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The Embargo (Poetry) William Cullen Bryant The Embargo is an historical poem written by William Cullen Bryant in 1808, when he was thirteen years old. Bryant was a critic of Jeffersonian Politics, and the work was his attempt to satirize a shipping embargo imposed by Thomas Jefferson at the time. Full Text "The Embargo" by William Cullen Bryant When private faith and public trust are sold,
And traitors barter liberty for gold;
When fell corruption, dark, and deep, like fate,
Saps the foundation of a sinking state;
Then warmer numbers glow through satire's page,
And all her smiles are darken'd into rage;
Then keener indignation fires her eye,
Then flash her lightnings, and her thunders fly!
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