'Break It Up' Examines The History Of Secession Movements In The U.S.

I am reading this and found a very interesting paragraph:

"Expecting the Union to falter, foreign nations looked at the young republic as easy prey and seized every opportunity to foment division within it . London minister hadn't stopped plotting to weaken the confederation and reclaim at lest some of the territory they had lost. After the war, British merchants flooded American markets with cheap goods and offered easy credit, an overt attempt to replace political dependence with economic servility. As money flowed out and little came in, much of the Union fell into severe depression. Some proposed anew boycott, but few would make the sacrifice. After yeas of self imposed austerity, American now had a bottomless "hunger and thirst after cheese and porter," as one Virginian sniffed. Worse, they had fond of "trumpery"-trivial, worthless articles of deceptively shiny appearance."