196 Chapter 7 National Growing Pains
farmers because it made their products more
expensive—and so less desirable—in foreign markets.
The tariff pitted one section of the nation againstanother, especially North vs. South. The years from
1809 to 1828 were marked by growth and govern-
mental expansion; but new problems—none more
important than the question of slavery—loomed ever
larger and more menacing. ■
Madison in Power
In his inaugural address, James Madison observed
that the “present situation” of the United States was
“full of difficulties” and that war continued to rage
among European powers. Yet he assumed the presi-
dency, he said, “with no other discouragement than
what springs from my own inadequacy.” The content
of the speech was as modest as its delivery; virtually
no one could hear it.
Madison was a small, neat, rather precise person,
narrower in his interests than Jefferson but in many
ways a deeper thinker. He was more conscientious in
the performance of his duties and more consistent in
adhering to his principles. Ideologically, however,
they were as close as two active and intelligent people
could be. Madison had no better solution to offer for
the problem of the hour than had Jefferson. The
Embargo Act had failed and its successor, the Non-
Intercourse Act, proved difficult to enforce—once an
American ship left port, there was no way to prevent
the skipper from steering for England or France. The
British continued to seize American vessels.
Because prudent captains remained in port,
trade stagnated. Federal revenue through the tariff
declined. In 1809, Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin
was alarmed by the growing federal deficit. He urged
Representative Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina
to introduce legislation to remove all restrictions on
commerce with France and Britain. Known as
Macon’s Bill No. 2, it authorized the president to
reapply the principle of non-intercourse to either of
the major powers if the other should “cease to vio-
late the neutral commerce of the United States.”
This bill became law in May 1810.
The volume of U.S. commerce with the British
Isles swiftly zoomed to pre-embargo levels. The
mighty British fleet controlled the seas. Napoleon
therefore announced that he had repealed his decrees
against neutral shipping, seemingly fulfilling the provi-
sions of Macon’s Bill No. 2. Madison, seeking conces-
sions from Britain, closed American ports to British
ships and goods. Napoleon, despite his announcement
to the contrary, continued to seize American ships and
cargoes whenever it suited his purposes.
The British grimly refused to modify the Orders
in Council. Madison could not afford either to admit
that Napoleon had deceived him or to reverse
American policy still another time. Reluctantly he
came to the conclusion that unless Britain repealed
the Orders, the United States must declare war.
Madison,First Inaugural Addressat
myhistorylab.comTecumseh and Indian Resistance
There were other reasons for war with Britain besides
its violations of neutral rights. The Indians were again
restive, and western farmers believed that the British in
Canada were egging them on. This had been true in
the past but was no longer the case in 1811 and 1812.
American domination of the southern Great Lakes
region was no longer in question. Canadian officials
had no desire to force a showdown between the
Indians and the Americans, for that could have but one
result. Aware of their own vulnerability, the Canadians
wanted to preserve Indian strength in case war should
break out between Great Britain and the United States.
American political leaders tended to believe that
Indians should be encouraged to become farmers and
to copy the “civilized” ways of whites. However, no
government had been able to control the frontiersmen,
who by bribery, trickery, and force were driving the
tribes back year after year from the rich lands of the
Ohio Valley. General William Henry Harrison, gover-
nor of the Indiana Territory, a tough, relentless soldier,
kept constant pressure on them. He wrested land from
one tribe by promising it aid against a traditional
enemy, from another as a penalty for having murdered a
white man, and from others by corrupting a few chiefs.
Harrison justified his sordid behavior by citing the end
in view—that “one of the fairest portions of the globe”
be secured as “the seat of civilization, of science, and of
true religion.” The “wretched savages” should not be
allowed to stand in the path of this worthy objective.
Unless something drastic was done, Harrison’s aggres-
siveness, together with the corroding effects of white
civilization, would soon obliterate the tribes.
Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, made a bold and
imaginative effort to reverse the trend by binding all
the tribes east of the Mississippi into a great confeder-
ation. Traveling from the Wisconsin country to the
Floridas, he persuaded tribe after tribe to join him.
“Let the white race perish,” Tecumseh declared.
“They seize your land; they corrupt your women....
Back whence they came, upon a trail of blood, they
must be driven!”
To Tecumseh’s political movement his brother
Tenskwatawa, known as “The Prophet,” added the
force of a moral crusade. Instead of aping whiteReadtheDocument