cree in retaliation, prohibiting all intercourse of chicory-root as a substitute for coffee. with the British islands. This was replied to, by Great Britain declaring France and her colonies in a state of blockade. To these insane edicts on both sides succeeded others, which so multiplied the difficulties of commerce that the United States government, to avoid war, laid an embargo upon commerce in 1808. It was not to be expected, however, that when the chief interests of the country were commercial, that such a measure should be otherwise than very unpopular, and the government changed it, in 1809, to non-intercourse with France and Great Britain. Notwithstanding all the troubles thrown in the way of commerce by the edicts of France and England, the American merchants contrived to carry on a large traffic. Under Bonaparte's continental system, which sought to exclude colonial and British productions, produce was very scarce and high in Europe. The emperor, to remedy the matter, offered high premiums for the invention of substitutes for many articles, such as indigo, cane sugar, coffee, etc. To those premiums are due the large use now made IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE UNITED It originated in Germany, but has since STATES, AND TONNAGE IN THE FOREIGN TRADE. Total exports. 19.012 041 Imports. 512,041 29,200,000 1793, 520,764 24,000,000 1794, 628,618 26,500,000 In the period here embraced there occurred many events which had a very lasting and important bearing upon the future of the United States. The temporary free trade with France had imparted a sudden impulse to the export of farm produce. The wars that succeeded greatly enlarged the sphere of action for the shipping, and we find in the table that the imports of goods rose year by year from 23,000,000 in 1790 to 138,000,000 in 1807. Of these large imports, however, it appears, from the column of exports of foreign merchandise, a large portion was 60,283,236 re-exported, forming the carrying trade between the countries of Europe and their colonies, that the war threw into the American bottoms, and which passed through American ports. A large portion of this trade was paid in money in England, forming those credits which were transferred by the Americans to the English, in payment of merchandise thence imported. Thus the trade was generally in favor of England with the United States, and in favor of the latter with Europe. Now, as England could have no direct trade with Europe during the war, and yet was compelled to send funds afford much encouragement for the future. thither for political purposes, the credits she The increase of blacks who were not earning received from the Americans were of vast their support was not regarded with favor service to her. It was in the conduct of that by southern statesmen under such circumtrade that the tonnage multiplied to the ex- stances: hence the incorporation into the tent seen in the column. The amount federal constitution of the inhibition of the increased from 474,374 tons in 1790, slave trade after 1808. That provision was to over 1,260,000 tons in 1807, or an resisted by the New England shipowners, increase in capital so employed from $15,- of whose business the transportation of blacks, 000,000 to $50,000,000 The wealth of the as a return cargo, after carrying produce to country was thus rapidly increasing in a England, formed an important part. An foreign trade, which formed one-half of the event occurred in 1793, however, which whole commerce. The fisheries were very wrought an entire change in the business of active and flourishing; the agricultural in- the country and the prospects of the south. terest prospered under the large exports and Up to that time a little cotton had been high prices, and manufactures began to be raised, but the difficulty of freeing it from actively developed. The Secretary of the the seed was such that one hand could clean Treasury, Mr. Hamilton, in his celebrated but 1 lb. per day, and even at 30 cents per report upon manufactures in 1791, says: lb. it was not profitable, under such condi"It is certain that several important branches tions. The mode of carding and spinning have grown up and flourished with a rapidity it was also laborious and slow. At about that surprises, affording an encouraging assur- that period the steam-engine in England was ance of successive future attempts.' Among introduced as a motive power, and such inthose enumerated as then flourishing are ventions were made in the process of carding leather, iron, wood, flax, bricks, paper, hats, and spinning cotton as to enable one man to carriages, etc. It was computed that four- do the work that required 2,200 by old fifths of all the clothing of the inhabitants methods. These were the conditions of an was made by themselves, and that great immense demand for the raw material. Provquantities of coarse cloths for table and bed- identially, precisely at that juncture, 1793, ding were manufactured in households. All Eli Whitney, of Massachusetts, invented these industries pertained mostly to the the cotton-gin, by which one hand, innorth, and their surplus formed at that time stead of only 1 lb., could clean 360 lbs. per most of the exports of the whole country. day. Thus the market for cotton, and the The southern states were possessed of 600,- means of preparing it, were both provided 000 blacks, for whom there was no adequate at once, and they were thenceforth to furnish employment. They were mostly engaged the chief employment for American ships. upon the production of tobacco and rice, but The items of domestic exports in the above the market for them was not such as to table were therefore varied as follows: Thus cotton in a few years came to form, 1807, in the case of a suit brought by Whitnearly one-third of the whole exports, there-ney to make good his claim to his patent. by supplying to the shipping in 1808 a com- "The whole of the interior," said Judge pensating freight for the blacks, who were Johnson, "was languishing, and its inhabitno longer to be imported. That