ABSTRACT
The crisis in Anglo-American relations that began in mid-1807 set the stage for the election of 1808 by increasing divisiveness within the Democratic-Republican Party, and by giving new hope to the moribund Federalists. Then, on June 22, 1807, American emotions reached a feverish pitch when HMS Leopard fired on the USS Chesapeake, killing three sailors and wounding eighteen others before a British boarding party removed four accused deserters—three of whom were U.S. citizens—from the American frigate. At first, Thomas Jefferson temporized, seeking a diplomatic settlement to the crisis, but when Great Britain issued new Orders-in-Council (policy proclamations from the Privy Council, a cabinet-level advisory board to the king) in November that prohibited all neutral trade with the European continent except under British license, Jefferson felt forced to act.
