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and unhoped-for remedy for their sufferings had been devised: The daystar of the constitution arose; and of all the classes of the people of America, to whose hearts it came as the harbinger of blessings long hoped for and long despaired of, most unquestionably the tradesmen, mechanics, and manufacturers hailed it with the warmest welcome. It had in fact grown out of the all-pervading inefficiency and wretchedness of the revenue system, which had been felt in ruin by them, more than by any other class. The feelings, with which it was regarded by the tradesmen and manufacturers of New York,' will appear from their letter, in reply to the circular of the association in Boston. This expression of the sentiments which were entertained in New York, while the adoption of the constitution by that state was an event of a few months' standing, may afford instruction and bear repetition at the present day.

A Letter from the Tradesmen and Manufacturers of New York to the Tradesmen and Manufacturers of Boston.

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NEW YORK, 17th Nov. 1788. GENTLEMEN:-The mechanics and manufacturers of the city of New York have long contemplated and lamented the evils, which a pernicious system of commerce has introduced into our country, and the obstacles with which it has opposed the extension and improvement of American manufactures; and having taken into consideration your circular letter, wherein those evils and their remedies are pointed out, in a just and striking manner, have authorized us to communicate to you, in answer to your address their sentiments on the interesting subject.

'It is with the highest pleasure that we embrace this opportunity, to express to you their approbation of the liberal and patriotic attempt of the tradesmen and manufacturers of your respectable town.

'Every zealous and enlightened friend to the prosperity of this country must view, with peculiar regret, the impediments with which foreign im portations have embarrassed the infant arts in America. We are sensible that they are not only highly unfavorable to every mechanical improvement, but that they nourish a spirit of dependence, which tends in some degree to defeat the purposes of our late revolution, and tarnish the lustre of our character. We are sensible that long habit has fixed, in the minds of the people, an unjust predilection for foreign productions, and has rendered them too regardless of the arguments and complaints, with which the patriotic and discerning have addressed them from every quarter. These prejudices have become confirmed and radical; and we are convinced that a strong and united effort is necessary to expel them. We are happy that the tradesmen of Boston have led the way to a general and efficient exertion in this important cause.

'The impression we feel of the utility and expediency of encouraging our domestic manufactures are in perfect correspondence with your own; and we shall most cheerfully unite our endeavours with those of our brethren throughout the union, and shall be ready to adopt every measure, which will have a tendency to facilitate the great design.

'The legislature of our state, convinced of the propriety of cherishing our manufactures in their early growth, have made some provisions for that purpose. We have no doubt that more comprehensive and decisive measures will in time be taken by them. But on the confederated exertions of

our brethren, and especially on the patronage and protection of the general government, we rest our most flattering hopes of success.

'In order to support and improve the union and harmony of the American manufacturers, and to render as systematic and uniform as possible their designs for the common benefit, we perfectly concur with you on the propriety of establishing a reciprocal and unreserved communication. When our views, like our interests, are combined and concentered, our petitions to the federal legislature will assume the tone and complexion of the public wishes, and will have a proportionable weight and influence.

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We request you to favor us with the continuation of your correspondence, and to transmit to us, from time to time, such resolutions and proposals of your association as may be calculated for the promotion of our mutual

interests.

'We are, with the highest respect, &c.'

Such were the feelings and hopes, with which the laboring classes of the country in general, particularly the manufacturers and mechanics, looked forward to the adoption of the federal constitution. In the state of Massachusetts, it is admitted, that the question of adoption was decided, under the influence of the association of tradesmen and manufacturers already mentioned. In the convention of that state, the encouragement of manufactures, by protecting laws, was declared in debate to be a leading and avowed object of the constitution. As it was successively adopted in each state, triumphant processions of the tradesmen, mechanics, and manufacturers, with the banners of their industry, and mottos expressive of their reliance on the new constitution for protection, evinced, in the most impos ing form, and in the presence of uncounted multitudes, the principles, the expectations, and the hopes of the industrious classes of the community. Processions of this kind were organized in Portsmouth, in Boston, in New York, in Philadelphia, in Baltimore, and in Charleston; and the senti ment which animated and inspired them all, was that which was expressed in the motto inscribed upon the banners of the manufacturers in Philadel phia, May the Union Government protect the Manufactures of America." Forty-three years have since passed, and it is now earnestly maintained, and that by intelligent citizens, that the federal constitution thus adopted, under the influence of the mechanics and manufacturers, (who knew that by the new government the power of protecting their pursuits was taken from the governments of the states, who had before held and exercised it), confers no power on congress to protect the labor of the country, and that the exercise of such power is unconstitutional. When we consider the control over public sentiment possessed by the associated mechanics and manufacturers of our large towns, and the slender majorities by which, in some states, the constitution was adopted, it is not too much to say, that if such a conception of its powers had then prevailed, it never would have Deen ratified.

A quorum of the house of representatives under the new constitu tion was formed, for the first time, on 1st April, 1789. In one week from that day, Mr. Madison brought forward the subject of the revenue sys tem, as the most important, which required the attention of the national legislature. Pending the discussion of this subject, and three days after it commenced, a memorial was presented 'from the tradesmen, manufac

turers, and others of the town of Baltimore, in the state of Maryland, praying an imposition of such duties on all foreign articles, which can be made in America, as will give a just and decided preference to the labors of the petitioners, and that there may be granted to them, in common with the other manufacturers and mechanics of the United States, such relief as to the wisdom of congress may seem proper.' This was followed up, the next day, by a petition from the shipwrights of Charleston, S. C., stating 'the distress they were in, from the decline of that branch of the business, and the present situation of the trade of the United States, and praying that the wisdom and policy of the national legislature may be directed to such measures, in a general regulation of trade, and the establishment of a proper navigation act, as will relieve the particular distresses of the petitioners, in common with those of their fellow shipwrights, throughout the union.'

