Dictionary.net

In the Convention of 1787 a compromise was effected between the New England members, who desired that the Federal Government might have the power to regulate commerce, and the Southern members, who desired the slave-trade to be kept open for a time. Thus the Constitution gave Congress power to pass navigation laws. By Act of 1789 a tonnage tax of six cents per ton was levied on all American vessels, and one of fifty cents a ton on all vessels built and owned in foreign countries and entering American ports. In 1792 the act requiring American registration was passed. In 1793 the coasting trade was closed to foreign vessels. In 1816, 1817 and 1820 the American navigation laws were made still more closely like those of Great Britain. Tonnage taxes were renewed at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, and were raised to thirty cents a ton.