Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1808 began its self-injurious
career at the same time that the Peninsular War began to
make the first injurious breach in Napoleon's Continental
System. Madison's declaration of war in 1812 coincided
with the opening of Napoleon's disastrous campaign in
Russia.

The Federalists, the party in favour of peace with the
British, included many of the men who had done most for
Independence; and they were all, of course, above suspicion
as patriotic Americans. But they were not unlike
transatlantic, self-governing Englishmen. They had been
alienated by the excesses of the French Revolution; and
they could not condone the tyranny of Napoleon. They
preferred American statesmen of the type of Washington
and Hamilton to those of the type of Jefferson and Madison.
And they were not inclined to be more anti-British than
the occasion required. They were strongest in New England
and New York. The Democrats were strongest throughout
the South and in what was then the West. The Federalists
had been in power during the Accommodation period. The
Democrats began with Unfriendliness, continued with
Hostility, and ended with War.

The Federalists did not hesitate to speak their mind.
Their loss of power had sharpened their tongues; and they
were often no more generous to the Democrats and to France
than the Democrats were to them and to the British. But,
on the whole, they made for goodwill on both sides; as
well as for a better understanding of each other's rights