The Embargo, The President and The War of 1812
Relations between the United States and Great Britain were strained and, by the end of 1811, the U.S. had established an embargo on British goods. When Cuffee reached Newport in April 1812 his ship the Traveller was seized by U.S. customs agents along with all its goods. Officials would not release his cargo, so Cuffee went to Washington, D.C. to appeal his case. There he met with Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin and President James Madison. He was warmly welcomed into the White House by Madison. Madison later decided that Cuffee was not aware of and did not intentionally violate the national trading policy, and so ordered his cargo returned to him. Madison questioned Cuffee about his experience and about the conditions of Sierra Leone. He was eager to learn about Africa and interested in the possibility of expanding colonization. However, Madison eventually rejected Cuffee's plans as he believed there would be too many problems in further U.S. attempts to colonize Sierra Leone as it was a British project. Despite this, Madison regarded Cuffee as the authority on Africa in the US.
Cuffee intended to return to Great Britain's colony of Sierra Leone regularly but the War of 1812, which broke out in June, preventing him from doing so. As a pacifist Quaker, he opposed the war on spiritual grounds, but also despaired of the interruption of trade and the corresponding halting of attempts to improve Sierra Leone. The war between the U.S. and Britain continued, so Cuffee decided he would have to convince both countries to ease their restrictions on trading. He was unsuccessful and was forced to wait until the war ended.
Meanwhile, he visited Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, speaking to groups of free Blacks about the colony. Cuffee also urged Blacks to form organizations in these cities, to communicate with each other, and to correspond with the African Institution and with the Friendly Society at Sierra Leone. He printed a pamphlet about Sierra Leone to inform the general public of his ideas. In the Summer of 1813 he contributed the most to the rebuilding of the Westport Friends' Meeting House.
Cuffee suffered several monetary losses because of some unprofitable ventures of his ships. The Hero was declared unseaworthy while in Chile and never returned, and his partner in the Alpha, John James of Philadelphia, ran that ship unprofitably. Fortunately the war ended with the Treaty of Ghent at the end of 1814. After getting his finances in order, Paul prepared to return to Sierra Leone.
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