Essential Facts
Background
- Britain and France were at war with each other during the Napoleonic Wars.
- They were using blockades and trade embargoes to disrupt each other’s trade with foreign nations, such as the United States.
- Britain used Orders in Council, while Napoleon, the French Emperor, used the Continental System.
Response to the Embargo Act of 1807
- The U.S. used economic sanctions to protect its trading rights, including the Embargo Act of 1807.
- Napoleon responded with the Bayonne Decree on April 17, 1808.
- It expanded the Continental System and authorized the seizure of ships complying with British trade rules, including American vessels.
- American ships were banned from visiting ports controlled by France.
- If they did, they were to be treated like British ships and could be seized and impounded.
Impact
- American ships in French ports were immediately seized.
- Napoleon claimed these ships were in violation of the U.S. Embargo Act of 1807.
- More than $10 million worth of American ships and goods were confiscated by the French.
Significance
The Bayonne Decree is important to American History because it increased tensions between the United States, Great Britain, and France and restricted American trade. The tensions contributed to the outbreak of the War of 1812.
John Armstrong’s Letter Announcing the Bayonne Decree
This extract is from a letter written by John Armstrong Jr. to James Madison, the U.S. Secretary of State, informing him of the Bayonne Decree. It was dated April 25, 1808.
Orders were given on the 17th instant, and received yesterday at the imperial custom-house here, “to seize all American vessels now in the ports of France, or which may come into them hereafter.”
Postscript. I have this moment received the following explanation of the above-mentioned order, viz: That it directs the seizure of vessels coming into ports of France after its own date, “because no vessel of the United States can now navigate the seas, without infracting a law of the said States, and thus furnishing a presumption that they do so on British account, or in British connection.”
Bayonne Decree APUSH
The Bayonne Decree is part of the following units, topics, and chapters in the AP US History curriculum:
Unit 4: 1800–1848
- Topic 4.4 — America on the World Stage
American Pageant Notes
- Chapter 11 — Triumphs and Travails of the Jeffersonian Republic (1800–1812)
- Chapter 12 — The Second War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism (1812–1824)
American History Central
- Foreign Affairs in the New Nation
- War of 1812 — Causes of the War, Maritime Disputes
