‘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 imposing 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 sentiment which animated and inspired them all, was that which was expressed in the motto inscribed upon the banners of the manufacturers in Philadelphia, ‘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 been ratified.
A quorum of the house of representatives under the new constitution 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 system, 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, manufacturers,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 maybe 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. Legislative 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 considered, 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.