Despite Federalist protests against the war, New England’s economy prospered. Enterprising New Englanders profited by smuggling goods to the British in Canada. Madison was outraged. He reported to Congress on December 9, 1813:
“The tendency of our commercial and navigation laws…favor the enemy…Supplies of the most essential kinds find their way…to British ports and British armies…Even the fleets and troops infesting our coasts and waters are by like supplies accommodated and encouraged in their predatory and incursive warfare.”[1]
James Madison
Madison’s motives for a new embargo remain unclear. Other laws prohibited contact with the enemy. An embargo would have little effect on the British. Congress, nevertheless, approved it.[2]
The Embargo of 1813, passed December 17, 1813, banned American ships and their cargoes from departure. It outlawed certain British products from importation. It barred a foreign ship from entering American ports unless three-quarters of its crew were from the nation it represented. It forbade the ransom of ships.
The Embargo spurred New England once again into action. Forty New England towns held meetings, resulting in addresses to the Massachusetts legislature, the General Court.[3]
How Napoleon’s Defeat at Leipzig Affected War in the United States
Look for it Monday, July 28
[1]James Madison’s address to Congress, December 9, 1813, quoted in Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administrations of James Madison (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1986) 873.
[2] Adams, History…Administrations James Madison, 874.
[3] Adams, History…Administrations James Madison, 909.
