The Embargo Act of 1807 was passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson in an attempt to display economic and military neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars. However, the law had unintended consequences, including damage to the American economy and continued trade with Britain. The act was eventually repealed, and subsequent laws were passed to ease restrictions on trade. The Non-Importation Act of 1806 preceded the Embargo Act and was passed in response to British embarking and impressing the ships of neutral countries.
The 1807 embargo act was passed by the 10th United States (USA) Congress and signed into law by Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president. The act was instigated by a desire to display complete economic and military neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars. It went through numerous developments which amounted to a complete ban on any international trade. Jefferson encouraged Congress to pass the act in part as a response to an attack. A British warship attacked an American frigate, wounding 10 and killing three, and also impressing three American sailors, or forcing them to join and serve the British Royal Navy. The effect of the law, however, was something other than Jefferson’s intent: Britain still received American exports – many US ports ignored the law for economic gain – and the act did unintended damage to the American economy by reducing revenue upon which the shipping ports depended. As a result, the Embargo Act of 18 was eventually repealed at the end of Jefferson’s presidency.
At the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1803, the United States had maintained a position of neutrality that still allowed trade between the warring countries. The idea was that as long as the United States was militarily neutral, it could also remain economically neutral by trading with all warring nations and not showing positions by favoring one country over another. This notion changed, however, with an incident in which the USS Chesapeake, a neutral American cargo-carrying frigate, was hostilely boarded by HMS Leopard, a British warship, on June 21, 1807. Americans were killed, wounded and captured as a result of the attack. The event was one of the catalysts in persuading Jefferson and Congress to enact a complete ban on British imports and ultimately American exports to Britain.
Interestingly, prior to the incident involving the USS Chesapeake, Congress passed the Non-Importation Act of 1806, a law that would have banned imports from Great Britain. The law was passed on April 18, 1806, but did not go into effect immediately; America first wanted to see if Britain, upon hearing of the new act, would cease the practices of embarking and impressing the ships of neutral countries. As the USS Chesapeake demonstrated, the message went unheard. As a result, President Jefferson and Congress moved not only to begin enforcing the No-Import Act but also to add new laws to the original act to take an even bolder stand of neutrality. This culminated in the passage of the Embargo Act of 1807 on December 22, 1807. The act was officially called “An Embargo Imposed upon Ships and Vessels in the Harbors and Ports of the United States.”
By December 1807, Jefferson had gone in less than a year from simply banning British imports to making all trade between America and any other nation illegal. His — and those of Congress — hasty decisions have not exactly been met with public approval. The Embargo Act of 1807 was immediately met with ridicule and resistance from cities with U.S. shipping ports that were economically dependent on the trade. Major ports like New England weren’t too willing to give up their primary means of making money. Although the US government has attempted to crack down on illegal shipping, ports have continued to break the law by exporting contraband goods. Instances where the government has barred smugglers have only served to hurt the US economy, which has begun to suffer as a result of lost profits from trade routes.
Jefferson and Congress attempted to undo some of the economic damage by making changes that eased restrictions on trade. On March 1, 1809, the Non-Report Act was signed. This act allowed US ports to once again ship exports and receive imports from other nations, excluding Great Britain and France. Ultimately, this did little to stop US shippers from delivering goods to Britain and France, and Congress had to go back to the drawing board. Macon Act Number 2 followed, effectively opening the door to the complete repeal of the Embargo Act of 1807 and the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809. Overall, US citizens and the press were relieved to see the Embargo Act disappeared, which had been ridiculed in several publications with clever spins and anagrams on the word embargo, including “dambargo”, “ogramme”, “Go-bar-’em” and “mob-rage”.
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