Forgive my pessimism but I find it very hard to believe that such a powerful force would allow for such an act to be passed when it seems like it would only hurt their economic prospects.Was there some way that they managed to benefit from the passing from the act?
Also I would really appreciate it if someone could provide me with sources that would allow me to learn more about this decision. All I have are Wikipedia pages, and though they're nice they don't provide a lot of detail.
EDIT: Sorry for the redundancy in the title, just noticed it after posting