Jefferson reasoned that the warring nations in Europe depended on the United States for certain raw materials and foods. Keeping this fact in mind congress passed the Embargo Act in 1807. This act forbade the exports of all goods from the United States. Jefferson thought since the foreign powers needed American goods, upon passing this act the warring nations would agree to respect America's neutral rights. The Embargo act was hated by the citizens of the states and was incredibly hard to enforce. The embargo was loosely enforced and turned out to be more detrimental than no embargo…
