Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the United States Congress. During the Napoleonic Wars, rival nations Britain and France targeted neutral American shipping as a means to disrupt the trade of the other nation. At Jefferson's request, the two houses of Congress considered and passed the Embargo Act quickly in December 1807. All U.S. ports were closed to export shipping in either U.S. or foreign vessels, and restrictions were placed on imports from Great Britain. American president Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican Party) led Congress to pass the Embargo Act of 1807. Effects on American shipping and markets: Agricultural prices and earnings fell. Shipping-related industries were devastated. What was unusual about the Embargo Act of 1807? It stopped all American vessels from sailing to foreign ports— amazing use of federal power, especially by a president who wanted to avoid that and foreign entanglements. The diplomatic neutrality of the United States was tested during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). The warring nations of Britain and France both imposed trade restrictions in order to weaken each other's economies. These restrictions also disrupted American trade and threatened American neutrality. In the last sixteen days of President Thomas Jefferson's presidency, Congress replaced the Embargo Act of 1807 with the almost unenforceable Non-Intercourse Act of March 1809. This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports.
The Middle Passage was the crossing from Africa to the Americas, which the ships made carrying their ‘cargo’ of slaves. It was so-called because it was the middle section of the trade route taken by many of the ships. The first section (the ‘Outward Passage’ ) was from Europe to Africa. Then came the Middle Passage, and the ‘Return Passage’ was the final journey from the Americas to Europe. The Middle Passage took the enslaved Africans away from their homeland. They were from different countries and different ethnic (or cultural) groups. They spoke different languages. Many had never seen the sea before, let alone been on a ship. They had no knowledge of where they were going or what awaited them there.The slaves were packed below the decks of the ship. The men were usually shackled together in pairs using leg irons, or shackles. Some leg irons are pictured here. The men were considered dangerous, as they were mostly young and strong and likely to turn on their captors if the opportunity arose. People were packed so close that they could not get to the toilet buckets, and so lay in their own filth. Seasickness, heat and lack of air all contributed to the terrible smell. These conditions also encouraged disease, particularly fever and the ‘bloody flux’ or gastroenteritis (a serious stomach bug). The voyage usually took six to eight weeks, but bad weather could increase this to 13 weeks or more. This engraving (a type of print) of the slave ship the Brookes, from Liverpool, shows the slaves packed into the hold of the ship. It shows 295 enslaved Africans, this was the legal number the ship could carry after a change in the law. The Dolben Act of 1788 regulated the number of slaves according to the size of the ship. On a previous voyage the Brookes had carried 609. If you look carefully at the Brookes picture, you can see the leg irons shackling the men together at the ankle.
The government in the United States today is different from government in ancient Athen, in a way that the United States is a republic.
The responsibilities that were assigned to the federal government under the Articles of Confederation is drawing up treaties.
Answer:
Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois and Malcolm X
