British after American independence, despite the protest of Pitt, who saw
clearly that the West Indians would suffer even more than the Americans.
Time showed his wisdom. Terrible sufferings came upon the West Indies for
lack of the supplies they had been accustomed to import, and between 1780
and 1787 as many as 15,000 slaves perished from starvation.

Another cause held the American merchant marine in check for several years
succeeding the declaration of peace. If there be one interest which must
have behind it a well-organized, coherent national government, able to
protect it and to enforce its rights in foreign lands, it is the shipping
interest. But American ships, after the Treaty of Paris, hailed from
thirteen independent but puny States. They had behind them the shadow of a
confederacy, but no substance. The flags they carried were not only not
respected in foreign countries--they were not known. Moreover, the States
were jealous of each other, possessing no true community of interest, and
each seeking advantage at the expense of its neighbors. They were already
beginning to adopt among themselves the very tactics of harassing and
crippling navigation laws which caused the protest against Great Britain.
This "Critical Period of American History," as Professor Fiske calls it,
was indeed a critical period for American shipping.

The new government, formed under the Constitution, was prompt to recognize
the demands of the shipping interests upon the country. In the very first
measure adopted by Congress steps were taken to encourage American
shipping by differential duties levied on goods imported in American and
foreign vessels. Moreover, in the tonnage duties imposed by Congress an
advantage of almost 50 per cent. was given ships built in the United
States and owned abroad. Under this stimulus the shipping interests
throve, despite hostile legislation in England, and the disordered state
of the high seas, where French and British privateers were only a little