The Death of the embargo

“The Death of the Embargo” continues the song war that swirled around the Embargo of 1807 (see The Embargo: A Favorite New Song). The controversy even penetrated the theater world. James Nelson Barker wrote the text for a musical interlude called “The Embargo; or, What News?” that was premiered on March 16, 1808, in Philadelphia. It played in Boston on April 22 and later in Baltimore and Charleston, capitalizing on and probably contributing to the public furor (Porter, With an Air 447, 513).

The embargo was effectively repealed in James Madison’s administration on March 15, 1809, although some trade restrictions remained in place against France and Great Britain. This song is still defiant of Britain and Bonaparte’s France, but celebrates the end of the embargo as an “Independence Day.” The original intention of the Embargo Act was to bring those countries to heel, but it did not work. It would take a war with England and collapse of Bonaparte’s regime to free the high seas for all to safely navigate.

The “Yankee Doodle” chorus indicates the tune (see The Yankees Return from Camp) and the text could be either Federalist or Democratic-Republican—there are no real hints of factionalism. The cut at the bottom of the broadside may be a comment on a line in verse 3 of the original Embargo:

Like a turtle they hide
In their own pretty shell the Embargo.

The turtle-embargo is tamed and saddled and led by a master with a scythe over his shoulder.