Hence, the nation’s policymakers faced two critical questions: Should the United States enact its own navigation laws to favor American shipping over foreign carriers? And should the United States respond in kind to foreign trade barriers and discriminatory policies that adversely affected its own exports and shipping? Most believed the answer to both questions was an unqualified yes, although there was a spirited debate about how such policies should be designed. Thus, while the founding fathers favored free and open trade in principle, they were also deeply concerned about national defense
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