This article is part of a series of essays titled "What Would the Founders Say?" where we explore modern-day issues through the eyes of America’s Founding Fathers. Drawing directly from their writings, letters, and speeches, we ask: How might these influential figures from our past advise us today? By reconnecting with their wisdom, we seek timeless insights to better navigate contemporary challenges.

💬 Introduction

With talk of a trade war heating up due to President Donald Trump's new tariffs, many Americans wonder: are tariffs wise economic policy or a path toward economic strain?

Today, we'll gather the insights of seven Founding Fathers—Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Jay, and Madison—to explore their views on tariffs, trade, and prosperity. Did they see tariffs as essential tools for independence and growth, or risky policies inviting retaliation and economic harm?

Let's dive in and find some historical wisdom for today's trade debates (jump to the end to get a summary of their opinions!)

🦅 George Washington

As the first president, Washington believed economic independence was crucial for the new nation’s security and prosperity. He urged Congress to encourage domestic industry for strategic goods.

“A free people should promote such manufactures as tend to render them independent of others for essentials, especially military supplies.” 1

Washington signed the Tariff Act of 1789 (one of the first laws of the new government) to raise revenue and “the encouragement and protection of manufactures.” 2

He viewed moderate tariffs as a practical tool to fund the government and strengthen American self-sufficiency, ensuring that Americans would not be reliant on foreign nations for vital goods (particularly in wartime). In his eyes, tariffs served the “safety and interest” of a free people by fostering home industry for crucial supplies.

🦅 Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson was skeptical of promoting manufacturing through high tariffs, especially early on. He idealized an agrarian America and feared that forcing industrial development might corrupt its social virtues.

“While we have land to labour… let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench” – for general manufactures, he advised “let our workshops remain in Europe.” 3

This meant Jefferson initially opposed protective tariffs, believing free trade would keep consumer prices low and agriculture flourishing. Government interference to prop up factories struck him as unwise.

However, Jefferson favored tariffs for revenue (instead of direct taxes) so long as they fell mainly on luxury imports. He noted with approval that

“The rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the General Government are levied… the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spare a cent from his earnings.” 4

In other words, import duties funded national needs without burdening the common farmer, which Jefferson saw as an ideal situation.

Jefferson’s views evolved after seeing American industry during the War of 1812. He came to accept some temporary protection for infant industries. Even so, he warned against tariffs that went too far. In 1824, as Congress raised steep duties to protect manufacturers, Jefferson complained this policy

“is considered as a levy on the labor and comforts of the other classes of industry to support that of manufactures.” 5

He feared such high tariffs would hurt farmers and consumers and invite foreign retaliation.

In sum, Jefferson championed a minimalist tariff policy: low duties for revenue and to nurture only the most essential industries, while cautioning that heavy protectionism could “revolt” the people and do more harm than good.

🦅 John Adams

As a revolutionary, Adams witnessed how British trade restrictions and taxes harmed the colonies’ economy. This shaped his ambivalence about tariffs. During the 1770s he lambasted Britain’s mercantilist laws as

“the whole selfish, partial, arbitrary, and contracted system of parliamentary regulations in America.” 6

In other words, he saw oppressive trade tariffs and monopolies as tools of tyranny that hurt colonial Americans. Early on, Adams favored freer trade once independent, to remove these shackles.

Yet Adams was also a realist about America’s need to revenue and a degree of protection. As a leading Federalist, he generally supported the new federal government’s use of tariffs to fund itself and to foster industry.

He did not leave extensive writings on tariff theory, but his policies and later correspondence suggest a willingness to protect American interests. By 1816, the retired Adams – like Jefferson – endorsed a protective tariff to help U.S. industries after the war.

Contemporary accounts note that “ex-free traders Jefferson and John Adams” joined in backing James Madison’s Tariff of 1816. 1 Adams viewed this modest protection as economically wise at the time, a pragmatic shift to support the nation’s infant manufactures. He believed a carefully calibrated tariff could bolster American production and jobs without ruining trade.

Thus, Adams evolved from denouncing imperial trade barriers to accepting home-grown tariffs as a necessary tool to strengthen the American economy and fund the government.

🦅 Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was perhaps the most ardent free-trader of the group.

Drawing on his Enlightenment beliefs, he argued that commerce should be as free as possible for the benefit of all. As he famously wrote in 1774:

“No nation was ever ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous,” 7

Franklin believed open trade enriches a country in the long run, and he was skeptical that high tariffs or prohibitions would truly help society.

Franklin warned that using heavy duties to force the growth of “unnatural” domestic industries would backfire. If England and France both sought to manufacture goods that the other could produce more naturally, he observed, such “unnatural operations” must be propped up by “mutual prohibitions, or high duties on the importation of each other’s goods; by which means the workmen are enabled to tax the home consumer by greater prices.” 8

In Franklin’s view, protective tariffs just let manufacturers raise prices on their own nation’s people, making consumers pay more.

