With the Revolution terminated the legislation of Great Britain over the trade and manufactures of the Colonies. That legislation, which was the cause of the separation, had, for several years before Iron-manu- the war, produced numerous efforts in the Provinces to lessen facture. the dependence upon foreign sources for manufactured products. The market for their pig-iron being cut off by the war, and the importation of British iron and manufactures necessarily suspended, capital was turned to the creation of supplies for the public service, and to the conversion of Iron into various articles of ironmongery previously imported. The production of steel and different descriptions of hardware was recommended, and in some cases encouraged by bounties, by the General Congress and the local assemblies or conventions. Many Iron-works and small manufactories were called into existence, some of which were as quickly ruined by the flood of foreign Iron and manufactures at the close of the war. The inefficiency of the old Confederation left to the separate legislatures the duty of protecting their interests in this respect as they might see fit.
A dangerous rivalry to British iron interests was apprehended in the American States, not only in the production of rough iron, from the cheapness of fuel and the quality of the iron, but also in the articles of steel cutlery, and other finished products, from the dexterity of Americans in the manufacture of scythes, axes, nails, etc. In these they exceeded the French and most European nations, as well in the style and finish as in the quality of their articles, being made from the best iron, which in Europe was reserved for finer manufactures not attempted in America. Some of the political writers of England recommended the removal of all duties on foreign iron in order thereby to secure the control of the American and Russian markets for her manufactures of Iron.
The great improvements which had been made in England in all branches of the Iron-manufacture, and the competition springing up in Europe and America in the production of raw iron, doubtless prompted the Act of 1785 (25 Geo. III. c. 67) to prevent, under severe penalties, the enticing of artificers or workmen in the iron and steel manufactures out of the kingdom, and the exportation of any tools used in these branches to any place beyond the seas. This Act, embracing as it did not only nearly every description of tool, engine, or machine, or parts of such, used in making or working up iron and other materials, but also the models and plans of such machinery and implements, created no small difficulty in the introduction of many new branches of the practical It was the supplement to numerous Acts affecting colonial manufactures.
It was not until conflicting State legislation, an almost total drain of
specie for foreign manufactures, a worthless national currency-of which several thousand pounds could only purchase a ton of iron, it not being lawful to refuse it, and a languishing state of trade and manufactures, proved the necessity of endowing Congress with power to protect the national industry and redeem its credit, that the Iron-manufacture and its allied interests received any protection from Government. The Tariff enacted in July, 1789, laid a duty higher than upon most other articles upon slit and rolled iron and castings, steel, Tariff. nails and spikes, and wool cards, and a few articles in other branches, evincing thereby the disposition of its framers to give special encouragement, limited though it were, to those important interests. On bar, bolt, and pig iron the rate was 7 per cent. on the invoice value. Upon steel the duty was laid at half a cent per pound, and upon nails one cent per pound.
Mr. Hamilton, in his Report on Manufactures in 1791, stated that manufactures of Iron, though generally understood to be extensive, were found to be much more so than was supposed. Iron-works had greatly increased, and were much more profitable than formerly; the price of Iron having increased from about $64 per ton, before the Revolution, to $80 a ton at that time. The rise in price was chiefly attributed to the increased manufactures from that material. He recommended special encouragement to this branch of industry by increased duties on foreign iron and its manufactures, and by the establishment of national armories for the public service. In the following year, the duty on steel was therefore raised to $20 per ton, and on iron cables from Great Britain to $30 a ton. The tariff on rolled iron and steel imported in American vessels was, in 1794, fixed at 15 per cent., on hardware at 10 per cent.. and on all other manufactures of Iron at 15 per cent., with an additior of 10 per cent. when imported in foreign bottoms. These rates were retained until 1816, when the tariff was adjusted with special reference to the encouragement of manufactures, of which the iron branch received an extraordinary impulse during the war of 1812, to be again remarkably depressed by the influx of foreign Iron and the manufactures of that material.
Arkwright machinery, 384, 397, 399, 400, 402, 403,
410.
Armories, public, 495, 608, 631.
Artificers, condition of, in 16th century, 19; first
sent to America, 25; emigration of, prohibited,
396, 397, 630.
Arts and Manufactures in 16th and 17th centu-
ries, 13, 15, 81; in middle ages, 17, 18; canses
of slow growth, 22, 23; introduced in America,
24, 27.
Asbestos, paper made of, 207; early mention of,
Axes, 486, 494, 608, 617.
