of past sales. For unless produce can be sold, payments cannot be made. As a war measure, the embargo has not been advocated.” It remains then to consider its effects as a peace measure--a measure inducing peace. I grant, sir, that if the friends of the embargo had rightly calculated its effects--if it had brought the belligerents of Europe to a sense of justice and respect for our rights, through the weakness and dependence of their West India possessions--it would have been infinitely wise and desirable.... But, sir, the experience of near four months has not produced that effect....” What man can be weak enough to suppose that a sense of justice can repress or regulate the conduct of Bonaparte? We need not resort to other nations for examples. Has he not in a manner as flagrant as flagitious, directly, openly, publicly violated and broken a solemn treaty [of 1800] entered into with us? Did he not stipulate that our property should pass free even to enemy ports, and has he not burnt our ships at sea under the most causeless pretexts?”

Document EAnnals of Congress, 12th Congress, 1st session, vol. 1, cols. 445-446, 449-450, 533.

“An insinuation had fallen from the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Grundy) that the late massacre of our brethren on the Wabash [at Tippecanoe] had been instigated by the British government. Has the President given any such information? Has the gentleman [Grundy] received any such, even informally, from any officer of this government? Is it so believed by the administration?…. Advantage had been taken of the spirit of the Indians, broken by the war, which ended in the Treaty of Greenville [1795].... Our people will not submit to be taxed for this war of conquest and dominion. The government of the United States was not calculated to wage offensive foreign war--it was instituted for the common defense and general welfare.... Agrarian cupidity, not maritime right, urges the war. Ever since the [pro-war] report of the Committee on Foreign Relations came into the House, we have heard but one word--like the whip-poor-will, but one eternal monotonous tone--Canada! Canada! Canada! Not a syllable about Halifax [Nova Scotia], which unquestionably should be our great object in a war for maritime security. It is to acquire a prepondering Northern influence that you are to launch into war. For purposes of maritime safety, the barren rocks of Bermuda were worth more to us than all the deserts [of Canada] through which [explorers] Hearne and McKenzie had pushed their adventurous researches.”

Document F Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1805 “In the transaction of your foreign affairs we have endeavored to cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those with which we have the most important relations. We have done them justice on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful, and cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair and equal terms. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others.” Document G

Document H