the prohibition of foreign commerce through the detention of vessels in port. When the vessels of a foreign state are detained, the embargo is said to be hostile; when a state detains its own vessels the embargo is called pacific. The embargo policy was first used in the United States in 1794, in retaliation for hostile acts in restraint of American trade by Great Britain, but it was removed and was not again used until 1807, when the famous Embargo Act was passed, which detained both foreign and domestic vessels engaged in foreign trade. The act had but little effect upon France and England, the two countries at which it was directed, but it caused great hardship to American ship owners and was repealed in 1809, being replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act. Another act was passed in 1813, during the War of 1812.