The reason why it was always difficult to maintain neutrality between the French and the British government during the early days of its existance was because United states were helped by the French to gain independence from Great Britain. This obviously affected the relationships between these countries once the US gained independence.
When a lawyer presents before an Appeals Court judge, like the Supreme Court, it is known as making an oral argument.
An oral argument involves making one's best legal arguments and having the Judges ask you probing questions to see if there are any weakness in one's argument.
Hurting because during the stock market crash there was barely enough money left and to pay for trade would be even more money so it would hurt the economy. Hope I helped :)