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Conservatives are originalists when it comes to their understanding of the Constitution, carefully trying to understand the intent of the founders. However, and for whatever reason, no such scrutiny exists when it comes to the founders and the economy. Fletcher shows how the Founding Fathers were not free traders. He recounts how the second bill signed by President George Washington upon our founding was a bill establishing tariffs. Moreover, he describes that Alexander Hamilton, our first treasury secretary, was a fierce defender of “duties,” tariffs on imports. The nation’s primary source of revenue for 150 years since its founding was tariffs. Why have cheap imports compete with American companies, the founders reasoned. After all, they understood that we had the natural resources, the technology, the labor force and one of the largest consumer markets. Those basic conditions are essentially unchanged today.