The four main types are protective tariffs, import quotas, trade embargoes, and voluntary export restraints. The most common type of trade barrier is the protective tariff, a tax on imported goods. Countries use tariffs to raise revenue and to protect domestic industries from competition from cheaper foreign goods.

Under the Articles, the states, not Congress, had the power to tax. Power was concentrated in a single assembly, rather than being divided, as in the state governments, into separate houses and branches. Further, members of the Confederation Congress were selected by state governments, not by the people.

The Constitution grants the legislative branch full authority over trade policy, including the power to impose and collect taxes, duties, tariffs, and to regulate international commerce.

The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unlawful search and seizure. Simply put, police officers and other government officials are prohibited from entering and searching one’s body, car, home or other property unless they have an extremely good reason — and, in most cases, a warrant — to do so.

The Constitution also grants Congress the power to establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court, and to that end Congress has established the United States district courts, which try most federal cases, and 13 United States courts of appeals, which review appealed district court cases.

According to the Fourth Amendment, the people have a right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” This right limits the power of the police to seize and search people, their property, and their homes.