I agree with the Jeopardy answer. The letter changed it from piracy, which was illegal, to privateering, which was legal.
For a certain value of “legal.” I imagine the nations whose ships were being raided might have had a different view.
I think the idea is that it was actually an act of war. So they may very well have viewed it as wrong, bad, offensive, unjust, etc., but legality vs. illegality didn’t really enter into it. After all, FDR didn’t describe the Pearl Harbor attack as “a date that will live in infamy” because he considered it illegal.
When did he say that?
One thing’s for sure, I’ll never forget it after this discussion.
Another interesting thing about this for me has been that I had always remembered the quote as “a day which will live in infamy.” I never knew he actually used the word “date.” The Wikipedia article on the speech is titled “Day of Infamy speech” and notes that “The speech’s infamy line is often misquoted as ‘a day that will live in infamy.’” Googling “day that will live in infamy” (with the quotes, to force exact matches) produces lots of hits, including many media sites. So it’s a very common mistake.
Did anyone notice the word/title “Admiral” in FJ? 
OK, they really should have flagged that last Double Jeopardy! clue to not be used unless Ken was hosting.
(Finally, I am caught up on Jeopardy!..last time I watched it live Matt Amodio’s win record was in the single digits.)
Hey, it was called Waterloo, after all.
Seriously, if, like me, military history is not one of your strong suits, you might not know where Waterloo actually is, and while I didn’t think it was a naval battle, wouldn’t have thought I could rule out that there were ships involved. Meanwhile, I know nothing about the Battle of Trafalgar and have never heard of Admiral Villeneuve, so Waterloo might just have been something I’d have written down as a shot in the dark, almost certain it was wrong, but better than the dreaded “What is —?”
What was the “tell” on that FJ, anyway? Is Admiral Villeneuve someone everybody who knows enough to be on Jeopardy should know? Seems a little obscure.
I’d never heard of Admiral Villeneuve, either, but assuming he was a French naval officer, the question becomes, What was a famous early 19th century naval battle involving the French? And who would the French be most likely to fight at that time? The English, of course. Therefore, the Battle of Trafalgar.
The famous Trafalgar Square in London, which commemorates the victory, features a huge column with a statue of Lord Horatio Nelson (the English commander) atop it.
I’m surprised that none of the players knew that Waterloo was not a naval battle, or that an admiral would not be commanding a land battle.
And IIRC, Vanessa, in the middle, was British! She’ll never hear the end of this.
You mean this one:
Roll up, roll up for the history tour… “The Tragical History of doctor Faustus” is a play by this Shakespeare-era man
Christopher Marlowe
Why?
That was the third Double Jeopardy clue to be revealed (and the first of the round’s two Daily Doubles to be revealed, in case you’re thinking of Daily Doubles.) The last Double Jeopardy clue to be revealed was
D’oh! I did think you were talking about Daily Doubles, not regular clues.
Still, would it have killed you to quote the clue, instead of expecting us to remember which one you were referring to? 
I’m not @Kamino_Neko. I agree with you.
D’oh! Again.
It’s late. I need to get some sleep. (Not that I’m much more attentive when I’m wide awake, but it’s a plausible excuse.)
She didn’t get the Thames river either.
Maybe she’s not really British.
I got Trafalgar with almost the same path as commasense.
And I came to post about the ho/rake question. Clever smart asses in the writing department!
I checked Wikipedia, and was surprised to learn that privateers were authorized only during war, and considered an adjunct to the official combat Navy. They attacked merchant ships of the opposing country. They received a commission on what they captured on behalf of their sponsoring country, including cargo, the ship itself, and a bounty on the crew hostages.
I thought Ryan had his biggest whoosh ever today. On the Thames question, the clue was “The Churn & the Leach are among its headwaters in the Cotswolds.” After Meagan guessed the Severn, Ryan guessed the English Channel.
I mean, huh?
I said “what is a pitchfork?”
I didn’t catch the ho/rake reference. I did, however, get Trafalgar for no reason that I can think of. It just popped in my head! As I waited for the theme to run out, I changed my answer to Waterloo. Since no one was watching with me, I will take my first answer - so I win! 
I’m hoping that my getting four triple stumpers will somewhat mitigate my stupid fucking “Battle of New Orleans” 