BALTIMORE, shipbuilding, 79, 82; growth of, 79,
81, 229, 586; mills, 112, 146, 147, 595; printing,
176, 187; brickmaking, 229; breweries, 263;
cloth making, 336, 396, 398; ladies of, 395; tan-
neries, 448; iron works, 585, 586, 587, 590, 593,
594; coal, 595; gas light first, 595; exports of,
337, 397; tradesmen, petitions of, 81, 398, 594.
Bark mills, 440, 445, 453, 454.
Barley and Malt, 123, 143, 245, 246, 249, 256, 257,
258, 259, 261, 262.
Beer, Ale and Porter, use of, in early times, 244,
259; first excised in England, 247; in America,
251, 252; prices of at different times, 99, 249,
257, 259, 260, 261, 262; exported, 250, 258, 260,
261, 262; importations of, 261; quality of, 250,
261. (See BREWING.)
Beeswax exported, 337; premium for, 406.
Bennington, Vt., 205, 206, 511, 523, 524.
Berkshire, 102, 128, 420 ; iron ore and works, 493–
495.
Beverly cotton factory, 399.
Bible, first printed in America, 157, 158; first in
English, 159, 181, 183.
Bleaching, 204, 205, 397, 405, 406, 407, 408; pre-
miums for, 369, 416.
Boat building, 37, 44, 75, 77, 107.
Boats, Durham, and Arks, 84, 107, 559.
Bolting act, New York, 60, 133, 441; mills, 142.
Books, first printed in British America, 31, 154;
first medical, 162; trade fairs established, 189
blank first, 192, 197 ;—binding and binders, 157,
158, 190, 191, 192, 193; price of, 190;-sellers,
early, 189, 190; premiums for, 406.
Boots prohibited, 435; limited use of, 454.
Boring mills for guns, 486, 492, 566, 573.
BOSTON, shipbuilding, 39, 40, 41, 42, 47, 48; mills
at, 96, 117, 118, 123, 128; printing, 162–167, 177,
183, 184, 185, 187 ; booksellers and bookbinders,
157, 190, 191, 192, 197; paper making, 197, 200,
209, 210, 237; stops importing, 202, 237, 372,
373, 374, 375, 379; type foundry, 212; first brick
house in, 219; described, 220, 221; glassworks,
241; vineyard, 269; salt works, 290; rope-
making, 303, 419; solid men of, 314; spinning
schools and linen manufactures, 333, 334, 335,
345, 362, 372, 375, 376, 419; hatmaking, 342;
port bill passed, 379; card factories, 388, 420,
497; mint house, 477; mechanics, 500; fire en-
gines, 500.
Bounties and Premiums parliamentary, on naval
stores and raw materials, 99, 105, 328, 337, 358,
365, 372, 624; on indigo and silk, 323, 358; on
exports, 337, 344;-domestic, on manufactures
and raw materials in Massachusetts, 299, 334,
335, 362; in Rhode Island, 334, 335, 398; in
Connecticut, 200, 335, 418; in New York, 367,
368, 369, 455, 532; in Pennsylvania, 206, 316,
336, 363, 381, 402, 406, 407, 409, 578, 579, 619; in
Delaware, 346; in Maryland, 592; in Virgina,
320, 321, 382, 383, 606; in North Carolina, 615,
616; in South Carolina, 382, 416, 417, 619; in
Georgia, 357; of Society of Arts in London (see
SOCIETY OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES); and
drawback effects of, 327.
Bowdoin, Governor, 242, 367, 414, 498, 499.
Bradford, William, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 196, 197.
Braintree, 221, 239, 472, 474, 475, 476.
Brandy, first made in America, 250; household
manufacture of, 258, 262, 264, 265, 274, 276.
Brass and Bronze, antiquity of, 465; American,
546.
Brass and Bell Founding in Massachusetts, 476,
485, 487, 492, 496, 497; in Rhode Island, 502,
503; in Connecticut, 510, 518; in Pennsylvania,
568, 573, 574; in Maryland, 594.
Brazil, first cotton from, 354.
Brewing and Malting, 244–265; in Massachusetts,
245-250; use of Maize in, 217, 258, 263; in
Rhode Island and Connecticut, 250; in New
York, 250-254, 257; taxed, 251; in Albany,
254; monopoly of, 255; prohibited, 256; regu-
lated, 249, 257; in New Jersey, 257, 258; in
Pennsylvania and Delaware, 258-262; in Mary-
land and Virginia, 27, 262-264; in Carolina
and Georgia, 264; as a household art, 244, 258,
263, 264; of pale ale and porter first, 265. (See
BEER, &c.)
