One can be sure that it's a strange time in history when a US President's State of the Union

address includes a mention of poop.

Nonetheless, that's what happened in 1850, 1852, and 1853,

but it was not poop expressly, but poop by a different name.

Guano.

That first presidential mention went,

Guano has become so desirable an article to the agricultural interest of the United States

that it is the duty of the government to employ all the means properly in its power for the purpose of causing that article to be imported into the country at a reasonable price.

You see, guano is not just any old poop. It is the poop of birds and bats.

What's so immensely special about this poop, so special that its acquisition became a matter of

US national security is that it contains 12% nitrogen and 10%

phosphoric acid. If you think back to your high school chemistry class you'll

recall that these are all excellent plant fertilizers.

Agricultural productivity exploded with its introduction.

The growing benefits of guano were first realized in the early 1800s, and by the mid-century

farmers, especially in America, could not get enough of it.

The adequate and appropriate importation and sale of Guano therefore became one of the most significant

issues in the U.S. during the 1850s, a time when farmers represented far more of the country's political weight than even today.

Much of the guano of this time came from Peru and other South American countries,

but this supply was volatile and inadequate to meet demand.

America wanted American Guano, but that meant it needed some of the barren isolated islands

where Guano had accumulated through the decades.

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