‘American’ Tars: Impressment,citizenship and labour in early Republican New York City

Abstract

During the impressment crisis of the 1790s and 1810s, sailors drove American commerce and shaped ideas of national sovereignty. ‘American Tars’ captured the imagination of the nation. Newspaper articles lauded their perceived independence and emphasized their key role in the nation’s economy. However, though national discourse presented sailors as American citizens, sailors themselves challenged the confines of citizenship, either adopting or rejecting the designation as necessary. Sailors’ use of protection papers – documents created by the U.S. government to claim sailors as American citizens – complicated the national narrative of the American sailor. This article examines how this diverging rhetoric played out in New York City, a port that was home to a large population of sailors and other transient labourers. Through their use of protection papers and through street action, sailors created solidarities that were not solely national, but instead looked towards a broader maritime world.