The British at that time were at war with France. British ship blockaded certain routes that
prevented American ships from passing through.
The reason for this was because Britain did not want the Americans to
trade with France. Tension grew further
when British naval officers blocked American ships and took sailors from those
ships to serve Britain. This was call
impressment and President Thomas Jefferson was outraged by these acts against
the American Navy. He tried to solve the
issue through diplomatic negotiations but things came to a head when a British
ship fired on the American ship Chesapeake and its captain surrendered. This brought tensions between the two
countries to the edge and later was one of the causes of the War of 1812.