“Therefore the governments in America do nothing to encourage such projects,” he wrote approvingly, “and the people, by this means, are not imposed on.” 8

In Franklin’s ideal policy, government would impose only minimal tariffs, enough for revenue needs, and allow free competition. This way, goods would remain affordable and industry would develop naturally where efficient. Any attempt to enrich one sector (manufacturers) with special tariffs would unjustly burden others.

Franklin’s outlook was that commerce and agriculture thrive best under free trade – and that America would grow rich by trading freely, not by erecting costly barriers.

🦅 Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton, Washington’s Treasury Secretary, was the chief architect of protective tariffs among the founders. He strongly believed in using tariffs to nurture American industry.

In his landmark Report on Manufactures (1791), Hamilton argued the nation’s wealth and security depended on developing manufacturing.

“Not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a Country, appear to be materially connected with the prosperity of manufactures. Every nation… ought to endeavor to possess within itself all the essentials of national supply.” 9

To achieve this, Hamilton advocated protective duties (and other incentives) to shelter young American industries from British competition until they matured.

Hamilton acknowledged critics’ fear that tariffs might raise consumer prices, but he maintained this effect would be temporary. He wrote:

"Though it were true that the immediate effect… was an increase of price, it is universally true that the contrary is the ultimate effect with every successful manufacture. When a domestic manufacture has attained to perfection… it invariably becomes cheaper." 10

In other words, short-term costs would lead to long-term gains: once American factories got going, competition and improved techniques would lower prices for everyone. Any initial burden on the public, Hamilton argued, was an investment in national prosperity.

He also noted that a healthy manufacturing sector would create jobs and a stable home market for farmers’ goods, thus enriching all classes. Hamilton saw tariffs as a wise policy to kick-start growth: “in a national view, a temporary enhancement of price” was well worth a permanent reduction later . His stance was emphatically pro-tariff – to Hamilton, import duties were a vital tool to raise revenue and develop the diverse economy (industries, labor, and innovation) needed for America’s power.

🦅 John Jay

Jay, as a diplomat and contributor to The Federalist, emphasized freedom of trade as a natural right of nations.

During the Revolution, while seeking Spanish support, Jay described the United States’ commitment to unimpeded commerce:

"every man being then at liberty, by the law, to cultivate the earth as he pleased, to raise what he pleased, to manufacture as he pleased, and to sell the produce of his labor to whom he pleased, and for the best prices, without any duties or impositions whatsoever.” 11

This sweeping statement reflected Jay’s belief that America should break from Old World mercantile constraints. He viewed the ability to trade freely – without onerous tariffs – as a core element of independence and prosperity.

As Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation, Jay saw firsthand the need for a uniform national trade policy. He supported giving Congress power over tariffs mainly to negotiate better terms with other nations and retaliate if needed.

Jay’s negotiation of the 1794 Jay Treaty with Britain also showed his pragmatic side: he accepted some British import restrictions in return for improved trade access, aiming to avert economic harm to the U.S.2 Still, in principle Jay favored low tariffs and reciprocal lowering of barriers.

In the context of raising revenue, Jay agreed the federal government needed an import tariff (since it was the simplest way to fund the government in the absence of direct taxes). 11 But he would keep those duties as moderate as possible. He feared high protective tariffs could invite corruption and regional conflicts, undermining the unity he championed in the Federalist Papers.

To Jay, the best policy was to levy only what revenue tariffs were necessary, while pursuing free trade agreements – letting American agriculture and commerce flourish without heavy-handed economic intervention.

🦅 James Madison

Madison’s views on tariffs balanced between Jefferson’s agrarian skepticism and Hamilton’s industrial nationalism, shifting with the needs of the time.

In the first Congress, Representative Madison introduced the initial tariff bill (1789) primarily to raise revenue for the new government . He favored low, uniform duties, and was wary of venturing too far into protectionism at the outset. When some pushed for higher rates to protect “infant manufactures,” Madison cautioned against overdoing it.

“If the duties should be raised too high,” he warned in a letter, “the error will proceed as much from the popular ardor to throw the burden of revenue on trade as from the premature policy of stimulating manufactures.” 11

In Madison’s early view, excessive tariffs could both unfairly tax consumers and distort the economy before industry was ready.

By the end of the War of 1812, Madison (as President) had become more receptive to protective tariffs. The war had cut off imports and spurred American factories; afterward British goods flooded in, threatening those nascent industries. In his 1815 message to Congress, Madison acknowledged that pure free-market “theory” might say leave it all to individual enterprise, “however wise the theory may be which leaves to the sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their industry and resources,” 12 but he argued this theory had “exceptions to the general rule.”

