Editing Embargo Act of 1807 (section)

==Enforcement efforts==
Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury, [[Albert Gallatin]], was against the entire embargo and foresaw correctly the impossibility of enforcing the policy and the negative public reaction. "As to the hope that it may... induce England to treat us better," wrote Gallatin to Jefferson shortly after the bill had become law, "I think is entirely groundless... government prohibitions do always more mischief than had been calculated; and it is not without much hesitation that a statesman should hazard to regulate the concerns of individuals as if he could do it better than themselves."<ref name=adams>{{cite book |title=Gallatin to Jefferson, December 1807 |volume= 1 |last=Adams |first=Henry |series=The Writings of Albert Gallatin |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Lippincott |year=1879}}</ref>{{rp|368}}

Since the bill hindered US ships from leaving American ports bound for foreign trade, it had the side effect of hindering American exploration.

===First supplementary act===
Just weeks later, on January 8, 1808, legislation again passed the 10th Congress, Session 1; Chapter 8: "An Act supplementary..." to the Embargo Act (2 Stat. 453). As the historian [[Forrest McDonald]] wrote, "A loophole had been discovered" in the initial enactment, "namely that coasting vessels, and fishing and whaling boats" had been exempt from the embargo, and they had been circumventing it, primarily via [[Canada]]. The supplementary act extended the bonding provision (Section 2 of the initial Embargo Act) to those of purely-domestic trades:<ref>[http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=002/llsl002.db&recNum=490 2 Stat. 453 (1808)] Library of Congress, U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875</ref>

* Sections 1 and 2 of the supplementary act required bonding to coasting, fishing, and whaling ships and vessels. Even river boats had to post a bond.
* Section 3 made violations of either the initial or supplementary act an offense. Failure of the shipowner to comply would result in forfeiture of the ship and its cargo or a fine of double that value and the denial of credit for use in custom duties. A captain failing to comply would be fined between one and twenty thousand dollars and would forfeit the ability to swear an oath before any customs officer.
* Section 4 removed the warship exemption from applying to [[privateers]] or vessels with a [[letter of marque]].
* Section 5 established a fine for foreign ships loading merchandise for export and allowed for its seizure.

Meanwhile, Jefferson requested authorization from Congress to raise 30,000 troops from the current standing army of 2,800, but Congress refused. With their harbors for the most part unusable in the winter anyway, New England and the northern ports of the mid-Atlantic states had paid little notice to the previous embargo acts. That was to change with the spring thaw and the passing of yet another embargo act.{{r|adams|p=147}}

With the coming of the spring, the effect of the previous acts were immediately felt throughout the coastal states, especially in New England. An economic downturn turned into a depression and caused increasing unemployment. Protests occurred up and down the eastern coast. Most merchants and shippers simply ignored the laws. On the [[Canada–United States border]], especially in Upstate New York and in Vermont, the embargo laws were openly flouted.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Yoo |first=John |title=Jefferson and Executive Power |url=https://www.bu.edu/law/journals-archive/bulr/documents/yoo.pdf |journal=Boston University Law Review |volume=88 |pages=450-51}}</ref> Federal officials believed parts of Maine, such as [[Passamaquoddy Bay]] on the border with the British territory of [[New Brunswick]], were in open rebellion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Strum |first=Harvey |date=1983 |title=Smuggling in Maine During the Embargo and the War of 1812 |url=https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2511&context=cq |journal=Colby Library Quarterly |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=90-97}}</ref> By March, an increasingly-frustrated Jefferson had become resolved to enforce the embargo to the letter.<ref name=":0" />

===Other supplements to Act===
On March 12, 1808, Congress passed and Jefferson signed into law yet another supplement to the Embargo Act. It<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/10th-congress.php|title=Statutes at Large: Congress 10 {{!}} Law Library of Congress|date=September 2014|website=www.loc.gov|access-date=2020-01-15}}</ref> prohibited for the first time all exports of any goods, whether by land or by sea. Violators were subject to a fine of $10,000, plus forfeiture of goods, per offense. It granted the President broad discretionary authority to enforce, deny, or grant exceptions to the embargo.{{r|adams|p=144}} Port authorities were authorized to seize cargoes without a [[warrant (law)|warrant]] and to try any shipper or merchant who was thought to have merely contemplated violating the embargo.

Despite the added penalties, citizens and shippers openly ignored the embargo. Protests continued to grow and so the Jefferson administration requested and Congress rendered yet another embargo act.