USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Embargo Act, (1807), U.S. Pres. Thomas Jefferson’s nonviolent resistance to British and French molestation of U.S. merchant ships carrying, or suspected of carrying, war materials and other cargoes to European belligerents during the Napoleonic Wars.

Detailed explanation-2: -President Thomas Jefferson hoped that the Embargo Act of 1807 would help the United States by demonstrating to Britain and France their dependence on American goods, convincing them to respect American neutrality and stop impressing American seamen. Instead, the act had a devastating effect on American trade.

Detailed explanation-3: -In a desperate attempt to avert war, the United States imposed an embargo on foreign trade. Jefferson regarded the embargo as an idealistic experiment–a moral alternative to war. He believed that economic coercion would convince Britain and France to respect America’s neutral rights.

Detailed explanation-4: -Jefferson banned all British ships from U.S. ports, ordered state governors to prepare to call up 100, 000 militiamen, and suspended trade with all of Europe. He reasoned that U.S. farm products were crucial to France and England and that a complete embargo would bring them to respect U.S. neutrality.