Impressment was the practice of forcing seamen to serve the British Royal Navy. Though from an
American historical perspective, it was tied into one of the main causes of the War of 1812, it was a
long-standing military tradition. While it is often identified with the British, Spain and France also
engaged in this practice.
Formally dating back to 1563 when Queen Elizabeth I authorized impressment to forcibly recruit for the
navy, the practice remained legal into the early 20th Century. In 1641, Parliament considered
abolishing impressment, but that did not happen. In 1740, an act tried to regulate impressment by
instituting that no one under 18 or over 55 and no foreigners could be forced into the navy; however,
these regulations were withdrawn in 1780.
British courts heard cases and considered the legality of impressment at the end of the 18th Century
but ruled that it was legal if done in a regulated way, overseen by an officer holding a king’s
commission and with a warrant of impressment from the British Admiralty. American seamen were
sometimes forced into the British navy, and the continuation of this practice was one of the stated
causes of the War of 1812.
Britain’s insistence on pressing sailors into naval service sprang in part from its wars against France
and Napoleon. The number of seaman needed to crew British ships nearly tripled between 1793 and
1812, from 36,000 to 114,000. At the same time, the life of a Royal Navy sailor became steadily more
brutal. Facing harsher discipline and more dangerous conditions, as many as 100,000 Royal Navy
service members died during that twenty-year period. The better conditions and pay on American
merchant or navy ships drew deserters from the British navy, and British officers used this known fact
as an excuse to stop American ships to look for deserters or impress men they claimed were British
citizens.
Because voluntary enlistments could never satisfy the demand for sailors, the British resorted to the
use of press gangs to forcibly place men into service. As many as half of all seamen manning the
Royal Navy were impressed. About 10,000 Americans found themselves impressed into service during
the Napoleonic Wars. The British argued that the sailors it impressed had escaped from their navy.
When Americans protested against the seizures, British authorities justified their practice by arguing
that being a British subject took precedence over claims of American Citizenship.
In the months prior to the start of the War of 1812, Americans interpreted this ongoing British practice
as implying that the United States was not an equal in international relations. Such an insinuation was
vexing for Americans, as it seemed to discount their victory over Britain in the Revolution. The series
of hostile exchanges on the high seas between Great Britain and its former recalcitrant colony led
some to view the War of 1812 as a “second American Revolution.”
On May 28, 1796, Congress passed an act (1 Stat. 477) to protect American merchant seamen from impressment. Among other things, the act authorized the issue of seamen’s protection certificates by
U.S. collectors of customs. The certificates were used to verify the identity and nationality of American
seamen traveling abroad by documenting such pertinent information as the seaman’s name, age, place
of birth, and a detailed physical description. Seamen could voluntarily obtain a protection certificate at
any customs house by paying a fee of 25 cents and submitting proof of citizenship, such as a birth
certificate, passport, naturalization papers, an old protection certificate acquired at another port, or,
most typically, a sworn statement taken and witnessed before a notary public, alderman, or other
official.
Customs agents were required to issue the protection certificates, maintain registers of certificate
applications, keep accompanying proofs of citizenship on file, and forward quarterly lists of registered
seamen to the Secretary of State. Seamen’s protection certificates continued to be issued as a
convenient means of identification until the late 19th century. Protection certificates were reintroduced
during World War I and continued to be issued until 1940, when they were replaced by merchant
marine licenses.
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