CHAPTER I. BACKGROUNDS This British policy brought to the front
the issue of protection in America. It not only worked against a
return by New England from manufacturing to commerce, but it
soon brought into the ranks of protectionists a northern and
western agricultural element that had been accustomed to sell
surplus products to West Indian planters seeking cheap food-
stuffs for their slaves. This new protectionist element was as
yet not crystallized into a clamour for "home markets" for
agriculture, but the pressure of opinion was beginning to be
felt, and by 1820 the question of West Indian trade became one
of constant agitation and demanded political action. That action
was taken on lines of retaliation. Congress in 1818 passed a law
excluding from American ports any British vessel coming from a
port access to which was denied to an American vessel, and
placing under bond in American ports British vessels with
prohibition of their proceeding to a British port to which
American vessels could not go. This