270 W. C. DODGE 



Nor was this policy confined to manufactures alone, for as 

 early as 1622 the exportation of tobacco from Virginia was 

 prohibited, unless first landed in Great Britain, and a duty 

 paid there. These laws were enforced long after American 

 independence. As late as 1830, Hugh Wagstaff was impris- 

 oned for putting on board the American vessel Mount Vernon, 

 for New York, twenty three boxes of spindles to establish a 

 cotton factory in the United States, and the spindles were 

 confiscated. And when the Hon. Tench Coxe, the coadjutor 

 of Alexander Hamilton, entered into a bond with a party in 

 London to send hither models of Arkwright's patented spin- 

 ning frame, they were detected and confiscated. 



As late as 1832 the model of a roller for printing caKco, 

 to be used at Lowell, was obtained only by concealing it in a 

 lady's trunk; and, still later, when Messrs. Sharp and Roberts, 

 of Manchester, England, who in 1841 patented their self 

 acting spinning mule in the United States, sought to send the 

 patterns to their partner, Bradford Durfee, at Fall River, 

 Mass., they succeeded only by smuggling them through 

 France. The laws prohibiting the emigration of artificers 

 were not repealed until 1825, and that prohibiting the expor- 

 tation of machinery, etc., not until 1845. 



Under these conditions the colonists could do nothing 

 but produce food and raw materials for the manufacturers of 

 Great Britain, and even those had to be shipped in British 

 vessels, of which the officers and three fourths of the crew 

 must be British subjects. 



During the American revolution manufactures were 

 established to partially supply American needs; but as under 

 the confederation, which was simply for mutual defence, con- 

 gress had no power to regulate commerce or impose duties on 

 imports, and as those colonies which were interested in com- 

 merce favored free trade, the country was soon flooded with 

 cheap foreign goods to such an extent as to destroy what 

 manufactures there were, and bankrupt the merchants who 

 had stocks on hand. The country was drained of its money, 

 and the condition became such that laws were passed suspend- 

 ing the collection of debts, and making cattle and other kinds 

 of property a legal tender. Petitions were sent to congress 



