<p>The Stanford historian emeritus gives a wide-ranging interview about his career, the American revolution, writing history, and his disagreements with the 1619 Project. </p>
The Drive for State and Federal Protective Tariffs in Early America
Conceived in Liberty, vol. 5,
Every depression generates a clamor among many groups for special privileges at the expense of the rest of society and the American depression that struck in 1784–1785 was no exception. If excess imports were the culprit, then voluntary economizing could help matters, and the press was filled with silly fulminations against ladies wearing imported finery. Less foolish and more pernicious was a drive by the beleaguered and often sub-marginal artisans and manufacturers for the special privilege of protective tariffs.
As early as July 1783, a group of manufacturers from Philadelphia met to petition the Assembly for protection against foreign imports. The following year, a group of Boston manufacturers submitted a similar plea. During the depression year of 1785, the urban artisans banded together in earnest. The Boston manufacturers in twenty-six trades formed The Association of Trades