REVISION OF THE TARIFF.
The tariff of 1828 is an era in our legislation, being the event
from which the doctrine of "nullification" takes its origin, and
from which a serious division dates between the North and the
South. It was the work of politicians and manufacturers; and was
commenced for the benefit of the woollen interest, and upon a bill
chiefly designed to favor that branch of manufacturing industry.
But, like all other bills of the kind, it required help from other
interests to get itself along; and that help was only to be obtained
by admitting other interests into the benefits of the bill. And
so, what began as a special benefit, intended for the advantage of
a particular interest, became general, and ended with including
all manufacturing interests--or at least as many as were necessary
to make up the strength necessary to carry it. The productions of
different States, chiefly in the West, were favored by additional
duties on their rival imports; as lead in Missouri and Illinois,
and hemp of Kentucky; and thus, though opposed to the object of the
bill, many members were necessitated to vote for it. Mr. Rowan, of
Kentucky, well exposed the condition of others in this respect, in
showing his own in some remarks which he made, and in which he said:
"He was not opposed to the tariff as a system of revenue,
honestly devoted to the objects and purposes of revenue--on
the contrary, he was friendly to a tariff of that character;
but when perverted by the ambition of political aspirants, and
the secret influence of inordinate cupidity, to purposes of
individual, and sectional ascendency, he could not be seduced by
the captivation of names, or terms, however attractive, to lend
it his individual support.
"It is in vain, Mr. President, said he, that it is called
the American System--names do not alter things. There is but
one American System, and that is delineated in the State and
Federal constitutions. It is the system of equal rights and
privileges secured by the representative principle--a system,
which, instead of subjecting the proceeds of the labor of some
to taxation, in the view to enrich others, secures to all the
proceeds of their labor--exempts all from taxation, except
for the support of the protecting power of the government. As
a tax necessary to the support of the government, he would
support it--call it by what name you please;--as a tax for any
other purpose, and especially for the purposes to which he had
alluded--it had his individual reprobation, under whatever name
it might assume.
"It might, he observed, be inferred from what he had said, that
he would vote against the bill. He did not wish any doubts to
be entertained as to the vote he should give upon this measure,
or the reasons which would influence him to give it. He was not
at liberty to substitute his individual opinion for that of his
State. He was one of the organs here, of a State, that had,
by the tariff of 1824, been chained to the car of the Eastern
manufacturers--a State that had been from that time, and was
now groaning under the pressure of that unequal and unjust
measure--a measure from the pressure of which, owing to the
prevailing illusion throughout the United States, she saw no
hope of escape, by a speedy return to correct principles;--and
seeing no hope of escaping from the ills of the system, she is
constrained, on principles of self-defence, to avail herself of
the mitigation which this bill presents, in the duties which
it imposes upon foreign hemp, spirits, iron, and molasses. The
hemp, iron, and distilled spirits of the West, will, like the
woollens of the Eastern States, be encouraged to the extent
of the tax indirectly imposed by this bill, upon those who
shall buy and consume them. Those who may need, and buy those
articles, must pay to the grower, or manufacturer of them, an
increased price to the amount of the duties imposed upon the
like articles of foreign growth or fabric. To this tax upon the
labor of the consumer, his individual opinion was opposed. But,
as the organ of the State of Kentucky, he felt himself bound to
surrender his individual opinion, and express the opinion of his
State."
Thus, this tariff bill, like every one admitting a variety of
items, contains a vicious principle, by which a majority may be
made up to pass a measure which they do not approve. But besides
variety of agricultural and manufacturing items collected into this
bill, there was another of very different import admitted into
it, namely, that of party politics. A presidential election was
approaching: General Jackson and Mr. Adams were the candidates--the
latter in favor of the "American System"--of which Mr. Clay (his
Secretary of State) was the champion, and indissolubly connected
with him in the public mind in the issue of the election. This
tariff was made an administration measure, and became an issue in
the canvass; and to this Mr. Rowan significantly alluded when he
spoke of a tariff as being "perverted by the ambition of political
aspirants." It was in vain that the manufacturers were warned
not to mix their interests with the doubtful game of politics.
