Foreign Trade, Anxiety, and Embargo: Federal Paternity in the Seduction Narrative of Early America

Abstract

For Americans who devoted themselves to reexport trade in the Atlantic in the 1790s, how to protect their own economic interests under the converging attack of Britain and France is one of their biggest concerns. The seduction narrative, on the one hand, gives vent to the anxiety of Americans who had been pillaged by Britain and France and were unable to protect themselves by repeatedly describing the tragic circumstances of women who were attacked by lotharios. On the other hand, anxiety is utilized to generate a solution strategy for seeking protection from the “father” by emphasizing the threat of others and their own vulnerability. This narrative can be said to provide a platform to reintroduce the patriarchal authority that had been characterized as autocratic during the Independent Revolution into people’s vision and to discuss whether a more “balanced” commodity market can be constructed through the intervention of the federal government.