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The British system of [[impressment]] angered all Americans. The British warchips stopped American merchant ships and looked at the papers of the crew. Anyone born in Britain, or even speaking with a British accent, was seized and forced into the Royal Navy despite his protests and actual American citizrenship. 6000 sailors were impressed. American anger peaked after June 22, 1807, when the British warship ''Leopard'' attacked the smaller American warship ''Chesapeake'' a few miles off the U.S. coast, and impressed four suspected deserters. Americans demanded war.
The British system of [[impressment]] angered all Americans. The British warchips stopped American merchant ships and looked at the papers of the crew. Anyone born in Britain, or even speaking with a British accent, was seized and forced into the Royal Navy despite his protests and actual American citizrenship. 6000 sailors were impressed. American anger peaked after June 22, 1807, when the British warship ''Leopard'' attacked the smaller American warship ''Chesapeake'' a few miles off the U.S. coast, and impressed four suspected deserters. Americans demanded war.
Jefferson said, no war. He was convinced that the United States had the power to coerce the European powers by economic methods rather than war. In December 1807, Jefferson asked Congress for an embargo which would prohibit all American ships from departing for a foreign port. It quickly became law and ordered the end of all American foreign trade, to all countries. Foreign ships could still come to American ports but Congress added a nonimportation act which blocked entry to many British goods. Very stringent enforcement laws were passed to ensure that vessels engaged in the coastal trade would not secretly sail for foreign ports. Despite vigorous enforcement by the federal government they were only partially successful. American ships that were already at seas continued to trade abroad throughout the Embargo period (they did not come back to the U.S.), and smuggling flourished along the Canadian border.
Jefferson said, no war, but he did order all British ships out of American waters. He was convinced that the United States had the power to coerce the European powers by economic methods rather than war. In December 1807, Jefferson asked Congress for an embargo which would prohibit all American ships from departing for a foreign port. Trading vessels were now required to post a bond of guarantee equal to the value of both the ship itself and its cargo, in order to insure compliance with the law.<ref>Malone, p. 461</ref> Secretary of the Treasury [[Albert Gallatin]] objected because of the administrative nightmare of trying to enforce such a profoundly unpopular policy. "As to the hope that it may...induce England to treat us better," wrote Gallatin to Jefferson shortly after the bill had become law, "I think is entirely groundless...government prohibitions do always more mischief then had been calculated; and it is not without hesitation that a statesman should hazard to regulate the concerns of individuals as if he could do better than themselves"<ref>Gallatin to Jefferson, Dec. 1807, in Gallatin (1879) 2:368 [http://books.google.com/books?id=xnUsAAAAMAAJ&printsec=toc&dq=inauthor:gallatin&num=30&sig=M8LZzp5Q7_KwNywJouiRe9LiPfE#PPA368,M1 online edition]</ref>
The Embargo quickly became law and ordered the end of all American foreign trade, to all countries. Foreign ships could still come to American ports but Congress added a nonimportation act which blocked entry to many British goods. Very stringent enforcement laws were passed to ensure that vessels engaged in the coastal trade would not secretly sail for foreign ports. In January 1808 Congress closed a loophole that coasting vessels, and fishing and whaling boats had not been required to post bonds guaranteeing that they would not sail for foreign ports. <ref>McDonald p. 147</ref> War loomed, but Congress refused Jefferson's request to increase the army to 30,000 troops from 2,800.
Despite vigorous enforcement by the federal government they were only partially successful. American ships that were already at seas continued to trade abroad throughout the Embargo period (they did not come back to the U.S.), and smuggling flourished along the Canadian border.
The Embargo, which lasted from December 1807 to March 1809, for the most part effectively ended American overseas trade. All coastal areas suffered. In commercial New England and the Middle Atlantic states ships were uselessly tied up at the wharves, and sailores and wharf workers were unemployed. In the farming regions, especially in the South, the lucrative export market ended for tobacco, cotton, grain, fish, cattle and horses. The scarcity of European goods gave a stimulus for new American factories in the northeast. New Englanders protested bitterly that their prosperity was ruined by Jefferson's Embargo. The Federalist Party, which had been rapidly losing support, now found increased strength.
