Editing Tariff of 1789 (section)

==Tonnage duty legislation and US foreign relations with European powers==

In its final form, the tariff erected "an American navigation system," superseding the individual state sanctioned fees designed to protect domestic shipping during the [[Articles of Confederation]] period from 1781 to 1789.<ref name="Miller1960p16"/><ref>Hofstadter, 1957, p. 115</ref>
 
The act established tonnage rates favorable to American carriers by charging them lower cargo fees than those imposed on foreign boats importing similar goods. Coastal trade was reserved exclusively for American flag vessels.<ref name="Miller1960p16"/> These provisions were consistent with mercantilist policies practice by European powers at the time.<ref>Miller, 1960,  p. 19</ref>
 
Dating from the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]], ending the [[American Revolutionary War|War for Independence]] in 1783, Great Britain had declined to seek a commercial treaty with the United States.<ref>Hofstadter, 1957, p. 125</ref> In addition, provisions of the treaty had gone unfulfilled, including compensation to slaveholders for slaves emancipated by the British Navy during the War and the failure to abandon military posts in the [[Northwest Territory]].<ref name="Miller1960p16"/><ref>Hofstadter, 1957, p. 123</ref> Still, Great Britain remained the dominant trading partner for the United States, the countries reverting to an essentially colonial-era trade relationship.  
 
Representative James Madison, presiding over the tariff debates in Congress, attempted to introduce discriminatory provisions into the tonnage legislation that would favor France and its colonial possessions and shift American trade away from Great Britain.<ref name="Miller1960p16"/>
 
To effect this, Madison called for a 60¢ per ton fee upon foreign carriers lacking a commercial agreement with the United States, while France, which possessed a treaty, would be charged tonnage at 30¢. This measure alone "was equivalent to levying economic war" upon Great Britain.<ref>Miller, 1960, p. 16–17</ref>
 
Madison's proposals were intended to unify politically the agricultural and manufacturing interests in support of that commercial realignment at the national level, damaging to Great Britain and beneficial to revolutionary France.<ref>Miller, 1960, pp. 16–17, 126—127</ref>
 
Many representatives of northern business were wary of abandoning Great Britain as their primary trading partner and [[merchant marine]] and questioned whether France could ever act "as the principle supplier and market for the United States."<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 18"/>
 
The House of Representatives, nevertheless, initially passed Madison's "controversial" legislation,<ref name="Miller1960p16"/> with the discriminatory provision intact. The Senate, however, removed it from the bill and sent it back to the House, where it was passed, without amendment, 31 to 19, on July 4, 1789.<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 19">Miller, 1960, p. 19</ref> President Washington signed the act into law on July 4, 1789.<ref>Miller, 1960, pp. 14–15 [15]</ref> The final bill extracted concessions from both interests, but delivered a distinct advantage to maritime and manufacturing regions of the country.<ref>Miller, 1960, pp. 17–18</ref><ref name="Malone, 1960, p. 256">Malone, 1960, p. 256</ref>
 
The Tariff of 1789 placed France and Great Britain on an equal footing with regard to shipping, manufactures, and raw products delivered to American ports. All foreign-owned or foreign-built ships paid 50¢ per ton duty; American-owned vessels were charged 6¢ per ton.<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 19"/>

To enable the federal government to collect the import duties, Congress also passed the Collection Act of 1789, which established the [[United States Customs Service]] and designated [[ports of entry]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |date=2016 |title=The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781451692136 |pages=102–103}}</ref> The tariffs established by this and later acts would make up the vast majority of government revenue; more than 87 percent of the federal government's revenue between 1789 and 1800 came from import duties.<ref>{{harvnb|Bordewich|2016}}, p. 108</ref> The tariff would continue to make up the bulk of federal revenue until the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gould|first1=Lewis L.|title=Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans|date=2003|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-375-50741-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/grandoldpartyhis00goul/page/175 175–176]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/grandoldpartyhis00goul/page/175}}</ref>