Social Reform in the United States Navy, 1798-1862

One of the main reasons why Congress established the Navy in 1798 was to protect American commerce and the sailors involved in it. This led to the Navy fighting an undeclared war with France, and another against the piratical actions of the Barbary States of North Africa. Also one of the reasons for the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812 was the impressment of American seamen into the British Navy. In the decades before the American Civil War various political, social and religious groups were agitating for reforms in American society that would be in keeping with its professed democratic and national principles. One such organisation was the American Seaman’s Friend Society which agitated and lobbied for an improvements in the enlistment, discipline and treatment of sailors in the merchant marine and the Navy both afloat and ashore. The Society on its own established a bank where sailors could deposit their wages as well as safe boarding houses for seamen of both types in major ports. Its members petitioned Congress to change various regulations and practices in regard to naval seamen. The causes of the Society were embraced by some naval officers, members of Congress and a few Secretaries of the Navy. Secretaries of the Navy were conscious of the need for changes to attract and hold native born Americans to the U.S.Navy. My book explores the circumstances and people in and out of the Navy who eventually convinced Congress to enact reforms to improve the conditions of service of naval enlisted men and to lay the foundation for a career enlisted force.