cotton trade ants were emigrating, for want of some object has not ceased to grow to the present day, to engage their attention and employ their and with ever increasing importance. It has supplied not only the manufacturers of Europe with raw material, but also those of the northern states. The impulse thus given to the cotton culture produced a vital change in the condition of the south, and this change is well indicated in the charge made by Judge Johnson, of Savannah, in industry, when the invention of this machine (the gin) at once opened views to them which set the whole country in active motion. From childhood to age it has presented to us a lucrative employment. Individuals who were depressed with poverty and sunk in idleness have suddenly risep to wealth and respectability. Our debts have been paid off, our capitals have increased, and our lands doubled in value. We cannot express the weight of obligation which the country owes to this invention. The extent of it cannot now be seen." aggregate amount retained in the country for consumption did not materially increase in the ten years up to 1807. All branches of industry were in a high state of prosperity, when the course of events brought on the embargo, which produced an immense change in the course of affairs. All those interests that had thriven so well since the peace of 1783, became suddenly depressed by the circumstances which gavė an impulse to manufacture. The raw mate In these words we have the proof of the utter depression that then existed at the scuth, affording a strong contrast to the immense wealth that has since been developed. The kinds and quantities of goods imported into the country were adapted to the wants of the people at that time, when lux-rial and farm produce which had been so uries had by no means so large a share of actively exported now accumulated on hand the public taste as is now the case. The at falling prices, tempting the manufacturer homespun goods of the country were to be to employ the labor no longer occupied with gradually supplanted by machine goods as commercial interests, and a new order of inthese improved and cheapened, and they did dustry sprang into being. Trade was, howso rapidly under the influence of larger sup- ever, not entirely interrupted; many coastplies of raw material, operated upon by the ing vessels, with suitable cargoes, were by most astonishing inventions in new machines, pretended stress of weather driven into and the improved scientific processes applied foreign ports, and the United States courts to the manufacture. The American manu- were filled with suits brought for breaches of facturers were required to withstand not only the embargo acts. Under the non-interthe competition of the large capital and course act of 1809, business recovered to cheap labor of England, but the constant some extent, only to encounter those new effects of new inventions, of which the first- vexations which brought on the war of 1812. fruits were manifest in imported goods. They That event rather changed the course of therefore grew but slowly, and hardware, trade than interrupted it, and was succeeded dry goods, and other leading branches of by a greater degree of activity than ever. merchandise, continued to be imported. The The imports and exports were as follows:Total exports. Total imports. Tonnage. Domestic exports. Foreign exports. 31,405,700 20,797,531 The large carrying trade the had existed | of Spain. The same men who had routed in foreign produce gradually perished on the the legions of Napoleon embarked at Borreturn of peace in Europe, throwing much ton-deaux for New Orleans, to fall before the nage out of employ; and domestic produce, cotton bags defended by Jackson and his although it found its way abroad to some ex-gallant band. tent, still fell in value, and accumulated in quantity in the home ports. Cotton in particular felt the want of the foreign market, although its presence in New Orleans became an instrument in the great triumph of our American troops over the British veterans who had just driven the French out The course of events that had been productive of so much prosperity from 1783 to 1808, was followed in the next seven years by commercial disasters, it is true, but those disasters were relieved by the brilliant position assumed by the United States among the nations of the earth as a naval power. The American tonnage, which increased to over 1,000,000 in 1807, had given employment to large numbers of hardy and skilful seamen, men whose professional skill and nautical daring had already made them famous, and had incited Great Britain to those impressments by which she sought to obtain the services of such able men. When her conduct drove the American government to embargo commerce, the employment of ships and men became restrained, and their daring manifested itself in infractions of the law. Non-intercourse and war drove them altogether out of employment, and they crowded into the navy and privateers. Up to that time England was the admitted mistress of the seas. Every nation in Europe had been driven from the contest. The best fleets of Napoleon, invincible upon land, had invariably struck to the British flag, and the feeble nation upon this continent, just formed out of revolted colonies, was hardly worth considering at all as a power. The proof of the contempt in which it was held was given in the conduct of the nations that forced non-intercourse and war upon the United States. It came very hard for all the thriving interests here to face ruin in the shape of war, but it became inevitable. So distrustful, however, was even Congress of the ability of the country to resist England, that it was determined, on the declaration of war, to send the government ships up the rivers, where they would be out of the reach of the dreadful English cruisers. It was only at the earnest solicitation of the leading officers of the navy that permission was finally given for the ships to go to sca. The astonishment in Europe, the dismay in England, and delight in the United