Chesapeake–Leopard Affair

The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair was a naval battle that took place off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia on June 22, 1807. The English warship  attacked and boarded the American . The British were looking for people who had deserted the Royal Navy. The commander of the American ship surrendered his vessel to the British. When he returned home, he was tried, and had to leave the military.

The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair made many Americans angry. Some of them wanted to go to war with Great Britain, but most people did not. President Thomas Jefferson tried to use the anger to diplomatically threaten the British government into settling the matter. The United States Congress backed away from armed conflict when British diplomats showed that they felt they did nothing wrong in the matter. The diplomats also said that impressment would continue. Jefferson's political failure to solve the problem with Great Britain led him towards economic warfare: the Embargo of 1807.Perkins,1968, p. 317–318

Further reading
Perkins, Bradford. 1968. Embargo: Alternative to War (Chapter 8 from Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805-1812, University of California Press, 1968) in Essays on the Early Republic 1789-1815. Leonard Levy, Editor. Dryden Press, 1974.

References

Category:1800s in the United States
Category:Battles involving the United States
Category:Royal Navy
Category:United States Navy
Category:19th century in the United Kingdom
Category:1807
Category:19th century in Virginia