Madison
Today, a limit of two presidential terms is mandated by the Constitution, but Thomas Jefferson was not bound by this law. Rather, like Washington, Thomas Jefferson decided that two terms as president was enough.
For the election of 1808, Republicans turned to James Madison, who had little difficulty defeating the Federalist nominated to oppose him. Congress repealed the ineffective Embargo Act near the end of Jefferson's term, sending the new president back to the drawing board to come up with a solution to the foreign policy problems he had inherited.
In 1809, Congress passed the Non-Intercourse Act. This measure was basically a continuation of Jefferson's economic coercion strategy. It re-opened American commerce with the nations of the world, except for nations violating the nation's sovereignty, thereby targeting Britain and France. Though the British declared they would stop restricting American trade, in fact, they made no real change in their policy. The Royal Navy continued seizing American ships crossing the Atlantic.
A year later, Madison approved a new plan to force the British and French to respect U.S. neutral rights. Congress passed this plan, called Macon's Bill Number 2, in May 1810. The new act declared that the United States would again trade with both Britain and France. However, if one of those nations stopped restricting American commerce, the United States would boycott trade with that nation's enemy.
Napoleon was quick to take advantage of Macon's Bill Number 2. He declared that the French would now respect the rights of neutral American traders. Madison, in turn, then imposed an embargo on trade with Great Britain. Only later did the Americans learn that Napoleon was lying. French raiders continued to seize American ships.
