By excluding the ships
of the United States from the trade with the English West Indies,
England denied a profitable avocation to American ship-owners;
while, at the same time, the liberal arrangements of the United
States permitted her vessels freely to enter the ports of this
country with their cargoes of English manufactures, and to carry
thence to the West Indies lumber, flour, and provisions to exchange
for the molasses and sugar of the islands.
This ability to make a triangular voyage, with profits on each
transaction, gave such advantage to British ships that they were
able to carry on the trade between the United States and England at
a rate below that which American vessels could afford. Driven to
seek some remedy, the Yankee merchants and skippers turned to the
Orient. The trade with China and the East Indies developed rapidly,
and our tonnage registered for foreign trade increased from 583,000
tons in 1820 to 758,000 in 1828. [Footnote: Marvin, American
Merchant Marine, chap.
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