American manufactures, the best trump to play with Great Britain

This text was taken in toto from David Humphreys’s “Poem on the Industry of the United States of America.” Originally written in 1793 while the author served as commissioner of Algerian affairs in Lisbon and Madrid, it was published in 1794 in Philadelphia and then extensively revised eight years later. This copy represents lines 253-78, followed by lines 218-43 from the 1804 version. It was never intended to be sung.

Humphreys (1752-1818), a graduate of Yale College, served on Washington’s staff during the American Revolution. A diplomat and poet, his literary work was largely patriotic and didactic. From the 1760s, when British pressures on colonial markets through control and taxation threatened to curtail their liberties as English citizens, Americans resorted to boycotts of British goods as protests. The wearing of American-manufactured clothing and using local products became the sign of a good patriot. Similarly, once the colonies became a nation, it was vital that local trade and manufacturing be encouraged and supported. In his “Address to the People of the United States” in the introduction of the 1804 edition of his poem, Humphreys explains that his purpose was to encourage the government to continue that support. His poem was used for two similar broadsides entitled “Home Industry” with lines from other parts of the same text.[1]