USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -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. Exports fell from $108 million in 1807 to just $22 million in 1808.

Detailed explanation-2: -The embargo effectively throttled American overseas trade. All areas of the nation suffered. In commercial New England and the Middle Atlantic, ships sat idle. In agricultural areas, particularly the South, farmers and planters could not sell crops internationally.

Detailed explanation-3: -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-4: -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).