A History of Political Parties in the United States (Volume 1) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Chapter III. THE NEED OF POWER TO REGULATE COMMERCE. THE need of power to regulate commerce had attracted some attention before the close of the Revolutionary War. On June 25, 1778, New Jersey, - - - Memorial of through her delegates, presented a memo- rNefawtloJnef0ecy0 rial to Congress in which she declared that merce- the sole and exclusive right to regulate commerce should be vested in that body . The memorial was not favorably received. On February 3,1781?the very day that Congress asked the states for power to lay a duty of five per cent on imports?Witherspoon of New Jersey and Burke of North Carolina brought the same matter to the attention of Congress, but without any better success.f The passing of the motion to ask the states for power to levy duties, and the rejection of the motion to ask for power to regulate commerce, illustrate the state of public opinion on the two subjects. Until the independence of the United States was acknowledged, the inability of Congress to regulate commerce was not, indeed, a matter of much practical importance. But when this country was admitted to a place among the nations of the world, the necessity of power Elliott's Debates, I., 87. t Ibid., 92, 93. to negotiate and enforce commercial treaties became vital. It was the conduct of England which compelled Americans to realize this. At the close of the war there were a few Englishmen who were states- policy of Son'to'therela" manlike enough to see that if unrestricted United States. trade had beeQ profitaMe to E)ngland when the United States were colonies, it must prove to be profitable after the independence of this country had been acknowledged. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the young orator, William Pitt, was of this way of thinking. In March. 1783, ...