especially New England and
the Middle States, were interested in the carrying trade, but all were
concerned in obtaining markets. On account of jealousy interstate trade
continued a precarious existence and by no means sufficed to dispose of
the surplus products, so that foreign markets were necessary. The people
were especially concerned for the establishment of the old trade with
the West India Islands, which had been the mainstay of their prosperity
in colonial times; and after the British Government, in 1783, restricted
that trade to British vessels, many people in the United States were
attributing hard times to British malignancy. The only action which
seemed possible was to force Great Britain in particular, but other
foreign countries as well, to make such trade agreements as the
prosperity of the United States demanded. The only hope seemed to lie
in a commercial policy of reprisal which would force other countries
to open their markets to American goods. Retaliation was the dominating
idea in the foreign policy of the time. So in 1784 Congress made a new
recommendation to the States, prefacing it with an assertion of the
importance of commerce, saying: "The fortune of every Citizen is
interested in the success thereof; for it is the constant source of
wealth and incentive to industry; and the value of our produce and our
land must ever rise or fall in proportion to the prosperous or adverse
state of trade."

And after declaring that Great Britain had "adopted regulations
destructive of our commerce with her West India Islands," it was further
asserted: "Unless the United States in Congress assembled shall be
vested with powers competent to the protection of commerce, they can
never command reciprocal advantages in trade." It was therefore
proposed to give to Congress for fifteen years the power to prohibit the
importation or exportation of goods at American ports except in vessels
owned by the people of the United States or by the subjects of foreign
governments having treaties of commerce with the United States. This
was simply a request for authorization to adopt navigation acts. But the
individual States were too much concerned with their own interests and
did not or would not appreciate the rights of the other States or the
interests of the Union as a whole. And so the commercial amendment of
1784 suffered the fate of all other amendments proposed to the Articles
of Confederation. In fact only two States a