USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Impressment, colloquially “the press” or the “press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice.

Detailed explanation-2: -By British law, naval captains had the right to stop ships at sea, search for deserters and other British citizens, and force them to join the crews of warships-a practice called “impressment.” Some British captains seized almost any able-bodied, English-speaking sailors they could find.

Detailed explanation-3: -American merchant vessels were a common target. Between 1793 and 1812, the British impressed more than 15, 000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars with France. By 1812 the United States Government had had enough.

Detailed explanation-4: -The impressment or forcible seizure of American seamen by the British Royal Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries has traditionally been viewed as a primary cause of the War of 1812.

Detailed explanation-5: -impressment, also called crimping, enforcement of military or naval service on able-bodied but unwilling men through crude and violent methods. Until the early 19th century this practice flourished in port towns throughout the world.