It is scarcely just to say that even unconsciously the
British people had instituted government for the protection of property
and invested interests; but it is within the bounds of truth to say
that a large part of the legislation of Parliament, in the formative
days of the American colonies, had been inaugurated with this end in
view. With the abuses of the monopolies granted by the mother country,
the colonists were only too familiar. But the principle had been
inherited, and it had been put into practice in the shape of legislative
aid granted by colonial assemblies for the inauguration of various
commercial and manufacturing enterprises. Sometimes this assistance
had taken the form of money; at other times, of a patent or monopoly
granted for a number of years. Petitions for such aid had been presented
to the Continental Congress at various times. It was not strange that
they should appear in the new Congress, as has just been described.
Political parties had not yet been developed, but the debates on this
first tariff bill showed a strong tendency to sectionalism, arising
from the varied interests of an extensive territory.
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