April 19, 1809-Dated, President James Madison Repeals the Embargo Act ... Printed Broadside “Proclamation” Signed in text, “James Madison” as President, Printed at the Gazzette Office, Providence, Choice Very Fine.
This historic Printed Broadside “Proclamation” Signed in text, “James Madison” as President is 1 page, uniface, measuring 4.5" wide x 10.75” tall, having full wide margins and bold black typeset printing on clean uniform wove period paper having just a couple light folds. At this time in history, by April 1809, the “Embargo Act” of 1807 (the broad ban on nearly all American exports, from Thomas Jefferson's presidency) had already been repealed by Congress that March, just before President James Madison took office.

It was then replaced by the “Non-Intercourse Act”, which reopened trade with everyone except Britain and France, and gave the president authority to restore trade with either of those two countrys if they lifted their own restrictions on American shipping. Madison had barely been in office six weeks when the British minister to Washington, David Erskine, told him that Britain's Orders in Council (the rules choking off American trade) would be withdrawn. On the strength of that assurance the so-called “Erskine Agreement” President Madison issued a Proclamation on April 19th, 1809 announcing that Trade with Great Britain would legally reopen on June 10th.

However, Minister Erskine had exceeded his instructions. The British foreign secretary, Canning, repudiated the deal, and by August James Madison had to issue a second Proclamation reinstating the “Non-Intercourse Act” with Britain. So the episode was short-lived and, in hindsight, one of the diplomatic missteps that helped push the U.S. and Britain toward the War of 1812. What this Broadside actually prints is his Proclamation suspending the Non-Intercourse Act's prohibition on trade with Britain, contingent on the Orders in Council coming down, sometimes use "Embargo Act" as shorthand since this Broadside references the earlier Embargo language directly.

Congress passed the Embargo Act in 1807, closing American ports against foreign ships and confining Americans to domestic trade. The act proved to be more harmful to the American economy than to Great Britain's, and Thomas Jefferson was urged to repeal, which he refused to do. The present Broadside “Proclamation” repealing the Embargo Act was one of James Madison's very First Acts as the newly elected President. This important rare example is in choice condition for display.