Bricks and Tiles, 216–231; first in New England,
217, 221; in Virginia, 28, 220; in New York,
222; in New Jersey, 226; in Pennsylvania,
228; Maryland, 229; Carolina and Georgia,
229; prices of, 222, 223, 224, 226; exports oʻ,
231; duty on, 222, 224, 231; improvements in
making, 231.
Bridges, iron, proposed, 519, 581.
Bridgewater, 346, 398, 485, 486, 487, 488, 496.
British Trade acts and policy, origin of, 87, 202,
306, 324, 325, 327.
Board of Trade and Plantations created, 305, 326;
reports and suggestions to, respecting colonies,
57, 61, 63, 68, 69 90, 97, 162, 199, 200, 236, 322,
326, 328, 329, 330, 337, 339, 340, 341, 342, 346.
362, 370, 371, 489, 491, 522, 526, 527, 530.
Broadcloth, 331, 344, 366, 371, 372, 375, 377, 383,
418; first fine in Europe and America, 306, 421,
(633)
Brown & Almy, 399, 401, 402, 403, 404.
Buckles, shoe and knee, 406, 447, 463, 492, 519,
551, 574.
Buck and doeskins, 317, 346, 368, 429, 432, 444,
447, 448, 449, 458, 459; prices of, 429, 444, 446,
458, 459; premiums for, 346, 368, 447; exports
of, 447, 449; prohibited, 444; 445.
Buffalo, 64, 65.
Bulls, novel use of, 136, 141; of papal, 198.
Burlington, N. J., 69, 70, 109, 121, 172, 178, 226,
258, 548, 549, 550.
Bushnell's Marine Turtle, 53.
Buttons, 330, 382, 418, 492, 539, 574, 575; silk,
433; gold and silver, 372, 519; wooden, 575;
importations of, 406.
Byfield woolen and cotton factory, 404, 421.
Gables, 83; Pon, 485, 528.
Calico and linen priuting, kuown to the Egyp-
tians, 307; in England, 81, 397; in America,
377, 404, 406, 407; blocks, plates, &c., not to be
exported, 396; cylinders invented, 397.
CALIFORNIA, first printing in, 180; paper mill,
205; vine culture, 270.
Cambridge, 39, 40; first printing at, 153, 154, 157,
160, 161, 221, 383.
Canada, first saw-mill in, 101; printers sent to,
186; iron works, 536.
Canals, 124; first proposed, 534, 535, 562; first
surveyed, 562; in Maryland, 490; in Virginia,
605; in Carolina, 621.
Candle factories, 55.
Cannon, brass, first in England, 467; first in Ame-
rica, 487, 497, 572, 573, 574; iron and shot in
England, 467; first in America, 482, 484; in
Massachusetts, 482, 484, 485, 486, 487, 490, 495;
in Rhode Island, 502, 503; in Connecticut, 511,
512; in New York, 528, 531; in New Jersey,
542, 549; in Pennsylvania, 553, 567, 568, 572,
573; in Maryland, 587, 588, 590; first bored, 486;
inscription on, 487; wrought iron and wooden,
560; prices of, 589.
Carding machines, 384, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403,
407, 408, 409, 413, 417, 421, 579.
Cards, cotton and wool, 333, 3S8, 405, 414, 420, 434,
494, 497, 518, 571, 606, 615, 616; first stock in
United States, 398; machinery for making, 388,
420, 497, 518, 571.
Carey, Matthew, 179, 189, 409.
Carpets, Flemish, 15; none in 16th century, 16;
in America, 209, 414.
Carriages, taxed for the support of spinning
schools, 333, 335; not to be imported, 372; ma-
nufacture of, 445, 518, 538;-springs first, 538,
580, 609; boxes, 569, 598; steam, 595.
Carving, ship, 40, 70, 74, 75.
Cattle, domestic, introduction and propagation of,
427, 429, 431, 439, 448; prices of, 298, 429, 430,
431, 439, 443, 444, 448, 449; exported, 297, 341.
Chains, heavy forged, 485, 528.
Charcoal best for smelting, 482, 489; prices of,
489, 525, 597.
Charleston, S. C., shipping at, 85, 86; printing at,
176, 187; bookselling and binding, 190; build-
ings of, 230; settlement of, 271; exports of, 348,
349, 351, 354, 356, 449, 461; silk filature at, 360.
Charlestown, shipbuilding, 40, 41; mills, 117;
first acts at, 152, 220; manufactures at, 221, 303,
304, 433, 439, 470.
Chemicals, first made, 392, 407.
Child, Sir J., 81, 88.
Chimneys, in 16th century, 18; early American,
109, 219.
