The British "paper blockade", a demand that every vessel heading Europeans ports should have a British license and be inspected by them, was not well accepted by the Americans. They were earning too many profits to be inclined to follow any side, France of United Kingdom, of the Napoleonic war. Also, the Americans saw this practice as an assault on their dignity and honor.
The first big event following this practice was the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, where one merchant US ship was destroyed by the British warship Leopard, with the excuse of the search for deserters of the Royal Navy. After this, legislators created the Embargo Act in 1806 stopping all exports of American goods and restraining ships from leaving for foreign ports.