By the end of his second term, Thomas Jefferson faced a France and Britain insistent that we not trade with the other. Jefferson urged the Embargo Act of 1807, and in 1808 Congress was prepared to passed a Militia Act by a small majority, training a quarter million men aged 20-26 for a potential war with either power (although Parliament did pass a Militia Act in 1808). But Jefferson paused not wanting to take war measures on a thin margin wrote about it this way to a friend, This measure, attempted at a former session, was pressed at the last, and might, I think, have been carried by a small majority. But considering that great innovations should not be forced on a slender majority, and seeing that the general opinion is sensibly rallying to it, it was thought better to let it lie over to the next session, when, I trust, it will be passed.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 00:44:23 +0000
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