Tariffs are charges to imported goods with the double aim of reducing imports and earning more income from them.
In the early days of industrialization, the U.S. lagged behind the more advanced European economies which meant that the Europeans could produce things cheaper than Americans and therefore sell cheaper as well.
Congress therefore believed that to protect new companies that were rising to meet the challenge they had to impose tariffs so that people would stop buying more imports and switch to the goods produced by the new industries.
A charter for the southern section is given to a company of London merchants. A company based in Plymouth is granted a similar charter for the northern part of this long coastline, which as yet has no European settlers.
