During the Embargo Act

�Our ships all in motion,
   Once whiten�d the ocean;
        They sail�d and return�d with a Cargo;
   Now doom�d to decay
   They are fallen prey,
       To Jefferson, worms, and EMBARGO�
   (qtd in Kennedy, 227).

Political cartoons such as this one criticizing the Embargo Act abounded.

Some individuals tried to smuggle goods to foreign ports illegally as is evident by this order that Jefferson included in a letter to Charles Simms: "Information being received that a sloop, said to be of one of the Eastern states, of about 1500. barrels burthen, is taking in flour in the bay of Occoquan in Virginia, with intention to violate the several embargo laws, and the urgency of the case not admiting the delay of the ordinary course of proceeding through the orders of the Governors of the states, I have therefore thought proper to issue these my special orders to the militia officers of the counties of Fairfax, Prince William, or of any other county of Virginia or of Maryland adjacent to the river Potomak or any of it's waters wherein the sd vessel may be found, and to such particular officer especially to whom these my orders shall be presented by any collector of the customs for any district on the

("U.S. Coinage")

said river or it's waters, or by any person acting under their authority, forthwith, on recieving notice, to call out such portion of the militia under his or their command as shall be sufficient, & to proceed with the same, in aid of the said Collector, to take possession of, the said sloop and her cargo wheresoever found in the said waters...and to detain the same until she shall be liberated according to law, for which this shall be his & their warrant." ("Order")

With the public in such an uproar, changes had to be made. Further attempts at compromise were near at hand.

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