Thus the two first memorials presented to the congress of the United States were for protecting duties on American industry; and of these memorials, one was from Baltimore, and the other from Charleston, South Carolina.

A few days after, a similar memorial came in from New York, setting forth that, in the present deplorable state of commerce and manufactures, they look with confidence to the operations of the new government for a restoration of both, and that relief which they have so long and so ardently desired; that they have subjoined a list of such articles as can be manufactured in New York, and humbly pray the countenance and attention of the national legislature thereto.'

Numerous other petitions of like purport were shortly after presented, and in pursuance of their prayers, as well as from the crying demands of the public service, the first impost law was passed, at an early period of the session. It was, with the exception of the law prescribing the oaths of office, the first law, which was passed under the new government. In the long debate, which arose, at different stages of its progress, the idea was advanced, by members from every part of the country, that congress were bound to lay duties, that would encourage its manufacturing industry; and it does not appear that the suggestion was made in the reported debates, that they did not constitutionally possess the power. Mr. Madison thus expressed himself on the subject:-"The states, that are most advanced in population and ripe for manufactures, ought to have their particular interest attended to, in some degree. While these states retained the power of making regulations of trade, they had the power to protect and cherish such institutions. By adopting the present constitution, they have thrown the exercise of this power into other hands. They must have done this with the expectation, that those interests would not be neglected here." And again, "duties laid on imported articles may have an effect, which comes within the idea of national prudence. It may happen that materials for manufactures may grow up, without any encouragement for this purpose. It has been the case in some of the states. But in others, regulations have been provided and have succeeded in producing some establishments, which ought not to be allowed to perish, from the alteration which has taken place. It would be cruel to neglect them, and turn their industry to other channels; for it is not possible for the hand of man to shift from one employment to another, without being injured by the change.

There may be some manufactures, which, being once formed, can advance toward perfection, without any adventitious aid; while others, for want of the fostering hand of government, will be unable to go on at all. Legisla tive attention will be therefore necessary to collect the proper objects for this purpose.' Such were the principles on which this law was supported; and when it finally passed, it was stated, in the preamble, to be 'for the support of government, the discharge of the debts of the United States, and the encouragement and protection of manufactures.'

The present manufacturing system of the United States may be consid ered, partly as the result of the revenue laws of 1789, which remained without essential changes till the embargo of 1807, and partly as the effect of that and the other restrictive measures, and of the war which followed them. Those branches of industry, which are commonly called the mechanic arts, received, for the most part, though not without exception, an ample protection under the former laws : -manufactures on a large scale, requiring great capital and skill, owed their existence to the total interruption of commerce. In the combined result, a very large amount of American capital was, at the peace of 1815, found invested in manufactures. It was the prevalent opinion of the statesmen of that day, and those of the south among the foremost, that this capital ought to be protected; and the success which had attended some of the manufactures, on a large scale, had produced some change in the public opinion, as to the capacity of the country to support them.

In other parts of the volume we have mentioned the chief manufacturing establishments in the country, and, for the purpose of avoiding repetition, have reserved statistical details for the tabular views at the end of the work.

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CHAPTER V.-COMMERCE.

In the rapid growth of their commerce, the United States have enjoyed 1 most wonderful prosperity. We have, in a previous chapter, alluded to he restrictive measures adopted by the mother country, while we remained in colonial subjection, and it will not be necessary to enter into farther details on that subject. During the revolutionary difficulties, the traffic which had previously existed was of course suspended, and after the peace, commerce was still embarrassed with numerous impediments. These found their origin in the very nature of the confederation, and were in. separable from the confused and ineffective powers of such a political system. Congress had no power to impose any duties without the unanimous consent of the states, and it is apparent at once how entirely impossible it was, under such circumstances, to adjust a system that should be universally acceptable. The foreign articles on which Pennsylvania laid a duty, New Jersey admitted free; facility of smuggling from one of these states to the other was unavoidable from their situation.

The several states laid different rates of duty on foreign tonnage; in some, one shilling sterling per ton was imposed on vessels which in other states paid three shillings per ton. Such was the misunderstanding among the several states, that there were no general commercial regulations; nor could congress enforce any, while the opposition of any one of the states could prevent the passage of any act on the subject. The evil of this condition of affairs was flagrantly manifest, when, to provide a fund to discharge the public debt, and to pay the arrears of the revolutionary soldiers, it was proposed to congress, during the operation of the articles of confederation, to lay a duty of five per cent. ad valorem on all foreign merchandise imported, and the opposition of Rhode Island alone was sufficient to defeat the plan.

European nations gladly availed themselves of the embarrassed situation of our affairs, and labored to throw every obstacle in the way of our increasing commerce. They refused to negotiate commercial treaties; for even those nations which were ready to countenance our assertion of independence, were not ready to receive us as competitors and rivals in a struggle where their own interests were so deeply involved. The call for an amendment of the regulations on foreign trade, was one of the leading inducements to the change of the old confederation, and the new constitution embraced the necessary provisions for the establishment of a successful intercourse with foreign nations. Not long after the adoption of the new constitution, Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state, proposed a liberal system of policy in relation to this intercourse. His report on the subject of our commercial relations at that period, contains a variety of interesting matter, which enables us to make a correct comparison between the condition of our trade at that period and its present very great increase. This report was prepared in the summer of 1792. The countries with which

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