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182 External trade. [1774 the Federal Constitution in regard to suspending State legislation ; and the powers of the departments of federal government were so laid down as to make it unnecessary to declare that Congress alone could suspend federal laws. A single exception was made with regard to State legislation, such as there had been under the previous state of things, laying duties on imports ; duties were declared thereafter to be for the use of the United States, and the laws themselves to be subject to the control of Congress. As for the exercise of the power of veto, that was given to the governors by various, but not all, State constitutions, and to the President by the Constitution of the United States, under particular restrictions. The right of Great Britain to regulate the external trade of the colonies was admitted. " The sea is yours," said Franklin to the House of Commons during the troubles over the Stamp Act; "you make it safe for navigation ; you keep it clear of pirates. You are therefore entitled to some toll or duty on merchandise carried through the seas, towards the expense." " There are many things beyond the reach of our legisla- tures," said Governor Hopkins; one was the commerce of the whole British empire collectively, and of each kingdom and colony as parts of it. The Continental Congress of 1774, putting it broadly, said " From the necessity of the case and a regard to the mutual interests of Great Britain and the colonies, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such Acts of the British Parliament as are bona fide restrained to the regulation of our external commerce." The power of Parliament to regulate trade was the only bond, as Dickinson admitted, that could have held the colonies together. No American attempted to define the bounds of the right of Great Britain ; general theory was all that was urged. What this theory was, was expressed in one of the resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, in 1765. Assuming that the increase, prosperity, and happiness of the colonies were desired by Great Britain as well as by themselves, the Congress resolved that such things depended upon the full and free enjoyment of the rights and liberties of the colonies, "and an intercourse with Great Britain mutually affectionate and advantageous." On that footing, recent legislation in Parliament restricting the foreign trade of the colonies had infringed the rights of Americans ; the effect of it was to prevent "an intercourse with Great Britain mutually affectionate and advantageous." The colonies were now obliged to take from Great Britain alone the manufactures which they required from abroad. The British manufacturer accordingly set his own price; and the colonists must pay more than they would have had to pay in other markets. So complained Samuel Adams, for the Massachusetts House of Represen- tatives, to Lord Sherburne. It amounted to "a tax, though indirect, on the colonies," the plainest sort of invasion of legal right. The pecuniary condition of the country added sorely to the grievance ; the people were borne down with debt in some of the greatest of the