Free Trade

Why was free trade important to Captain David Porter and his crew? And why did the phrase become a part of both a rallying cry and an explanation for the War of 1812? To answer these questions we need to take a careful look at the concept of free trade in the fifty years before the opening of the nineteenth century. The ideals of the Enlightenment informed a more open revolutionary diplomacy attached to the principle of free trade. That free trade had multiple definitions ranging from commerce without restrictions to a belief in neutral rights. Americans rallied to the call of free trade in its varied and overlapping definitions during the Revolutionary War. As the first American diplomats began to reach out to other nations they hoped to create a new era in international relations by pursuing free trade in terms of both limiting restrictions on trade and pursuing neutral rights. Free trade even underpinned the relations among the individual states and became a vital component of the union in both the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. Despite the sometimes twisted path of American diplomacy, during the 1790s opening commerce with “all the world” on an equitable basis and protecting neutral rights while other nations were at war remained the driving force in the foreign policy of the United States. By the beginning of the nineteenth century enlightened diplomacy and free trade had become embedded into American national identity and reflected patrician ideals of the revolutionary role of the United States on the world stage. For Porter and his crew, as well as for Americans rallying in support of the War of 1812, free trade represented an essential element in the heritage of the American Revolution.