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In 1802, the Treaty of Amiens was signed by France, Spain, Britain, and the Batavian Republic. The Treaty sought to bring peace to warring European powers by reorganizing numerous colonies, territories, and regions to end the conflict over these regions. The Treaty of Amiens was a failure. The parchment was barely dry when multiple parties began to violate the terms of the treaty. The biggest disagreement was caused by France's unwillingness to negotiate a trade agreement with Britain. The failure to come to terms on a deal encouraged Britain to take a hardline with France.  Ultimately, due to Britain's unhappiness with France's adherence to the Treaty, it decided to retain control of Malta in direct violation of the Treaty. While Britain clearly violated the treaty, neither France nor Britain appeared to be particularly interested in preserving the peace between them. France quickly took several over several cities in violation of the treaty including Hanover and Naples. Napoleon even began toying with the idea of invading Britain. With these actions, the Treatywas officially dead and hostilities between France and Britain would start again.  ==Why did France and Britain interfere with American trading ships at sea?== During the conflict between Britain and France, the United States remained neutral. President Thomas Jefferson wanted to maintain the United States' neutrality in order to continue trading with Europe. By 1803Over the next four years, tensions with Britain and France ramped up as both countries refused to honor the US's neutral status. Both countries boarded American merchant ships, impressed sailors, and searched their cargo.  By 1807, the British had become increasingly bold and attacked the American military ship, the USS Chesapeake, just of the coast of Virginia. The British ship was allegedly looking for British deserters, but this was part of Britain's effort to harass American shipping. Britain had declared war already banned the United States from trading with each otherFrance and its colonies.  The HMS Leopard fired on the Chesapeake and killed 3 American sailors. Additionally, the British board the ship and seized four American sailors. This attack differed from previous engagements because the Chesapeake was not a merchant ship, but a ship the United States Navy. This incident ratcheted up the potential for conflict between the United States and Britain. ==What was the goal of the Embargo Act of 1807?==Instead of escalating the conflict with the Crown, Jefferson sought to end any tensions by ending all trade with all foreign nations. This Embargo closed US ports to foreign ships and even ended overland trade with Canada. Congress supported this move and hoped it would prevent America from being dragged into an out of control European conflict.