Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The essay presents a comprehensive survey of the history of protection in the United States and of the grounds on which successive generations of American statesmen have been prepared to confirm and to extend the system. It constitutes, therefore, a valuable addition to the economic history of the country, and also to our political history, which has been so largely based upon.