The Embargo, which lasted from December 1807 to March 1809, for the most part effectively ended American overseas trade. All coastal areas suffered. In commercial New England and the Middle Atlantic states ships were uselessly tied up at the wharves, and sailores and wharf workers were unemployed. In the farming regions, especially in the South, the lucrative export market ended for tobacco, cotton, grain, fish, cattle and horses. The scarcity of European goods gave a stimulus for new American factories in the northeast. New Englanders protested bitterly that their prosperity was ruined by Jefferson's Embargo. The Federalist Party, which had been rapidly losing support, now found increased strength.
On the Canadian border with New York and Vermont, the embargo laws were openly flouted. An increasingly frustrated Jefferson was resolved to use all his police powers to enforce the embargo to the letter against Americans. In March 1808 Congress prohibited, for the first time, the export of all goods, either by land or by sea.<ref>McDonald p 144</ref> "The Enforcement Act," signed into law on 24 April 1808, was the last of the embargo acts. It decreed that port authorities were allowed to seize cargoes without a warrant, and to bring to trial any shipper or merchant who was thought to have merely contemplated violating the embargo.<ref> Levy, (1973) p. 107</ref>
The Embargo hurt the United States more than Britain or France. The British expanded their trade with South America, assisted by the absence of American competition (which had been removed by the embargo).
The Embargo hurt the United States more than Britain or France. The British expanded their trade with South America, assisted by the absence of American competition (which had been removed by the embargo).
* Gordinier, Glenn Stine. "Versatility in Crisis: The Merchants of the New London Customs District Respond to the Embargo of 1807-1809." PhD dissertation U. of Connecticut 2001. 333 pp. DAI 2001 62(2): 739-A. DA3004842
* Gordinier, Glenn Stine. "Versatility in Crisis: The Merchants of the New London Customs District Respond to the Embargo of 1807-1809." PhD dissertation U. of Connecticut 2001. 333 pp. DAI 2001 62(2): 739-A. DA3004842
* Kaplan, Lawrence S. "Jefferson, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Balance of Power." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 1957 14(2): 196-217. ISSN 0043-5597 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-5597(195704)3%3A14%3A2%3C196%3AJTNWAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4 online in Jstor]
* Kaplan, Lawrence S. "Jefferson, the Napoleonic Wars, and the Balance of Power." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' 1957 14(2): 196-217. ISSN 0043-5597 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-5597(195704)3%3A14%3A2%3C196%3AJTNWAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4 online in Jstor]
* Levy, Leonard W.; ''Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side.'' (1963)
* Levy, Leonard W. ''Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side.'' (1963)
* McDonald, Forrest, ''The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson,'' (1976)
* McDonald, Forrest. ''The Presidency of Thomas Jefferson,'' (1976)
* Malone, Dumas. ''Jefferson the President: Second term, 1805-1809'' vol 5; (1970), the standard biography
* Malone, Dumas. ''Jefferson the President: Second term, 1805-1809'' vol 5; (1970), the standard biography
* Mannix, Richard. "Gallatin, Jefferson, and the Embargo of 1808." ''Diplomatic History'' 1979 3(2): 151-172. ISSN 0145-2096
* Mannix, Richard. "Gallatin, Jefferson, and the Embargo of 1808." ''Diplomatic History'' 1979 3(2): 151-172. ISSN 0145-2096
* Spivak, Burton; ''Jefferson's English Crisis: Commerce, Embargo, and the Republican Revolution''. (1979)
* Spivak, Burton; ''Jefferson's English Crisis: Commerce, Embargo, and the Republican Revolution''. (1979)
* Strum, Harvey. "Rhode Island and the Embargo of 1807." ''Rhode Island History'' 1994 52(2): 58-67. ISSN 0035-4619
* Strum, Harvey. "Rhode Island and the Embargo of 1807." ''Rhode Island History'' 1994 52(2): 58-67. ISSN 0035-4619
* Tucker, Robert W. and David C. Hendrickson. ''Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson'' (1992) best guide to foreign policy
* Tucker, Robert W. and David C. Hendrickson. ''Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson'' (1992) survey of foreign policy
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[[categor:United States History]]
[[category:United States History]]