e to and from Great Britain, and its
final total prohibition of intercourse during the war itself. In 1800
the bulk of American importation of manufactures still came from Great
Britain. In the contest over neutral rights and theories, Jefferson
attempted to bring pressure on the belligerents, and especially on
England, by restriction of imports. First came a non-importation Act,
1806, followed by an embargo on exports, 1807, but these were so
unpopular in the commercial states of New England that they were
withdrawn in 1810, yet for a short time only, for Napoleon tricked the
United States into believing that France had yielded to American
contentions on neutral rights, and in 1811 non-intercourse was
proclaimed again with England alone. On June 18, 1812, America finally
declared war and trade stopped save in a few New England ports where
rebellious citizens continued to sell provisions to a blockading British
naval squadron.

For eight years after 1806, then, trade with Great Britain had steadily
decreased, finally almost to extinction during the war. But America
required certain articles customarily imported and necessity now forced
her to develop her own manufactures. New England had been the centre of
American foreign commerce, but now there began a trend toward
manufacturing enterprise. Even in 1814, however, at the end of the war,
it was still thought in the United States that under normal conditions
manufactured goods would again be imported and the general cry of
"protection for home industries" was as yet unvoiced. Nevertheless, a
group of infant industries had in fact been started and clamoured for
defence now that peace was restored. This situation was not unnoticed in
Great Britain where merchants, piling up goods in anticipation of peace
on the continent of Europe and a restored market, suddenly discovered
that the poverty of Europe denied them that market. Looking with
apprehension toward the new industries of America, British merchants,
following the advice of Lord Brougham in a parliamentary speech, dumped
great quantities of their surplus goods on the American market, selling
them far below cost, or even on extravagant credit terms. One object was
to smash the budding American manufactures.

This action of British merchants naturally stirred some angry patriotic
emotions in the circles where American business suffered and a demand
began to be heard for protection. But the Government of the United
Sta