President Jefferson, in an attempt to deplete French 

 and British supphes of American tobacco, cotton and 

 other commodities, declared an embargo on these 

 products in 1807 and instead of being traded overseas, 

 the tobacco rotted at the wharves, never to be sold. 

 Meanwhile, American seamen were being impressed 

 by the British navy and both Great Britain and France 

 were ])lockading American ports. American neiitralitv 

 was violated as tobacco and other commodities were 

 seized at sea. The President, in 1808 and after much 

 controversy, ended the embargo while his countrymen 

 jeered that embargo spelled backwards read: "O grab 

 me." 



The troubles with England led to the War of 1812. 

 The Capitol in Washington was burned to the ground, 

 but in the end the British were defeated. The "Long 

 RiHes" of Kentucky and Tennessee played an important 

 part in defeating the British, especially at the Battle of 

 New Orleans in January of 1815. 



Tennesseans have had a long history of volunteering 

 to assist and doing more than their share in American 

 conflicts. It is for this reason that the state has long 

 been referred to as the "Volunteer State." Even though 

 this famous encounter took place two weeks after the 

 signing of the peace treaty at Ghent, their victory, 

 under the leadership of Andrew Jackson, saved the 

 entire Mississippi Valley from invasion. 



T. 



tie "Era of Good Feeling" 



By 1815, with the seas cleared and open to American 

 shipping, leaf exports snapped back to 90 million 



25 



