Embargo Acts against Great Britain
The Embargo Acts against Great Britain were a series of legislative measures taken by the United States in the early 19th century in response to British maritime practices, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. Tensions arose as Britain sought to halt French trade and frequently boarded and seized American ships, compelling sailors into British service. In 1806, Congress authorized a limited embargo on British imports, escalating to a full embargo in 1807 that prohibited American ships from trading abroad unless a bond was posted. This law faced significant resistance, leading to amendments that increased penalties and empowered authorities to seize ships suspected of violating the embargo.
Despite these efforts, compliance remained low, prompting Congress to lift the embargo in 1809, replacing it with the Nonintercourse Act, which targeted only Britain and France. However, aggressive British actions continued, culminating in the War of 1812, where a total embargo was enacted in 1813. The final embargo was repealed in April 1814, coinciding with the conclusion of the war and the signing of a peace treaty later that year. This period highlights the complex interplay between trade, national sovereignty, and international relations during a time of significant geopolitical conflict.
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Embargo Acts against Great Britain
The Laws Federal legislation banning American ships from trading with Great Britain, largely to protest British attempts to dominate international waters
Date: 1806-1813
The embargoes created an economic recession, but ultimately American industry became more reliant on the domestic market and less dependent on foreign trade.
When the nineteenth century began, Britain had mobilized to stop Napoleonic France’s increasing control of continental Europe and sought to stop trade with France. British warships overpowered ships of other countries, demanded their surrender, boarded them, seized control, and forced sailors of various nationalities to work against their will until they were released in home ports, penniless.
The United States was at peace with Britain but often accepted British deserters as crew members, and the British sought to recapture these men. In response to high-handed British behavior in international waters to conscript Americans to serve on British ships, Congress in 1806 authorized a limited embargo of British imports.
In 1807, after Britain’s Privy Council demanded an embargo of French ports by all countries, Congress passed an Embargo Act to disallow American ships from trading abroad by requiring that a bond be posted for each ship’s value, subject to forfeit by ships violating the ban. In early 1808, the law was amended to double the value of the bond and to ban trade with Canada. However, shippers refused to comply, so Congress passed a third Embargo Act, increasing penalties and empowering federal port authorities to seize cargos without a warrant, pending a trial of merchants and shipowners on suspicion of contemplating an embargo violation.
The embargo was still flouted, so Congress relented by authorizing President Thomas Jefferson to call off the embargo if conditions improved. He did so in 1809 just before leaving office. Congress then passed the Nonintercourse Act, officially lifting the embargo from all countries but Britain and France. Congress ended the still unpopular embargoes on both countries in 1810, while authorizing the president to reinstitute an embargo if either country reimposed restrictions.
Meanwhile, from 1807 to 1812, Britain seized 389 more American trading ships, and 775 additional sailors were forced into British service. Consequently, Congress supported President James Madison’s request for war with Britain, unaware that London had already rescinded orders to conscript foreign sailors.
After the war declaration, British ships attacked American ports during the War of 1812, prompting a full-scale American embargo of Britain in 1813. The final embargo act was repealed in April, 1814, and an Anglo-American peace treaty was signed at the end of that year, though word reached North American after the Battle of New Orleans in early 1815. Meanwhile, Britain had subdued Napoleonic France by April, 1814, and no longer sought extreme measures in international waters.
Bibliography
Craughwell, Thomas J., with M. William Phelps. Failures of the Presidents: From the Whisky Rebellion to the War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs to the Iran-Contra Affair. Beverly, Mass.: Fair Winds Press, 2008.
Sears, L. M. Jefferson and the Embargo. Reprint. New York: Octagon Books, 1966.
Spivak, Burton. Jefferson’s English Crisis: Commerce, Embargo, and the Republican Revolution. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1979.