Experience taught him that some industries would not survive without a period of protection. With national security and self-reliance in mind, he urged that certain industries merit “the public patronage.” For example, those that would “relieve the United States from a dependence on foreign supplies… necessary for the public defense” or those closely tied to American agriculture deserved encouragement. Madison advocated a moderate tariff – “protection not more than is due” to the at-risk industries – so that with some shelter they could become “not only safe against occasional competition from abroad, but a source of domestic wealth and even of external commerce.”

In short, President Madison came to believe a wisely calibrated tariff (targeted and temporary) was good policy to strengthen the young nation’s economy after the war.

🤝 Conclusion

In conclusion, our founders’ views on tariffs ranged from ardent free-trade ideals (Franklin and Jay), to cautious revenue-only use (early Jefferson and Madison), to full-throated support for protective duties (Hamilton), with others like Washington, Adams, and later Jefferson/Madison taking nuanced middle positions. All agreed tariffs were a primary source of national revenue, but they debated the cost and benefits of using tariffs beyond that – either to shelter infant industries or to keep goods cheap for the general population. Their lively debate laid the groundwork for America’s ongoing balancing act between free trade and protectionism in economic policy.

✍️ Author's Post-script

Although I am not an economist, my feeling is that I tend to agree with the views of Jefferson and Madison. In an ideal world, the concept of radical free trade as suggested by Franklin and Jay sound wonderful-- but in a world where nefarious powers would seek to subvert the liberties of America and her allies, my belief is that protective tariffs as endorsed by James Madison can serve as a powerful tool to shore-up essential American manufacturing and incentivize other nations to reconsider potentially destructive behavior through economic pressure.

As a whole, President Trump seems to share Alexander Hamilton's belief that implementing tariffs will boost the American economy. While I certainly hope he is right, even if he is successful the overarching effect will likely be an increase in the cost of goods in America. Perhaps like John Jay, Trump hopes to fund the government by replacing federal taxes with tariff revenue. This could potentially be an effective strategy. However, if this concept is to succeed, Americans must understand that increased costs on imported goods at home are the "new tax" and accept the additional cost burden as such. Additionally, if the government increases revenue through tariffs but fails to compensate by lessening the tax burden, my feeling is most Americans will not be happy about it. Our leaders must remember that the flame of our great American revolution was fed by the heavy tax burden of the British empire... we don't take kindly to powerful overlords taking our money.

May God grant our leaders the wisdom and humility to use tariffs for the betterment of our nation and the free world.

Footnotes

1. Buchanan, Patrick. “Did Tariffs Make America Great?” 2018. Creators.com. July 27, 2018. https://www.creators.com/read/pat-buchanan/07/18/did-tariffs-make-america-great.

2. Wikipedia Contributors. 2024. “History of Tariffs in the United States.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. September 27, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tariffs_in_the_United_States.

3. Jefferson, Thomas. “Notes on the State of Virginia” Edited by William Peden. University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1954. Query 19, 164--65.” n.d. Press-Pubs.uchicago.edu. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch4s9.html.

4. “Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 16 April 1811.” 2025. Archives.gov. 2025. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-03-02-0439.

5. “Extract from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Rush, 5 June 1824 [Quote] | Jefferson Quotes & Family Letters.” 2025. Monticello.org. 2025. https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1589.

6. Murray, Iain. “The Founding Fathers and Free Trade.” 2022. Competitive Enterprise Institute. September 20, 2022. https://cei.org/blog/the-founding-fathers-and-free-trade/.

7. “Founder’s Quote Database | the Patriot Post.” 2025. The Patriot Post. 2025. https://patriotpost.us/quotes?q%5Bname_cont%5D=Benjamin+Franklin&q%5Bquote_category_id_eq%5D=&t=.

8. Franklin, Benjamin. “Equality: Benjamin Franklin, Information to Those Who Would Remove to America.” n.d. Press-Pubs.uchicago.edu. https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s27.html.

9. Hamilton, Alexander. “Political Economy Report on Manufactures | Alexander Hamilton | Pepperdine School of Public Policy.” 2024. Pepperdine.edu. 2024. https://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/academics/research/faculty-research/intellectual-foundations/early-american/ahrepman.htm.

10. “Report on Manufactures (Hamilton).Djvu/31 - Wikisource, the Free Online Library.” 2022. Wikisource.org. 2022. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Report_on_Manufactures_(Hamilton).djvu/31.

11. Magness, Philip W. “The Problem of the Tariff in American Economic History, 1787–1934.” 2023. Cato Institute. September 26, 2023. https://www.cato.org/publications/problem-tariff-american-economic-history-1787-1934#prelude-american-trade-policy.

12. Madison, James. “December 5, 1815: Seventh Annual Message | Miller Center.” 2016. Millercenter.org. October 20, 2016. https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/december-5-1815-seventh-annual-message.

🦅 Follow us on social media for more American content 🦅

www.american-providence.org/link-in-bio