The 19th century US cotton industry was built on far worse crimes than patent infringement.
Indeed, but patent infringement too. Although the Cotton Gin was patented, Eli Whitney famously was unable to enjoy those protections. Imitations sprung up all around.
Similarly: though William Jarvis wasn't the first American to import Merino sheep, he was the most successful because he was able to utilize an ongoing war in Spain to circumvent around the Merino export ban in the early 1800s and get a ton of them over here, too. He was even a diplomat to Spain and probably knew better, but did it anyway.
So one past illegal activity allows future illegal activities?
precedent is a real thing, de jure and de facto
No, but it does make people crying about competition very difficult to sympathize with.
Exactly. All that whining about "intellectual property" is at best funny.
Especially since the US patent office is mostly known for allowing anyone to patent anything, even if there is prior art from the Mayan and Roman empires.