ISO [ASSEMBX-Y 



The stale of things which existed at the time of which I speak, 

 could not long be endured. The present Constitution was at 

 length formedj and one of the first acts of the first Congress 

 of the United States, which assembled under its provisions, ex- 

 pressly asserted the principle of levying duties for ihe protection 

 of Americiiu Industry. It was intended, as was declared in its 

 preamble, " Co provide revenue for the support of the Government^ 

 the paxfrnenl of the debts of the United Siatesjandfor the encourage^ 

 ment of American manufactures.'''' 



It was on the 4th day of July, 1789, that this law was enacted 3 

 a law which was in itself a Declaration of Independence, scarcely 

 less important in its influence upon the industry of the Nation, 

 than that which had been X)ublished to the world thirteen years 

 before, by the patriots of the Revolution. It was signed by 

 George Washington, President of the United States, who had 

 himself been a member of the Convention which framed the 

 Constitution. The fidlowing members of Congress, who voted 

 for the bill, were also members of the same Convention, viz : 

 James Madison, Oliver Ellswortli, Roger Sherman, William Sa- 

 muel Johnson, Caleb Strong, Elbridge Gerry, Nicholas Gilman, 

 John Langdon, William Patterson, Thomas Fitzsimons, Robert 

 Morris, Richard Bassett, George Read, Abr;&ham Baldwin, and 

 William Fell. These men certainly were capable of judging 

 whether the Constitution they had just framed, empowered them to 

 pass such an act, and their decision, as a cotemporaneous expo» 

 sition of t)ie Constitution, is certainly entitled to great weight. 



The protection atfarded to manufactures by this act proved in- 

 sufficient. During the war in which ail Europe was so long in- 

 volved, we became the carriers of the world, and on the whole 

 we enjoyed an unexpected degree of prDSperity. Congress at dif- 

 ferent times raised tlie rate of duties &o as to afford some slight 

 degree of protection ; but the impression seems generally to have 

 prevailed, that we were not prepared to become a manufacturing 

 people. In 1789, '91, ami '97, small additional duties were laid. 

 In 1800 aa increase of 2^ per cent, was made, and again in 1801, 

 ai addition of:.?? per c-3at. to the ai udloretn duties then existing, 



