In an open market custom declines; it flourishes best in sheltered places.
Further, the movement of thought in the Reformation, and the spirit of the times which expressed the principle of personal liberty and allowed the individual to follow his own opinions and take the consequences, were favorable to competition.

Despite these facts, the restraints of the national governments on trade continued great, in some respects increasing during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in France, Holland, and England.

The regulation before attempted by towns and villages was employed on a larger scale by national governments with their industrial systems.

The colonies in America were used for the economic ends of the "mother country" and for the selfish interests of the home merchants in Europe.

The American Revolution was one of the bitter fruits of the English policy of trade restriction.
Sec.13.