Thomas Jefferson and American Manufactures: History, Politics and Economics

Abstract

Henry Adams’s (1889–1890/1986) history of the embargo shows that the United States had Hobson’s choice: America had either to abandon its lucrative overseas commerce or to truckle to British naval power, something the Federalists were glad to do. Jefferson and Madison, along with Gallatin, [1] sought to square this circle: they chose peaceable coercion — thus the embargo. The strategy failed: once again a great case made bad law.