USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -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-2: -Britain’s insistence on pressing sailors into naval service sprang in part from its wars against Napoleon. The number of seaman needed to crew British ships nearly tripled between 1793 and 1812, from 36, 000 to 114, 000.

Detailed explanation-3: -Magra writes that impressment was a kind of military draft that, in practice, looked more like kidnapping. Across the British empire, naval officers seized sailors and forced them into service. “Press gangs” boarded ships, marching their crews off to the physical danger, low pay, and terrible food of the navy.

Detailed explanation-4: -Impressment of sailors was the practice of Britain’s Royal Navy of sending officers to board American ships, inspect the crew, and seize sailors accused of being deserters from British ships. Incidents of impressment are often cited as one of the causes of the War of 1812.

Detailed explanation-5: -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. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means.