Z:gnu-www-ja-eldred-amicus--80fe2a-American colonists at odds wit/en

American colonists at odds with the government of Charles I perceived the evil of governmental monopolies; in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as early as 1641, the Colony's General Court decreed that &ldquo;there shall be no monopolies granted or allowed amongst us, but of such new inventions that are profitable to the country, and that for a short time.&rdquo; The Charter and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay 170 (Boston, 1814); see also George Lee Haskins, Law and Authority in Early Massachusetts 130 (1960).