USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The embargo hurt the United States as much as it did Britain and France. Britain, expecting to suffer most from the American regulations, built up a new South American market for its exports, and the British shipowners were pleased that American competition had been removed by the action of the US government.

Detailed explanation-2: -He believed that economic coercion would convince Britain and France to respect America’s neutral rights. The embargo was an unpopular and costly failure. It hurt the American economy far more than the British or French, and resulted in widespread smuggling.

Detailed explanation-3: -The act was Pres. Thomas Jefferson’s response to British and French interference with neutral U.S. merchant ships during the Napoleonic Wars. The embargo had little effect in Europe, but it imposed an unpopular restriction on New England merchants and exporters (see Hartford Convention).

Detailed explanation-4: -The act was a hardship on U.S. farmers as well as on New England and New York mercantile and maritime interests, especially after being buttressed by harsh enforcement measures adopted in 1808. Its effects in Europe were not what Jefferson had hoped.

Detailed explanation-5: -Agricultural prices and earnings fell. Shipping-related industries were devastated. Existing markets were wrecked. Unemployment increased.