They were familiar with the concept - the East India Company had been exerting their control world wide for quite some time at that point.
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Excellent point. Yet, AFAIK, the Constitution fails to deal with non-state money powers interfering in the government of the USA, except for bribery as grounds for impeachment.
Indirect pressures by a money power, such as campaign contributions with strings attached, ownership and control of the media, control of corporations by Boards of Directors acting as enforcers of (unelected) public policy positions outside the normal course of business and solely on behalf of large shareholders and creditors, are all apparently legal.
It could be argued that the Constitution partially addressed the issue of non-state powers in maritime commerce (e.g., East India Company) by allowing the U.S. to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal, giving privateers (such as Jean Lafitte) the legal right (under U.S. law) to attack enemy vessels.
Article I Section 8 Enumerated Powers Clause 11 War Powers To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.
Intel agencies have, to some degree, stepped into the vacuum for warfare outside the traditional means. This includes espionage, psychological warfare, information warfare, biological warfare, cyber warfare and others. But lack of effective oversight has enable intel agencies to then become captured by the same international money powers that the Constitution did not address.