British Parliament; Anno Regni Georgii II. Regis Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae. An Act to Encourage the Importation of Pig and Bar Iron from His Majesty's Colonies in America; and to Prevent the Erection of any Mill or other Engine for Slitting or Rolling of iron.....or any Furnace for Making Steel in any of the said Colonies. London, printed by Thomas Baskett, printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty...1750. Small folio, pp. title page, verso blank, 8.

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Some of the difficulties encountered in the early development of industry in America were political in character and grew out of the dependent relation of the colonies to Great Britain. The first Lord Sheffield made this dependence quit clear when he stated " the only use and advantage of American colonies or West India islands is the monopoly of their consumption and the carriage of their produce." There was a system of colonial policy, adopted not just by England but also by other European nations, to discourage all attempts to manufacture such articles in the colonies that could be otherwise provided by the mother country. What was needed for the production of goods in England or other countries with colonies was the raw material.
In 1750 appeared the celebrated declaration of a prominent Englishman, Joshua Gee, in which he declared that the British people "ought always to  keep a watchful eye over our colonies, to restrain them from setting up any of the manufactures which are carried on in Great Britain, and any such attempts should be crushed in 
the beginning, for if they are suffered to grow up to maturity 
it will be difficult to suppress them." He recommended 
that "all slitting mills, and engines for drawing wire 
or weaving stockings, be put down."  Lord Chatham who was the least hostile of British ministers toward the Colonies declared "he would not allow the colonists 
to make even a hobnail for themselves." From 1719 to 1732 British merchants complained in 
memorials to the government that the people of Massachusetts, 
New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maryland 
"were setting up manufactures of woolen and linen for the use 
of their own families, and of flax and hemp for coarse bags 
and halters." In 1732  an act 
forbidding hats to be transported from one province to another" was passed and the number of hatters' apprentices 
was limited by law. These laws were slowly strangling all attempts at manufacturing in the British colonies.
In the seventeenth century the colonial iron industry 
was so poorly developed that it attracted little attention 
in Great Britain ; but at the beginning of the eighteenth 
century, when Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia began 
to manufacture iron and to export it to England, the possibilities 
of its development in competition with the English 
iron industry became a source of concern to English 
iron-masters. The proprietors of English iron works were jealous of the American iron industry. In the Colony of Massachusetts alone six furnaces and nineteen forges were 
in production for making iron. It became apparent in Parliament that America abounded in iron ore ; its un-wrought iron was excluded 
by a duty from the English market ; and the colonists 
were rapidly gaining skill at the furnace and the forge. 
The House of Commons readily resolved that " 
the erecting manufactories in the colonies tended to lessen their dependence ;" 
and, under pretense of encouraging the importation of American lumber, they passed a bill having the clause, " that none in the plantations 
should manufacture iron wares of any kind out of any sows, pigs, or bars 
whatsoever." The House of Lords added, " that no forge, going by water, 
or other works should be erected in any of the said plantations, for the 
making, working, or converting of any sows, pigs, or cast-iron into bar or 
rod iron." That early bill was defeated. However the matter did not die. In February, 1750, the subject was once again brought to the attention of the 
House of Commons. To check the danger of American rivalry 
Charles Townshend was placed at the head of a committee. After a few days' deliberation he brought in a bill which permitted 
American iron in its rudest forms to be imported duty 
free (thus making it cheaper then imported iron from other nations). Now that the nailers in the colonies could afford 
spikes and large nails cheaper than the English, it forbade 
the smiths of America to erect any mill for slitting or rolling 
iron, or any plating-forge to work with a tilt-hammer, or any 
furnace for making steel.
Its principal provision was as follows. 
WHEREAS, The importation of bar iron from His Majesty's colonies in 
America into the port of London, and the importation of pig iron from Unsaid bar and pig iron in Great Britain, will be a great advantage, not only to the 
said colonies, but also to this kingdom, by furnishing the manufacturers of 
iron with a supply of that useful and necessary commodity, and by means 
thereof large sums of money, now annually paid for iron to foreigners, will 
be saved to this kingdom, and a greater quantity of the woolen, and other manufactures of Great }Britain, will be exported to America, in exchange for such iron...be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, 
and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority 
of the same, that from and after the twenty-fourth day of June, one thousand 
seven hundred and fifty.
The bill went on to state that: "And, that pig and bar iron made in His Majesty's colonies in America.... be it further enacted by the 
authority aforesaid, that from and after the twenty-fourth day of June, one 
thousand seven hundred and fifty, no mill or other engine for slitting or 
rolling of iron, or any plateing forge to work with a tilt hammer, or any furnace 
for making steel, shall be erected, or after such erection continued in 
any of His Majesty's colonies in America; and if any person or persons 
shall erect, or cause to be erected, or after such erection continue, or cause 
to be continued, in any of the said colonies, any such mill, engine, forge, or 
furnace, every person or persons so offending shall, for every such mill, engine, 
forge, or furnace, forfeit the sum of two hundred pounds of lawful 
money of Great Britain."
The famous economist Adam Smith described 
in 1776 the character of this legislation, which had not 
been repealed nor altered down to that period, the beginning 
of the Revolution : " While Great Britain encourages in America 
the manufactures of pig and bar iron, by exempting them 
from duties to which the like commodities are subject when 
imported from any other country, she imposes an absolute 
prohibition upon the erection of steel furnaces and slit-mills 
in any of her American plantations. She will not suffer her 
colonists to work in those more refined manufactures even for 
their own consumption, but insists upon their purchasing of 
her merchants and manufacturers all goods of this kind 
which they have occasion for."
The governors of the several colonies 
issued proclamations commanding obedience to the requirements 
of the new law. The proclamation of lieutenant- 
governor James Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, was printed by 
Benjamin Franklin. An original copy may be seen in the 
library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Philadelphia.
As may easily be imagined the passage of this act added to the feeling of discontent in the colonies. 
These measures of repression formed a large part of 
that " long train of abuses and usurpations " which led to the 
war of independence. 
This particular measure had an impact on America's still fledgling mining industry and is a major piece of history in America's iron industry.