The British navy used impressment as a method to forcibly recruit sailors into their service during the 18th and early 19th centuries. They would often press gang sailors from merchant ships or coastal towns, claiming them as British subjects or deserters. Impressment was a contentious practice that led to tensions between Britain and other nations, particularly the United States.
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seized goods aboard American ships.
made American sailors serve in the British navy.
searched American ships for banned items.
bombed American ships at first sight
impressment
Impressment in the War of 1812 was the British coming on American ships and taking their soldiers and forcing them to come with them and work for them.
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", refers to the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to the time of Edward I of England. The Royal Navy impressed many merchant sailors, as well as some sailors from other nations. People liable to impressment were eligible men of seafaring habits between the ages of 18 and 45 years.Non-seamen were impressed as well, though rarely.Wiki
Impressment was a method used in Europe to get sailors by forcing them to join the navy without notice. The men who were impressed were nearly all sailors on merchant ships, and had experience at sea, which made them valuable. When the United States declared independence, there was little in the way of records that could prove a man was of one country or another. Many of the sailors on US merchant ships were English born, including both some who had moved to the United States and taken up citizenship, and some who had not. British ships stopped American merchant vessels, and a number of sailors who were on them were identified as British and removed for sea duty. Naturally, there were legitimate US citizens included among those who were taken. And just as naturally, the US government was more than slightly upset that its citizens were being kidnapped by the British government. The impressment of US sailors was one of the causes of the War of 1812.
They were angry about impressment. British people loved to work for Americans because Americans gave them more money. British soldiers weren't to happy about that, though. So, the soldiers boarded American ships to look for the British sailors. But, sometimes they caught American sailors instead. So, the War Hawks declared war.