After Denmark signed a treaty of alliance with France in 1807, Danish privateers began seizing American vessels and accused them of trading under false paper to be condemned in Danish courts. Minister John Quincy Adams sailed to Norway and reported back to President Madison that more than 50 vessels were being detained at value of at least $5 million. It wasn't until 1830, when America signed a treaty with Denmark under Andrew Jackson that any justice in the form of indemnity payments were obtained.
In 1801 near the end of the French Revolutionary Wars, Denmark who tried to remain neutral was assaulted by the British at Copenhagen and were forced to aced to British demands and give up its neutrality. Two years later as war renewed between Britain and France, Denmark once again tried to establish defensive neutrality. But French Victories in 1808 led the British to move against Denmark, fearing that France would incorporate the Danish fleet into her navy. So, under Admiral Gambier with a fleet of 31,000 troops, Britain bombarded the city of Copenhagen for three days, killing more than 2000 inhabitants and burning much of the city. Denmark surrendered her fleet to the British. Without a fleet, Denmark turned to France and signed a treaty of alliance on October 31, 1807.
As part of the alliance with France, Denmark was forced to crack down on American trade. Napoleon was convinced that Americans and other neutrals were smuggling British goods into Northern Europe. Napoleon had good reason to be convinced of this. In 1799, United States exports to Germany totaled over $18 million, but war and the British and French edicts restricting trade on the seas dropped the official exports to Germany to less than $700,000 by 1808. In response, American consuls in northern Germany resorted to smuggling of American goods into Germany. Also, with the assistance of the Danes, ships with forged American papers were trading in the Danish ports of Schleswig-Holstein to also smuggle British goods into Germany. Now, under the new alliance with France, the Danes began seizing American vessels and accused them of trading under false papers. In the summer of 1809, the new minister to Russia, John Quincy Adams sailed to Norway and found upwards of 20 masters of American vessels whose ships had been seized by Danish privateers and were waiting trial and condemnation in Danish courts. Adams reported to Madison that the entire number of American ships detained in Norway and Denmark was more than 50, and the value was at least five million dollars.
In Madison's address to Congress in 1810, he spoke of the "licentious cruisers" under the Danish flag that was vexing the American merchants in Northern Europe. The Danish privateers while serving the will of France, were viewed as pirates to Americans. James Madison told congress that he was hopeful that given the history of Denmark struggling to maintain neutrality, and the "friendly professions of His Danish Majesty toward the United States", justice for the merchants could be obtained.
"The commerce of the United States with the north of Europe, heretofore much vexed by licentious cruisers, particularly under the Danish flag, has latterly been visited with fresh and extensive depredations. The measures pursued in behalf of our injured citizens not having obtained justice for them, a further and more formal interposition with the Danish Government is contemplated. The principles which have been maintained by that Government in relation to neutral commerce, and the friendly professions of His Danish Majesty toward the United States, are valuable pledges in favor of a successful issue."In 1811, Madison again spoke of the damages done by the "cruisers under the Danish flag". In his annual address of that year, Madison reported that our special minister to Denmark had made considerable progress on addressing the issue.
"the information from our special minister to Denmark shews that the mission had been attended with valuable effects to our citizens, whose property had been so extensively violated and endangered by cruisers under the Danish flag."It wasn't until 20 years later that a treaty with Denmark was ascertained to restore the damages done to American merchants by these Danish privateers. The justice that James Madison had hoped for back in 1810 amounted to $650k of indemnity payments to American citizens for "for spoliations upon their commerce in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811". Andrew Jackson announced the treaty in his State of the Union Address of 1830.
"You are apprised, although the fact has not yet been officially announced to the House of Representatives, that a treaty was in the month of March last concluded between the United States, and Denmark, by which $650K are secured to our citizens as an indemnity for spoliations upon their commerce in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811. This treaty was sanctioned by the Senate at the close of its last session, and it now becomes the duty of Congress to pass the necessary laws for the organization of the board of commissioners to distribute the indemnity among the claimants. It is an agreeable circumstance in this adjustment that the terms are in conformity with the previously ascertained views of the claimants themselves, thus removing all pretense for a future agitation of the subject in any form."Andrew Jackson made brief mention in 1832 that the payments have been received and were ready for distribution.
"The payments stipulated by the convention with Denmark have been punctually made, and the amount is ready for distribution among the claimants as soon as the board, now sitting, shall have performed their functions."And by 1833, President Jackson had the pleasure of announcing to Congress that a recent ordinance by the Danish government had put trade with the island of St. Croix on a more liberal footing then aver before. America had come a long way since the attacks on American merchants by Danish pirates.
"It is satisfactory to inform you that the Danish Government have recently issued an ordinance by which the commerce with the island of St. Croix is placed on a more liberal footing than heretofore. This change can not fail to prove beneficial to the trade between the United States and that colony, and the advantages likely to flow from it may lead to greater relaxations in the colonial systems of other nations."
References
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Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Thrid Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/third-annual-message-0 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2019].
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-8 [Accessed 16 Jan. 2019].
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Fourth Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fourth-annual-message-3 [Accessed 12 Sept. 2019].
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Adams, H. (1901). History of the United States of America during the first administration of James Madison. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp.408-410.
Napoleon-series.org. (2019). Danish Privateering:� 1807-11. [online] Available at: http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/Denmark/c_danish.html [Accessed 18 Jan. 2019].
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