Just before the close of Jefferson's last term, Congress repealed the Embargo Act and passed the Non-Intercourse Act, which forbade all trade with England. This was in 1809, and the law was abrogated in the following year. Our relations with England, however, continued to grow more irritating, until it became clear that war was at hand. Congress gave notice that if either Great Britain or France would repeal their offensive decrees, the Non-Intercourse Act would be revived against the other. Bonaparte immediately announced that he revoked his decrees, but instead of doing so, he enforced them more rigidly than before, thus accomplishing what he sought, that of arraying the United States against Great Britain. The Non-Intercourse Law was revived against Great Britain, whose conduct became more exasperating than ever. Our whole coast was under surveillance, and many of our merchant vessels were captured without any excuse whatever. [Illustration: JAMES MADISON. (1751-1836.) Two terms, 1809-1817.] In the dusk of early evening, May 16, 1811, the British sloop _Little Belt_, while occupied in holding up American vessels, hailed the frigate _President_ off the coast of Virginia. Deeming the reply of the American not sufficiently respectful, the _Little Belt_ fired a shot at the _President_, which instantly let fly with a broadside, followed by several others, that killed eleven men and wounded twenty-one. The incident added to the angry excitement in both countries and brought war nearer. BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. The population of the United States in 1810 was 7,239,881, somewhat more than a third of Great Britain and Ireland. Our growth in the West was rapid. There was a continual stream of emigration thither, and the Indians, seeing how rapidly their hunting grounds were passing from them; combined to resist the invasion. This was done under the leadership of Tecumseh, the ablest Indian that ever lived. In this course he was incited by British agents, who, knowing that war was coming, were anxious to do the Americans all the harm they could. The outrages of the red men became so numerous that General William Henry Harrison, governor of the Northwest Territory, gathered a large, force and marched against them. Near the present city of Lafayette, while encamped at a place called Tippecanoe, he was furiously assailed (Nov. 7, 1811) by the Indians. Tecumseh was absent at the time, and the battle was brought on, against his orders, by his brother, called "The Prophet." The loss was severe on both sides, but the Indians were decisively defeated.