The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that was enacted by the US Congress. As a successor or replacement law for the 1806 Non-importation Act and passed as the Napoleonic Wars continued, it represented an escalation of attempts to coerce Britain to stop its impressment of American sailors and to respect American sovereignty and neutrality but also attempted to pressure France and other nations in the pursuit of In the first decade of the 19th century, American merchant shipping grew. Particularly Britain but also France thus targeted neutral American shipping as a means to disrupt enemy trade. American merchantmen, their cargo, and sometimes crew members were seized as contraband of war by European navies, sometimes under cover of official orders. The British Royal Navy, in particular, resorted to impressment and forced some American seamen into naval service on the pretext that the seamen had been "born British" and were still British subjects. Americans saw the Chesapeake–Leopard affair as a glaring example of a British violation of American neutrality.
Congress imposed the embargo in direct response to these events. US President Thomas Jefferson acted with restraint, weighed public support for retaliation, and recognized that the United States was far weaker than either Britain or France. He recommended that Congress respond with commercial warfare, a policy that appealed to Jefferson both for being experimental and for foreseeably harming his domestic political opponents more than his allies, whatever its effect on the European belligerents. The 10th Congress was controlled by his allies and agreed to the Act, which was signed into law on December 22, 1807.
The embargo failed totally. It did not improve the American diplomatic position, highlighted American weakness and lack of leverage, significantly damaged only the American economy, and sharply increased domestic political tensions. Both widespread evasion of the embargo and loopholes in the legislation reduced its impact on its targets. British commercial shipping, which already dominated global trade, was successfully adapting to Napoleon's Continental System by pursuing new markets, particularly in the restive Spanish and Portuguese South American colonies. Thus, British shippers were well-positioned to grow at American expense when the embargo reduced American trade activity.
The embargo undermined American unity by provoking bitter protests, particularly in New England commercial centers. Support for the declining Federalist Party, which intensely opposed Jefferson, temporarily rebounded and drove electoral gains in 1808. The embargo simultaneously undermined Americans' faith that their government could execute laws fairly and strengthened the European perception that the republican form of government was inept and ineffectual.
Replacement legislation for the ineffective embargo was enacted on March 1, 1809, in the last days of Jefferson's presidency. Tensions with Britain continued to grow and eventually led to the War of 1812. general diplomatic and economic leverage.
