1809 - Broadside printing of an impassioned speech against President Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act given by Revolutionary War Hero and Congressman Benjamin Tallmadge

Unidentified, 1809. Unbound. Very good. Speech of Mr. Tallmadge. Tuesday, December 27th, 1809. On a motion to committ to a select committee, the bill from the senate for enforcing the embargo laws. Unidentified printer. Annotated on the reverse, "Mr. Tallmadge's Speech" and "Felino (?) Hale".

In December of 1807, President Thomas Jefferson, with the aid of his legislative allies, forced an Embargo Act through Congress that, in effect, made all foreign trade illegal, in a grossly mistaken effort to punish England and France whose Napoleonic conflict hindered American shipping. Although the embargo had no effect on either country, it devasted American industry, agriculture, and shipping. Despite fierce opposition, Jefferson continued to enforce the embargo and, after merchants chose to ignore it, proposed draconian measures to enforce compliance. Tallmadge, a Connecticut Federalist, was a vociferous opponent, and in this speech, he emphatically assailed a proposed act that would legalize those measures.

"Sir . . . if I rightly undertand the provisions of this bill, I shall declare that it is fraught with more danger to the liberties and privilges of the people of this country, than any other that has yet been offered to the consideration of congress.

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"I have no hesitation in pronouncing the bill so radically and vitally defective, both in principle and in all its provision, that it is upperly incapable of amendment. . .. Let it be discussed here openly before the nation. . .. The people of this country should know who the men are that have not only palsied their lawful exertions by a perpetual embargo, but would now jeapordize their dearest rights to enforce that measure. [I] cannot consent . . . to barter away any of the rights of our constituents. This house cannot have forgotten the late attack upon the liberties of the people of this country, by a bill sent from [the Senate] suspending the writ of habeous corpus [that] was rejected in this house almost by unanimous consent. . .. I view the bill now under consideration , infinitely mor dangerous to the liberties of this counry. . .. If this bill should unfortunately pass into a law, then will this country literaly be subjected to the will of a DICTATOR. . . "[If this act becomes law,] the owner, consignee or factor, with the master of every ship or vessel, must give bonds to the amount of six times the amount of the vessel and her cargo, that the embargo laws shall not be violated. . .. Even the coasting trade must thereby be almost annihilated. . .. No man's store or even house is secure from search from our custom house officers. If the collector . . . chooses to suspect that you have specie in your desk, intended for exportation, [he may] make forcible entry and carry it off . . . justified by secret orders to be issued from the president of the United States . . . who is armed with all the land or naval forces, as well as all the militia. . ..

"I think the bill deserves a public execution, and I wish to give it one today. . .. I should mourn over the departed glory of my country (to achieve whose independense my feeble but faithful services were afforded) if I could believe the great body of it citizens were willing to sumbit to such base degradation. . .."

Not only was this enforcement act defeated, but Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party was forced to submit to public pressure led by a rejuvinated Federalist Party and repeal the Embargo Act in March of 1809, replacing it with the far less oppresive Non-Intercourse Act that lifted the embargo except for trading with British or French ports.

. Tallmadge was a hero of the American Revolution. He was initially commissioned as an officer in the 2nd Continental Dragoons and led successful raids on British military outposts and destroyed supplies of forage. Tallmadge was charged by General George Washington of managing intelligence gathering in New York and led the famous Culper Spy Ring that discovered the West Point treachery of Benedict Armold and identity of his British contact, Major John André. Following the war, he developed a successful mercantile business and served as the Litchfield Postmaster. He served from 1801 to 1817 as a Connecticut Congressman.

(For more information, see "Benjamin Tallmadge" in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Shouler's "The Embargo Act of 1807" in The Great Republic by the Master Historians, and Jennings's "The Agitation for the Repeal of the Embargo Act" in the July 1928 issue of Social Science, all available online.)

A truly rare broadside record of Tallmadge's envicerating speech that helped end the Embargo Act disaster, perhaps the only extant copy. It appears to be unique. At the time of listing nothing similar is for sale in the trade. There are no records of anything similar having ever appeared at public auction. It is not listed in any Americana reference. OCLC shows not examples are held by institutions, and Internet searches result in no hits. A remarkable broadside documenting the angry resistance to President Jefferson's Embargo Act that caused its repeal.

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