Note 2 — BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS SESQUICENTENNIAL HISTORICAL BOOKLETS

The northern states were more concerned with the infamous “Orders of Council” passed by the British Government permitting that nation’s navy to search any United States ship on the pretense of looking for English deserters, and forbidding any intercourse between France and America. The firing on the American frigate Chesapeake in the summer of 1807 by the British warship Leopard for the former vessel’s refusal to be searched, brought the two countries dangerously close to war, and Federalist apathy was almost swept away by an aroused public opinion.