Bayonne Decree was a Napoleonic decree passed on April 17, 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars. It ordered the seizure of all American ships arriving in France.[1] American vessels in French ports were ruled to be in violation of the Embargo Act of 1807 passed months earlier, or if not, either British or American ships in Britain's service.[2][3] An estimated US$10 million in American property was confiscated, especially due to the confiscation of vessels that were subject to unavoidable examination by British cruisers.[4][5]

References

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  1. ^ "France: Decrees on Trade 1793-1810". Napoleon Series. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  2. ^ Hildreth, Richard (1880). The History of the United States of America, Volume 2. United States: Harper & Brothers. p. 85. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  3. ^ Smelser, Marshall (1968). The Democratic Republic: 1801–1815. Waveland Press. p. 172.
  4. ^ Hill, Peter P. (2005). "Chapter 5: Captured Ships and Stranded Seamen; Napoleon Reacts to the Embargo". Napoleon's Troublesome Americans: Franco-American Relations, 1804–1815. Potomac Books. ISBN 9781612343013.
  5. ^ Heckscher, Eli Filip; Fearenside, Charles Scott (1922). Westergaard, Harald (ed.). The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation. United Kingdom: Clarendon Press. pp. 135–136. Retrieved July 7, 2023.