150 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
arable interest there. On May 13, 1828, McDuffie, Representa¬ 
tive from -New York, wrote that he was of the opinion that “a 
majority of the Committee on Ways and Means’ * 7 were in favor 
of a National tax on auctions. 6 
The anti-auction movement proper, in New York City, began 
in the spring of 1828. The chief causes for renewed interest 
at that time seems to have been the agitation in 1827, and fol¬ 
lowing, by New York, Pennsylvania, as well as New England 
en bloc, for additional tariff legislation ; the pending bank legis¬ 
lation in New York, and the dumping policy of England where¬ 
by her surplus manufactured products of the Napoleonic period 
were poured in upon our markets. New York, although she 
favored increased protection—at least the protection that should 
have come as a result of the Tariff of 1824, if correctly and 
honestly administered, thought it useless to increase the tariff 
schedules so long as frauds on the revenue continued and auctions 
sales predominated. The particular demand, therefore, was for 
the removal of frauds—which they thought would result if cus¬ 
toms were paid in cash—and a national tax of ten per cent im¬ 
posed on auction sales. 
The class of people most directly affected were the merchants, 
who were thrown into competition with the foreign producer, 
with his accumulated lot of goods, and his superior methods of 
dyeing and weaving. Accordingly, in the early part of May, 
1828—(after the passage of the Tariff of 1828, from which they 
had hoped for relief, and before the passage of the law of May 
28, 1830, providing for the collection of revenue 7 —-meetings 
were called for the purpose of formulating reasons for the aboli¬ 
tion of the auction system, and for petitioning Congress. The 
most important and the one which started a positive policy was 
a Respectable meeting of citizens,” May 2, 1828. 8 The pre¬ 
siding officer was Thomas H. Leggett, a merchant 9 Resolu¬ 
tions were offered by Daniel Jackson, a merchant, and a com¬ 
mittee of eighteen .appointed. 10 This committee was afterwards 
e Boston Palladium, May 13, 1828, p. 2, col. 3. 
7 Goss: p. 41. 
s Niles Register, Vol. 34, p. 174. 
9 N. Y. City Directory, 1828-1829. 
10 13 of the 18 are known to have been merchants. 
