News of the British attack spread quickly. President Jefferson ordered all British navy ships in American waters to leave at once. He told people not to aid the British. He said any person — American or British — who disobeyed his orders would be arrested.
In response, the British government announced a new rule. It said any American ship sailing to Europe must stop first in Britain to get permission. Ships violating the rule would be seized. Relations between the two countries were reaching the breaking point.
Impressment was just one of the major problems the United States was having with Britain in the early 1800s. Another problem was trade.
Britain wanted to stop the United States from trading with France and its colonies. British warships blocked the port of New York all through 1805. No American ship could leave without being searched. Any ship found to be carrying goods for France was taken north to Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, a British court had the power to seize the goods and force the ship's owners to pay a large fine.
In the closing days of 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed a bill banning all trade with Europe. No ships could enter or leave the United States. Jefferson did not believe that trade embargoes were the best way to settle America's problems with other nations. But at the time, he thought an embargo was the only way to deal with Britain and France, short of war. And he did not want war.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25