ABSTRACT
BY the time Congress assembled in October 1807 Jefferson had reached the conclusion that there was little chance of Britain giving the concessions he wanted. Even worse, there were strong rumors that the Tory government was about to enact even stronger measures against neutral commerce. The possibility of war had to be addressed by the administration, and in July Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin presented cost estimates. He expected to have to provide money to protect the coasts against British attack and to pay for the invasion of Canada. Jefferson, who just two years before had thought that he might have to ally with Great Britain to combat French support for Spanish possessions on the Gulf of Mexico, now reluctantly wished success to Bonaparte, pointing out that Britain was as tyrannical on the sea as Napoleon was on land. He was hoping that Napoleon's victories on the continent would again allow him to mass his armies in the Channel ports, and force the British to use all her ships far away from American waters. 1
