ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the debate over the Corn Laws because it so closely parallels contemporary contests between free trade and protection. Two competing visions have dominated discussion of international trade for more than two centuries. Trade regulations were designed to protect domestic manufacturing industries and their workers from a very early time. The export trade helped to strengthen the merchant marine, which trained seamen for service in the navy a vital factor in maintaining the power and security of an island nation like Britain. Mercantile trade policy also pursued the values of social justice, national development, and self-sufficiency more consistently than the values of efficiency and profitability associated with liberal trade ideas. The birth of modern international trade theory can be traced to his memorable phrase, "What is prudence in the conduct of every private family can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom.
