Manufactures Quotes
This is one of the earliest examples of the establishment of a type of Commerce Department – a government institution to look after the commercial affairs of the state.
This is the origin of one of the first Departments of Commerce.
The reason for the secrecy was that he was informing Congress of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Potentially, the Spanish, English or French might try to interfere with the expedition which was the precursor to American domination of the entire continent. Unfortunately, Jefferson’s plan for the Indians was not supported by many other Americans with the exception of New York State and the Iroquois remaining after many left after supporting the British in the Revolution. But the Iroquois who remained were already farmers in fixed communities and were experienced traders. Further, they had a complex governmental structure with many elements of democracy, and several had already succeeded in European educational settings. Their successful integration with the rest of New York can be demonstrated by the fact that New York is the only state where the average Native American Income is the same as the average white income, and there is no Indian gaming in New York. Jefferson’s vision, unfortunately, was never implemented in early the Westward Expansion.
In 1701 exports of wool accounted for ¼ of all exports. By 1770, it was almost 1/3.
This agreement was not a law as an English colony like South Carolina could not pass a law that prohibited buying English merchandise. It was unofficial and great pressure was put on any citizen who would not sign it. The merchants that did import goods other than those allowed in the agreement were boycotted by most of the signers. This quotation illustrates what may have been the first organized protectionist actions to assist domestic producers and manufacturers. It is valuable for another reason. The quotation lists goods that are exempted from the boycott. These were goods that were not made in South Carolina or nearby states at the time since if they were, they would have been protected, So we can learn what was manufactured in the colony or nearby at the time—that which is nit on the list but was important to colonial life. The list tells us what was not manufactured locally, and one of the most important were firearms and ammunition. The inability to manufacture armaments plagued the colonies and early America after the revolution. One of the major public expenditures was to create and subsidize domestic arms manufacture.
