Essential Facts
Background
- Britain and France were at war with each other during the Napoleonic Wars.
- France closed the northern coast of Germany, a neutral area, to British ships.
- On May 16, 1806, issued an Order in Council that established the “Fox Blockade.”
Napoleon Responds to the Fox Blockade
- Napoleon responded with the Berlin Decree on November 21, 1806.
- It started Napoleon’s Continental System, which organized a blockade against shipping to Great Britain.
- American merchant ships took advantage of their neutral status to continue trading with France in ports outside of the Fox Blockade.
- Britain responded with Orders in Council (November 11, 1807), requiring neutral ships to buy a license in order to sail through the blockade to France.
Additional Details
- Napoleon accused Great Britain of violating international maritime law by blocking ports.
- Napoleon wanted to use economic warfare against Britain since the French Navy was weaker than the British Navy.
- Black markets thrived despite the blockade across continental Europe.
- U.S. merchant ships took advantage of illegal trade opportunities.
- The Berlin Decree’s blockade was a “Paper Blockade” because the French Navy was not strong enough to enforce it on the open seas.
Significance
The Berlin Decree is important to American History because it was part of the trade war between Britain and France that affected the United States during the New Nation Era. Although the U.S. tried to defend its trade rights as a neutral nation, Britain continued to harass American ships, which contributed to the outbreak of the War of 1812.
Berlin Decree Text (Primary Document)
From our Imperial Camp at Berlin, November 21, 1806.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, in consideration of the fact:
1. That England does not recognize the system of international law universally observed by all civilized nations.
2. That she regards as an enemy every individual belonging to the enemy’s state, and consequently makes prisoners of war not only the crews of armed ships of war but the crews of ships of commerce and merchantmen, and even commercial agents and merchants traveling on business.
3. That she extends to the vessels and commercial wares and to the property of individuals the right of conquest, which is applicable only to the possessions of the belligerent power.
4. That she extends to unfortified towns and commercial ports, to harbors and the mouths of rivers, the right of blockade, which, in accordance with reason and the customs of all civilized nations, is applicable only to strong places. That she declares places in a state of blockade before which she has not even a single ship of war, although a place may not be blockaded except it be so completely guarded that no attempt to approach it can be made without imminent danger. That she has declared districts in a state of blockade which all her united forces would be unable to blockade, such as entire coasts and the whole of an empire.
5. That this monstrous abuse of the right of blockade has no other aim than to prevent communication among the nations and to raise the commerce and the industry of England upon the ruins of that of the continent.
6. That, since this is the obvious aim of England, whoever deals on the continent in English goods, thereby favors and renders himself an accomplice of her designs.
7. That this policy of England, worthy of the earliest stages of barbarism, has profited that power to the detriment of every other nation.
8. That it is a natural right to oppose such arms against an enemy as he makes use of, and to fight in the same way that he fights. Since England has disregarded all ideas of justice and every high sentiment, due to the civilization among mankind, we have resolved to apply to her the usages which she has ratified in her maritime legislation.
The provisions of the present decree shall continue to be looked upon as embodying the fundamental principles of the Empire until England shall recognize that the law of war is one and the same on land and sea, and that the rights of war cannot be extended so as to include private property of any kind or the persons of individuals unconnected with the profession of arms, and that the right of blockade should be restricted to fortified places actually invested by sufficient forces.
We have consequently decreed and do decree that which follows:
ARTICLE I. The British islands are declared in a state of blockade.
ARTICLE II. All commerce and correspondence with the British islands are prohibited. In consequence, letters or packets, addressed either to England, to an Englishman, or in the English language, shall not pass through the post-office and shall be seized.
ARTICLE III. Every subject of England, of whatever rank and condition soever, who shall be found in the countries occupied by our troops, or by those of our allies, shall be made a prisoner of war.
ARTICLE IV. All magazines, merchandise, or property whatsoever, belonging to a subject of England, shall be declared lawful prize.
ARTICLE V. The trade in English merchandise is forbidden; all merchandise belonging to England, or coming from its manufactories and colonies, is declared lawful prize.
ARTICLE VI. One half of the proceeds of the confiscation of the merchandise and property; declared good prize by the preceding articles, shall be applied to indemnify the merchants for the losses which they have suffered by the capture of merchant vessels by English cruisers.
ARTICLE VII. No vessel coming directly from England, or from the English colonies, or having been there since the publication of the present decree, shall be received into any port.
ARTICLE VIII. Every vessel contravening the above clause, by means of a false declaration, shall be seized, and the vessel and cargo confiscated, as if they were English property.
ARTICLE IX. Our tribunal of prizes at Paris is charged the definitive adjudication of all the controversies, which by the French army, relative to the execution of the present decree. Our tribunal of prizes at Milan shall be charged with the definitive adjudication of the said controversies, which may arise within the extent of our kingdom of Italy.
ARTICLE X. The present decree shall be communicated by our minister of exterior relations, to the kings of Spain, of Naples, of Holland, and of Etruria, and to our allies, whose subjects, like ours, are the victims of the injustice and the barbarism of the English maritime laws.
ARTICLE XI. Our ministers of foreign affairs, of war, of the navy, of finance, of the police, and our post masters general, are charged each, in what concerns him, with the execution of the present decree.
Berlin Decree APUSH
The Berlin 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