States, could scarcely be equalled when the encounter on the seas resulted in the unprecedented spectacle of a series of triumphs over the tyrant of the ocean. In the short period of twenty years a power had arisen that was thenceforth to know no master upon the ocean, and submit to no insults, and this power had been born of commerce. The war closing with the defeat of the best troops of England, the "liberators of Spain," before the lines of New Orleans, left the United States no longer in the position of merely liberated colonies, but in that of a victorious power among the nations of the earth. It had cost much to win that position, but it was worth the "struggle, since it ensured continued peace thereafter. The nations of Europe have not since thought it worth while to provoke new hostilities, but have, on the other hand, from time to time, settled up for the injuries they then committed upon American commerce. The intervention of war had paralyzed every industry. The farm products that had been raised for export no longer had an outlet for the surplus; cotton, rice, and tobacco accumulated idly in warehouses. The ships were freightless at the docks, and all the earnings of industry were at their minimum. It was an advantage to manufacturers, indeed, to have no competition from abroad; but, on the other hand, the general depression of all other industries destroyed the home market for goods. The general depression of trade and the depreciation of property undermined all credits. Those who had contracted obligations to pay when merchandise was saleable and property convertible, could not pay when all values were paralyzed. In order to remedy this state of affairs to some extent, which was ascribed by certain parties to the want of a United States bank, new state banks were multiplied, under the erroneous notion that these could supply capital. Inasmuch, however, as the radical evil was inability to pay, increase of promises did not help the matter, and a general suspension of the banks took place. The country was filled with irredeemable paper; and the federal debt, which had been $75,463,476 on the consolidation of the revolutionary debt. in 1790, had risen to $127,334,934 when peace took place in 1815. In such a state of affairs the return of peace brought with it a flood of imported goods, which amounted to $147,000,000 in 1816, giving the government a customs revenue equal to $36,306,874 in the year. The new United States Bank went into operation at the same time, causing for the moment additional pressure; but the sale of its stock, and of the federal government stock, subscribed to its capital, abroad, helped to correct the exchanges. The produce that had accumulated during the war also went forward in great quantities, giving a considerable impulse to the aggregate of domestic exports, which rose to $73,854,000 in 1818. Of this amount 40 per cent. was cotton. In some sort, the trade which had lain dormant during the war was forced into the first three years of peace. In the five years that ended with 1820 there was, consequently, great activity of trade, demanding greater banking facilities, thus promoting a restoration of con fidence, and aiding the United States Bank period great dependence upon foreign manuin restoring order to the currency. The year 1820 brought with it new regulations in regard to the taking of the census, and a law of Congress was enacted for correctly keeping the import, export, and tonnage returns, which has since been done, and annually reported. The revenues of the government, which depended upon duties on imports, suffered interruption during the war, and a resort to taxation became necessary. This had been done in 1791 by a tax on houses and lands. A new valuation took place in 1815; and this, compared with the valuation of 1791, gives the progress of real property in all the states during that period. The census of 1820 comprised, in addition to the population, some items of the industry of the people. Comparing the leading aggregates at the two periods, the results are as follows: factures had existed. It is no doubt true that most of the common wearing apparel and similar goods were made in families, but iron ware, and most articles that enter into the materials of daily avocations, came from abroad. With the war came great deprivation, and many necessary goods, that had been abundant, were no longer to be had. Materials for the army and navy, of all sorts, particularly blankets for the men, were with difficulty obtained. This necessity gave a great spur to individual enterprise, and at the same time forced upon the government the idea of fostering home industry. This necessity was also apparent from the nature of the government. The federal Constitution had given to Congress the power to levy duties upon imports, and also direct taxes for its support. The former right was exercised up to the war, and the 1820. Increase. government finances were independent and Population Estimated. 4,049,600 9,638,131 5,588,531 flourishing. When, however, the war put 1791. Taxable land, acres.. 163,746,686 Valuation.. Imports 188,256,480 24,539,794 20,205,156 69,691,669 474,374 Bank capital.. 8,000,000 1,280,166 137,110,611 Manufactures. 5.600,000 52,776,530 U. S. debt 75,463,476 91,015,566 แ revenue 40,486,518 184,110,611 12,879,858 479.293,263 2,275,780,124 1,796,436,861 an end to commerce, the government rev- 1,111,927 1,064,738 It Such was the progress of the country in the first thirty years of its existence. Its population had increased 125 per cent. had added five states to the Union, and 24,539,794 acres to its taxable property, the value of which had risen nearly fivefold. Its tonnage had increased threefold, its manufactures tenfold, and the capital employed in banking had been increased $134,000,000. This great prosperity had manifested itself in face of a war with the greatest naval power the world had ever seen, and over which a decisive victory had been won. Commerce, under favorable circumstances, had been the basis of this great growth of wealth. of |