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JEFFERSON, Thomas. Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), as President, to Col. Minor, Washington, 25 November 1807. 1 page, 4to, text and signature pale; remnants of mounting along top edge of verso .
JEFFERSON, Thomas. Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson"), as President, to Col. Minor, Washington, 25 November 1807. 1 page, 4to, text and signature pale; remnants of mounting along top edge of verso . JEFFERSON KEEPS A COOL HEAD AS RUMORS OF WAR SWIRL AFTER THE CHESAPEAKE AFFAIR British and French harassment of neutral American ships during the Napoleonic wars, including the impressment of American sailors, culminated in a HMS Leopard's assault on the USS Chesapeake , in June 1807. The country bayed for war, but here Jefferson assures Minor that "the impudent falsehoods with which the newspapers have tormented the public feelings lately" are all false: including the one that had "the ministers on both sides" asserting "that all things were amicably arranged" (they were not); "that...negociation was at an end & war inevitable" (it wasn't); or the one that had Napoleon Bonaparte issuing answers to American queries. "It is believed," Jefferson writes, "that the last was fabricated in Boston to counteract the war-news from England then afloat." He expects that his diplomatic emissary, James Monroe, "as well as the Revenge may be expected about the last of the month, carrying "propositions for a middle ground between us, modifying what we have deemed indispensable." Diplomatic exchanges would take some time "crossing & recrossing the Atlantic, during which peace may take place in Europe, which of course removes all ground of dispute between us till another war." Jefferson ultimately decided to use an embargo against the belligerents, signed into law on 22 December 1807 and lasting until Jefferson's term expired in March 1809. It protected American ships and seamen from harassment, but at a devastating cost to the American economy and to Jefferson's popularity.