Maritime seizures push the United States toward war
- When
- 1793–March 1794
- Where
- Atlantic and Caribbean shipping lanes
- Part of
- Jay Treaty
After Britain entered the war against France in 1793, the Royal Navy seized nearly 300 American merchantmen, and Congress voted on a trade embargo in March 1794.
The French Revolutionary Wars, begun in 1792, ended the long peace that had enabled American trade and finance to flourish. Once Britain joined the conflict against France in 1793, the Royal Navy seized nearly 300 American merchant ships trading with the French West Indies. Merchants demanded compensation for the seizures made between 1793 and 1794, and Congress voted on a trade embargo against Britain in March 1794; Vice President Adams had earlier cast a tie-breaking vote in opposition to a trade embargo on the British in 1794.
Sources
- Jay Treaty Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-27
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.