$27,800 into the custom house and a Salem square-rigger only
$10,980.

The result was that the valuable direct trade with the Far East
was absolutely secured to the American flag. Not content with
this, Congress decreed a system of tonnage duties which permitted
the native owner to pay six cents per ton on his vessel while the
foreigner laid down fifty cents as an entry fee for every ton his
ship measured, or thirty cents if he owned an American-built
vessel. In 1794, Congress became even more energetic in defense
of its mariners and increased the tariff rates on merchandise in
foreign vessels. A nation at last united, jealous of its rights,
resentful of indignities long suffered, and intelligently alive
to its shipping as the chief bulwark of prosperity, struck back
with peaceful weapons and gained a victory of incalculable
advantage. Its Congress, no longer feeble and divided, laid the
foundations for American greatness upon the high seas which was
to endure for more than a half century. Wars, embargoes, and
confiscations might interrupt but they could not seriously harm
it.

In the three years after 1789 the merchant shipping registered
for the foreign trade increased from 123,893 tons to 411,438
tons, presaging a growth without parallel in the history of the
commercial world. Foreign ships were almost entirely driven out
of American ports, and ninety-one per cent of imports and
eighty-six per cent of exports were conveyed in vessels built and
manned by Americans. Before Congress intervened, English
merchantmen had controlled three-fourths of our commerce
overseas. When Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State, fought