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This decision could not be taken lightly by the United States because the Royal Navy was not only highly skilled but also superior in size.

In his popular study of the USS Constitution Donald Macintyre views the British infringement on the United States’ shipping as deeply wounding to American national pride.Today this diplomatic incident may have resulted in increased naval activity or tense diplomatic discussions but in 1812 the only viable option for the US Government was war. In naval terms, impressment is the term for forced servitude on board ship and is best known from ‘press-gangs’ which searched harbor towns for Royal Navy recruits. The naval war was driven by the British Royal Navy’s aggressive impressment of United States’ Navy sailors into British service.In fact, the British warships would stop and send Marines aboard the American ship and forcibly remove Royal Navy deserters.