With the ongoing battles between Great Britain and France in the early 19th century, the newly formed United States found itself thrust in the middle of this struggle. These countries, during their course of fighting, violated the maritime rights of neutral powers. The United States, attempting to market its own produce, was especially affected. To preserve Britain's naval strength, Royal Navy officers impressed thousands of seamen from U.S. vessels, claiming that they were either deserters or British subjects. The United States defended its right to naturalize foreigners and challenged the British practice of impressments on the high seas. Relations between the two nations reached a breaking point in 1807 when the British frigate Leopard fired on the USS Chesapeake in American territorial waters and removed, and later executed, four crewmen. American at first prepared to respond with economic coercion rather than war. At the urging of President Thomas Jefferson, Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807, prohibiting virtually all U.S. ships from sailing to foreign ports. The U.S.

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