As students of the Enlightenment and opponents of British mercantilism, the Founding Fathers favored free and open commerce among nations and the abolition of all restraints and preferences that inhibited trade.1 “It is perhaps an erroneous opinion,” Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1781, “but I find myself rather inclined to adopt that modern one, which supposes it is best for every country to leave its trade entirely free from all encumbrances.”2 Thomas Jefferson also extolled the benefits of free commerce. “I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at perfect liberty,” he wrote in
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