19th CONGRESS, 25, 1ST SESSION. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. JANUARY 25, 1826. Salted Cod Fish

19th CONGRESS, [25], 1ST SESSION. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. JANUARY 25, 1826. With the initial letter sent by: MEMORIAL OF THE MERCHANTS OF BALTIMORE. To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled. Baltimore, Nov. 18, 1825. 7 numbered pages. Light toning, disbound.
Measures: 8.75 by 5.5 inches
Reference: 205-37
Estimate: $15-$25

Response from Mr. Lloyd from the Senate Committee on Commerce to whom was referenced the petition of certain merchants of Baltimore, praying that the present duty of one dollar per quintal [a quintal is 50 fully dried cod in a pack], on imported dried fish [Cod] may be repealed and that a duty of fifteen cents per quintal may be imposed in lieu thereof. Baltimore merchants were trying to break the hold that the New Englanders had on the dried cod market by exchanging other goods for dried cod at a lower tariff and then be able to sell the cod into Brazil.

The answer: No.

New England fisheries out of Gloucester and Marblehead went to sea on the Grand Banks and caught Cod fish, salted them, and laid them in the holds of their ships. This produces an inferior salted cod and it wasn’t until around 1840’s when fishermen were able to put down fresh caught fish on ice, bring them to land, salt and dry them to compete with the superior process used by the British which caught their fish, brought it to port, dried and salted it and sold a portion of it to the New Englanders [Boston] who sold it to the French in exchange for molasses, which was made into rum in Boston and then sold in exchange for slaves, that were sold to the French in exchange for more molasses and dried cod to feed the French slaves on the sugar plantations.

Many fishermen became sailors during the revolutionary war and the war of 1812. This publication mentions the fisherman of Marblehead Massachusetts.

Great Britain previously held claim to the fish in the North Atlantic. American negotiators successfully secured the right to fish the North Atlantic in the post-Revolution negotiations at Paris in 1783: It is agreed that the People of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested the Right to take Fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other Banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and at all other Places in the Sea, where the Inhabitants of both Countries used at any time heretofore to fish … American Fishermen shall have Liberty to dry and cure Fish in any of the unsettled Bays, Harbors, and Creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador.

As you can see, successful treaty negotiations in 1783 allowed the Americans to retain the right to fish in the region, and to use British North American coastal lands for drying and curing, allowing them to better preserve their catches.

Yet, British impressment continued despite the stipulation that United States citizens “continue to enjoy unmolested the right to take fish.” British maritime strength relied on the ability to force able seamen of any nation into service to fight its wars and replace the dead and deserters. Aware of the injustice of the practice, the United States House of Representatives submitted a report entitled Legislative Provision Necessary for the Relief of American Seamen Impressed into the Service of Foreign Powers on 25 February 1796. The report’s proposals were twofold: relieve impressed seamen and provide documentation of citizenship. The House committee promoted “a provision for support of two or more agents, to be appointed by the Executive, and sent, the one to Great Britain, the other to such places in the West-Indies, where the greatest number of British ships of war may resort, and to continue there for such time as the President may deem necessary.” This plan did not cease the practice of impressment. British economic sanctions against the United States and increasing American outrage regarding impressment led to the War of 1812.

Following the British victory, the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 reversed much of the previous agreement regarding fishing rights made in 1783. Chief negotiator John Quincy Adams, Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, and statesmen Henry Clay, James A. Bayard, and Jonathan Russell met with Lord James Gambier, Doctor William Adams, and Under Secretary of State Henry Goulburn in Ghent, Belgium in 1814 to negotiate a peace. The British vied for retention of gains made during the war while Americans held fast to pre-war boundaries and rights.

The outcome of the War of 1812 changed that, and the Treaty of 1818 resulted in the solidification of the 49th parallel as the northern land boundary between the United States and British North America. The British confirmed the United States’ right to fish the coast of Newfoundland, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador and to dry and cure in unsettled Newfoundland and Labrador. In exchange, “the United States hereby renounce forever, any Liberty heretofore enjoyed or claimed by the Inhabitants thereof, to take, dry, or cure Fish on, or within three marine Miles of any of the Coasts, Bays, Creeks, or Harbors of His Britannic Majesty’s Dominions in America.” These agreements established important borders that remain today. This middle ground agreement between Great Britain and the United States held for nearly two decades before resuming contestation.

The eighteenth-century colonial wars destroyed France’s position in the North Atlantic fishing industry and gave Great Britain a virtual monopoly over the cod trade. Exclusion of French warships and most of their fishermen expanded New England’s access to North Atlantic cod. Brook Watson, an eyewitness called before the House of Commons in 1775 to testify on behalf of the North American merchants regarding Parliament’s recent passage of the Fisheries Bill that closed the New England cod fisheries, gave his opinion on the positive effect of the 1763 treaty on the cod trade to the West Indies. He testified:

“That the most inferior fish is exported to the neutral or French islands, and exchanged for molasses on VERY ADVANTAGEOUS TERMS, as the French are PROHIBITED from fishing [in Canada]. These molasses are sent to New-England, and manufactured into rum, which is sold for about fourteen pence per gallon, and used in the fisheries of New England and Newfoundland, and also exported to Guinea, and there exchanged for slaves, many of whom are sold to the French, and therefore eat the fish procured by the NEW ENGLANDERS.”

The Massachusetts State emblem is the Cod fish and hangs to this day in the State House.

Notes: Disbound, toned. See images. Good condition

$15 - $25

8.75" x 0.01" x 5.5"

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