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Sailors pressed off US ships were not US citizens, but British citizens "who had known the sea" (fishermen, merchant seamen, whalers etc.) who understandably pr
by gerikson 6y ago
Sailors pressed off US ships were not US citizens, but British citizens "who had known the sea" (fishermen, merchant seamen, whalers etc.) who understandably preferred working for better pay for US skippers than risking life and limb in the Royal Navy.
- adolph 6y agoThat is an interesting claim. Was there a US citizenship at the time, or were people from one state or another?
- wwtrv 6y agoThe British didn’t recognize naturalized US citizens at the time, if you were born in Britain and later emigrated to the US they still considered you a British subject. The US government obviously had a different view but there wasn’t much it could do short of declaring war.