Impressment and Search

Impressment and Search, policy of forced recruitment of sailors by the British Royal Navy during the late 18th and early 19th century. As the Merchant Marine of the United States began to enjoy a lucrative cargo trade, it hired many British sailors. An estimated 20,000 Britons, including deserters from the Royal Navy, worked on American ships between 1790 and 1815. The British, in need of mariners, frequently stopped and searched American vessels on the high seas or in British ports for sailors suspected of being deserters. In practice the British often took any able-bodied sailor who spoke English, and forced them into service in the Royal Navy. Of approximately 10,000 mariners seized from American vessels between 1790 and 1815, it is estimated only about 1,000 were British subjects. This policy of impressment and search caused frequent conflict between Britain and the United States after the American Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.

Repeated attempts by the American government to negotiate treaties which would settle these differences failed. The American government maintained that British-born sailors were exempt from seizure if they had become American citizens. The British argued that persons born British subjects could not alienate their citizenship. In an effort to protect its citizens, the United States issued certificates of American citizenship to its sailors, but the British refused to honor these certificates, arguing they were frequently sold by their rightful owners to Britons.

Tensions reached the breaking point in June 1807, when the British frigate Leopard fired upon the USS Chesapeake in American territorial waters, and forced the surrender of three American seamen and one Briton. The British claimed all four were deserters and executed them.

The policy of impressment and search was one cause of the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. After 1815 Britain mostly abandoned the practice.