China, first American ship at, 64; increased trade
with, 92, 411.
Chinaware and porcelain, Sevres, 15; duty on re-
pealed, 237; factory established, 238, 619; ex-
cluded, 872.
Chlorine, use of, in bleaching, 204, 205, 397, 406.
Chocolate mills, 121, 144.
Cider, 250, 257, 263, 265, 274.
Cincinnati, first printing in, 179.
Clapboards, 25, 26, 95, 96, 111, 112, 222.
Clock and watchmaking in Connecticut, 518, 519,
520; in Pennsylvania, 551, 568, 573, 580; ma-
chinery 520, 521.
Clocks, curious, 501, 521, 579.
Cloth manufacture and its materials, 296, 423;
why commenced in Massachusetts, 298; first le-
gal encouragement of, 299; first sample of, 300;
begun in Connecticut, 300; scarcity of at Ply-
mouth, 301; first regular manufacture of, 303;—
woolen, state of in England, 305;-linen, house-
hold, in New York, 314; New Jersey, 314;
Pennsylvania, 315; Delaware and Maryland,
319; Virginia, 314, 320, 343; prohibition of re-
commended, 322; promoted by laws of trade,
322-327, 367; complained of, 327; proposed
means of checking, 328, 329, 330, 337, 341; kinds
chiefly made, 330, 331; linen branch improved,
331; importations of British, 344, 367, 389, 451;
American silk used in, 33, 360, 414; frugal
nse of, 380; increased attention to, 381-383;
improved machinery introduced, 383: first
factory, 385; scarcity of during war, 390, 392,
393; efforts to provide, 391-395; price of
wollen, 392; effects of the peace on, 395; re-
newed efforts to procure cotton and woolen ma-
chinery, 396-400; first water mill for cotton,
401-403; state of household production, 411-
418; woolen and linen factories, 418-422; du-
ties laid, 423 (see COTTON, LINEN, SILK, and
WOOLEN).
Coal, early use of, in England, 20; in smelting iron,
29, 467; Anthracite in smelting, 484, 562; found
in Rhode Island, 503; in Pennsylvania, 561;
Maryland, 598, 591, 595; in Virginia, 605; bitu-
minous of Pittsburg, 568.
Cobalt and Nickel, 618, 619.
Cochineal, 350, 356, 619.
Coins and Coinage, colonial, 78, 397, 477, 478,
510, 519; and bullion whence obtained, 365.
Colles, Christopher, 534, 539, 547, 576, 577.
Columbium, 505.
CONNECTICUT, shipbuilding in, 49–54, 90; saw mills
in, 103-105; corn mills, 131, 132; printing in, 175,
183, 187; paper making in, 200, 205, 207, 210;type
foundry and presses, 213, 215; brickmaking,
219; glassmaking, 242; beer and cider making,
250; textile arts and materials in, 300, 313, 329,
335, 339, 340, 360, 358, 389, 413, 417, 418, 419;
silk raising, 360, 361; leather making in, 437-439,
462; iron mines and manufactures, 504–521; cop
per mines,507-510; non-importation agreements
in, 373, 374; imports of, 49, 51, 629; exports of,
51, 104, 242, 300, 341, 346, 436, 438, 439, 509, 626,
628.
Coopers, early, 280; incorporated, 434..
Copperas works, 493, 524, 543.
Copper, use of preceded iron, 465; mines and
manufactures of, in England, 21, 508, 509, 548;
in Massachusetts, 471, 475, 453; in Rhode Island,
503; in Connecticut, 507–510; in New Hamp-
shire, 522; in New York, 509, 524, 526, 532,
535; in New Jersey, 541, 546, 548; in Pennsyl-
vania, 550, 551, 553, 555, 556, 574; in Maryland,
585, 586, 588; in Virginia, 471, 599, 603; in
North Carolina, 610; in Tennessee, 613; in
South Carolina, 619; in Wisconsin, 526;-orer
enumerated, 509, 546; exported, 337, 509, 535,
547, 599 ;-smelting, 483, 508, 509, 547, 548, 585;
coins, American, 397, 478, 510, 519 ;-kettles first
used in America, 488; made, 548, 574.
Copyright law first, 161; in Carolina, 186.
Cordage, 27, 55, 70, 75, 82, 83, 303, 304, 336, 372,
419, 448, 496, 609.
COTTON, early introduction of in Virginia, 28, 344;
recommended, 354; early imports of, 49, 360, 330;
first exports of, 337, 349, 351, 354; from South
America, 354; its culture in Carolina and Geor-
gia, 354-356; ginning machines, 351, 353, 355,
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