Cite as: 520 U. S. 564 (1997)
Thomas, J., dissenting
Maryland, for its part, taxed certain "articles exported out of" the State, including flour shipped to New England. 1784 Md. Laws, ch. 84, § 1; see also Letter from "A Citizen," Norwich [Conn.] Packet, Jan. 17, 1788, p. 1, col. 1 ("The New-England States have imported, for four years past, from the State of Maryland, upwards of twenty five thousand barrels of flour annually—on which they have been obliged to pay a duty for the liberty of exportation"). And, when it provided for the inspection of salted foods "exported and imported from and to the town of Baltimore," Maryland expressly included salted foods "brought or imported into the said town, from any part of this state, or any one of the United States, or from any foreign port whatever." 1786 Md. Laws, ch. 17, § 5.
In similar fashion, Connecticut adopted an excise tax that distinguished between "imported Chocolate," taxed at three pence per pound, and "Chocolate made within this State," taxed at one penny per pound. 1783 Conn. Acts and Laws 619. And in May 1784, Connecticut adopted an import duty that expressly applied to certain enumerated articles "imported or brought into this State, by Land or Water, from any of the United States of America." 1784 Conn. Acts and Laws 271.11
11 Some commentators have argued that the phrase "imported or brought" suggests that Connecticut lawmakers intended to distinguish between foreign goods "imported" and other States' goods "brought" into the State. This supposed distinction between "imported" and "brought" is not consistent with the remainder of the statute, however. For example, the second paragraph of the Act uses the phrase "brought or imported into this State" when referring exclusively to items "that are not the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of the United States." 1784 Conn. Acts and Laws 271. And conversely, "imported" is used alone in contexts where it plainly covers goods produced in other States. See, e. g., id., at 309 (setting duty for sugar, "whether the Produce or Manufacture of the United States, or not, imported into this State"); cf. 1786 Md. Laws, ch. 17, § 6 (setting standards for "all beef and pork barrels brought to, or imported into, Baltimore-town, from any part of this state"). The more plausible view, therefore, is that the words "brought" and "imported" are
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