EMBARGO ACT
A legislative measure enacted by Congress in 1807
at the behest of President Thomas Jefferson that
banned trade between U.S. ports and foreign
nations.
The Embargo Act was intended to use economic
pressure to compel England and France
to remove restrictions on commercial trading
with neutral nations that they imposed in their
warfare with each other. Napoleon decreed
under his Continental system that no ally of
France or any neutral nation could trade with
Great Britain, in order to destroy the English
economy. In retaliation, England caused a blockade
of the northern European coastline, affecting
nations that had remained neutral in the
dispute between France and England. These vindictive
measures hurt neutral American traders,
prompting Congress to take action to safeguard
the economic interests of the United States. The
first enactment was the Nonimportation Act of 1806 (2 Stat. 379), which prohibited the import
of designated English goods to stop the harsh
treatment of American ships caught running the
blockade. The Embargo Act of 1807 (2 Stat. 451)
superseded this enactment and expanded the
prohibition against international trade to all
nations. A later amendment in 1809 (2 Stat. 506)
extended the ban from American ports to inland
waters and overland transactions, thereby stopping
trade with Canada, and mandated strict
enforcement of its provisions.
The American public opposed the act, particularly
those segments dependent upon international
trade for their livelihoods. This
opposition eventually led to the enactment of
the Non-Intercourse Act (2 Stat. 528 [1809]),
which superseded the stringent provisions of the
Embargo Act. Under that act, only trade with
England and France was proscribed, but the
measure was ineffectual.
Subsequently, in 1810, Nathaniel Macon
proposed a measure, called Macon’s Bill No. 2,
which Congress enacted despite solid Federalist
opposition, that empowered the president to
resume commerce with the warring nation that
lifts its restrictions on neutral trade.
