“The policy of Europe, therefore, has
very little to boast of, either in the original establishment, or, so
far as concerns their internal government, in the subsequent
prosperity of the colonies of America...Upon all of these different
occasions it was, not the wisdom and policy, but the disorder and
injustice of the European governments, which peopled and cultivated
America...When those establishments were effectuated, and had become
so considerable as to attract the attention of the mother country,
the first regulations which she made with regard to them, had always
in view to secure herself the monopoly of their commerce; to confine
their market, and to enlarge her own at their expense...The
maintenance of this monopoly has hitherto been the principal, or more
properly, perhaps the sole end and purpose of the dominion which
Great Britain assumes over the colonies...monopoly of the great
commerce of America naturally seems to be an acquisition of the
highest value. To the undiscerning eye of giddy ambition, it
naturally presents itself, amidst the confused scramble of politics
and war, as a very dazzling object to fight for.”
Except from Adam Smith's “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” - 1775
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