Excerpts: The trade policy of a nation is expressed by its actions and aspirations. When the Colonists threw the British East India Company's cargoes of tea into Boston Bay in 1773, the American Revolution was in effect underway. That dramatic event symbolized a revolution against an unfair tariff - a tariff imposing taxation without representation. The cutting off of American trade with all parts of the world is listed in the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, as a specific grievance against the British King and Parliament. That listing reflected the American aspiration for free trade. During the intervening 200 years, the principle of free trade has been modified many times as a result of local industry demands for protection, economic recessions and depressions, and retaliation against the import restrictions of other nations. But those periods of high protective tariffs almost inevitably led to restricted export opportunities for U.S. farm products, giving pragmatic support to the Colonists' ideal of liberal trade, as the bountiful U.S. harvests increasingly exceeded domestic needs.
