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Field name | Value |
---|---|
Collection Reference Number | GLC01096.01 |
From Archive Folder | Documents Relating to 1807 |
Title | James Madison to James Monroe regarding a British order prohibiting neutral countries from trading with France and giving his opinion on the matter |
Date | 31 March 1807 |
Author | Madison, James (1751-1836) |
Recipient | Monroe, James |
Document Type | Correspondence |
Content Description | Opposes a British order made in Council on 7 January 1807 prohibiting neutral nations from trading with France, which Madison deems a retaliatory "violation of those rules of law and of justice which are binding on all nations." Discusses the scope and injustice of this order at length. Madison claims this letter, along with other materials provided to Monroe, who was serving as minister plenipotentiary of the United States, contained the information necessary for Monroe to make "representations to the British Government...in order to produce a proper revision of the order." Instructs Madison that if Napoleon's Berlin decree will not apply to U.S. trade, then he should "insist on an immediate revocation of the [British] order." Also notes that he sent a copy of President Jefferson's proclamation suspending non-importation, an indicator of "amicable policy towards Great Britain" and a desire to negotiate a resolution. The British order was a response to Napoleon's Berlin decree, and led to the Embargo Act of 1807 (and eventually to the War of 1812). Sent with a clerical copy of Madison's letter to David Erskine, British Minister Plenipotentiary (see GLC01096.02). |
Subjects | President War of 1812 Embargo Commerce Merchants and Trade Navy Military History Global History and Civics France Diplomacy |
People | Madison, James (1751-1836) Monroe, James (1758-1831) |
Place written | Washington, D.C. |
Theme | The Presidency; Government & Politics; Foreign Affairs; Naval & Maritime; Merchants & Commerce |
Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
Additional Information | Signer of the U.S. Constitution. Opportunities for American merchants and shippers to make quick profits in Europe evaporated in 1805 when an English court ruled (in the Essex case) that U.S. ships could not carry cargo from French colonies to France. Britain then began to blockade American ports, intercept American ships, and confiscate cargoes bound for France. In 1806 and 1807, Napoleon tried to ruin Britain's economy by cutting off its trade with continental Europe. His "Continental System" ordered the seizure of any neutral ship that visited a British port, paid British duties, or allowed itself to be searched by a British vessel. Britain retaliated by issuing an Order-in-Council forbidding trade with French ports and other ports under French control. U.S. shipping was caught in the crossfire. By 1807, France had seized 500 American ships and Britain a thousand. The Order-in-Council was the brainchild of British abolitionist James Stephen (1758-1832), whose hidden agenda included an attack on illegal slave ships using the American flag as protection. Stephen understood that American ships supplied Caribbean slave colonies with provisions of all sorts and that ships engaged in the African slave trade were flying the American flag. The following letters by Secretary of State James Madison condemns the British Order-in-Council as a violation of America's rights as a neutral nation. |
Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |
Related documents | Letter from James Madison to David Erskine [copy] regarding the British order that prohibited neutral countries from trading with France. A clerical copy. |
Transcript | Show/hide |