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 used the Continental System.
Napoleon Expands the Continental System
- The Milan Decree was issued by Napoleon on December 17, 1807.
- It expanded the Continental System and authorized the seizure of ships complying with British trade rules, including American vessels.
- President Thomas Jefferson and the United States responded with the Embargo Act of 1807.
Additional Details
- The Milan Decree’s blockade was a “Paper Blockade” because the French Navy was not strong enough to enforce it on the open seas.
- It resulted in the seizure of hundreds of American ships.
Significance
The Milan 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.
Milan Decree Tex (Primary Document)
Rejoinder to His Britannic Majesty’s order in council of the 11th November, 1807.
At our Royal Palace at Milan, December 17, 1807.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, and Protector of the Rhenish Confederation:
Observing the measures adopted by the British Government, on the 11th November last, by which vessels belonging to neutral, friendly, or even Powers the allies of England, are made liable, not only to be searched by British cruisers, but to be compulsorily detained in England, and to have a tax laid on them of so much per cent. on the cargo, to be regulated by the British Legislature:
Observing that, by these acts, the British Government denationalize ships of every nation of Europe; that it is not competent for any Government to detract from its own independence and rights, all the sovereigns of Europe having in trust the sovereignties and independence of the flag; that if, by an unpardonable weakness, and which in the eyes of posterity would be an indelible stain, if such a tyranny was allowed to be established into principles, and consecrated by usage, the English would avail themselves of it to assert it as a right, as they have availed themselves of the tolerance of Government to establish the infamous principle that the flag of a nation does not cover goods, and to have to their right of blockade an arbitrary extension, and which infringes on the sovereignty of every State; we have decreed and do decree as follows:
Art. 1. Every ship, to whatever nation it may belong, that shall have submitted to be searched by an English ship, or to a voyage to England, or shall have paid any tax whatsoever to the English Government, is thereby and for that alone declared to be denationalized, to have forfeited the protection of its King, and have become English property.
Art. 2. Whether the ships thus denationalized by the arbitrary measures of the English Government enter into our ports, or those of our allies, or whether they fall into the hands of our ships of war, or of our privateers, they are declared to be good and lawful prize.
Art. 3. The British Isles are declared to be in a state of blockade, both by land and by sea. Every ship, of whatever nation, or whatsoever the nature of its cargo so may be, that sails from the ports of England, or those of the English colonies, or of countries occupied by English troops, and proceeding to England, or to the English colonies, or to countries occupied by English troops, is good and lawful prize, as contrary to the present decree, and may be captured by our ships of war, or our privateers, and adjudged to the captor.
Art. 4. These measures, which are resorted to only in just retaliation of the barbarous system adopted by England, which assimilates its legislation to that of Algiers, shall cease to have any effect with respect to all nations who shall have the firmness to compel the English to respect their flag. They shall continue to be rigorously in force as long as that Government does not return to the principle of the law of nations, which regulates the relations of civilized States in a state of war. The provisions of the present decree shall be abrogated and null, in fact, as soon as the English abide again by the principles of the law of nations, which are also the principles of justice and of honor.
All our ministers are charged with the execution of the present decree, which shall be inserted in the bulletin of the laws.
NAPOLEON.
By order of the Emperor:
H. B. MARET, Secretary of State.
Milan Decree APUSH
The Milan 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