They yielded to the temptation--yielded as a class, though with
individual exceptions--for the sake of the temporary benefit,
without seeming to realize the danger of connecting their interests
with the fortunes of a political party. This tariff of '28,
besides being remarkable for giving birth to "nullification," and
heart-burning between the North and the South, was also remarkable
for a change of policy in the New England States, in relation to
the protective system. Being strongly commercial, these States had
hitherto favored free trade; and Mr. Webster was the champion of
that trade up to 1824. At this session a majority of those States,
and especially those which classed politically with Mr. Adams and
Mr. Clay, changed their policy: and Webster became a champion of
the protective system. The cause of this change, as then alleged,
was the fact that the protective system had become the established
policy of the government, and that these States had adapted their
industry to it; though it was insisted, on the other hand, that
political calculation had more to do with the change than federal
legislation: and, in fact, the question of this protection was one
of those which lay at the foundation of parties, and was advocated
by General Hamilton in one of his celebrated reports of fifty years
ago. But on this point it is right that New England should speak for
herself, which she did at the time of the discussion of the tariff
in '28; and through the member, now a senator (Mr. Webster), who
typified in his own person the change which his section of the Union
had undergone. He said:
"New England, sir, has not been a leader in this policy. On the
contrary, she held back, herself, and tried to hold others back
from it, from the adoption of the constitution to 1824. Up to
1824, she was accused of sinister and selfish designs, because
she discountenanced the progress of this policy. It was laid
to her charge, then, that having established her manufactures
herself, she wished that others should not have the power of
rivalling her; and, for that reason, opposed all legislative
encouragement. Under this angry denunciation against her,
the act of 1824 passed. Now the imputation is precisely of
an opposite character. The present measure is pronounced to
be exclusively for the benefit of New England; to be brought
forward by her agency, and designed to gratify the cupidity of
her wealthy establishments.
"Both charges, sir, are equally without the slightest
foundation. The opinion of New England, up to 1824, was founded
in the conviction, that, on the whole, it was wisest and best,
both for herself and others, that manufacturers should make
haste slowly. She felt a reluctance to trust great interests
on the foundation of government patronage; for who could tell
how long such patronage would last, or with what steadiness,
skill, or perseverance, it would continue to be granted? It is
now nearly fifteen years, since, among the first things which
I ever ventured to say here, was the expression of a serious
doubt, whether this government was fitted by its construction,
to administer aid and protection to particular pursuits;
whether, having called such pursuits into being by indications
of its favor, it would not, afterwards, desert them, when
troubles come upon them; and leave them to their fate. Whether
this prediction, the result, certainly, of chance, and not of
sagacity, will so soon be fulfilled, remains to be seen.
"At the same time it is true, that from the very first
commencement of the government, those who have administered
its concerns have held a tone of encouragement and invitation
towards those who should embark in manufactures. All the
Presidents, I believe, without exception, have concurred in
this general sentiment; and the very first act of Congress,
laying duties of impost, adopted the then unusual expedient
of a preamble, apparently for little other purpose than that
of declaring, that the duties, which it imposed, were imposed
for the encouragement and protection of manufactures. When,
at the commencement of the late war, duties were doubled, we
were told that we should find a mitigation of the weight of
taxation in the new aid and succor which would be thus afforded
to our own manufacturing labor. Like arguments were urged, and
prevailed, but not by the aid of New England votes, when the
tariff was afterwards arranged at the close of the war, in 1816.
Finally, after a whole winter's deliberation, the act of 1824
received the sanction of both Houses of Congress, and settled
the policy of the country. What, then, was New England to do?
She was fitted for manufacturing operations, by the amount and
character of her population, by her capital, by the vigor and
energy of her free labor, by the skill, economy, enterprise,
and perseverance of her people. I repeat, what was she, under
these circumstances, to do? A great and prosperous rival in
her near neighborhood, threatening to draw from her a part,
perhaps a great part, of her foreign commerce; was she to use,
or to neglect, those other means of seeking her own prosperity
which belonged to her character and her condition? Was she to
hold out, forever, against the course of the government, and
see herself losing, on one side, and yet making no efforts to
sustain herself on the other? No, sir. Nothing was left to New
England, after the act of 1824, but to conform herself to the
will of others. Nothing was left to her, but to consider that
the government had fixed and determined its own policy; and that
policy was protection."
The question of a protective tariff had now not only become
political, but sectional. In the early years of the federal
government it was not so. The tariff bills, as the first and the
second, that were passed, declared in their preambles that they
were for the encouragement of manufactures, as well as for raising
revenue; but then the duties imposed were all moderate--such as a
revenue system really required; and there were no "_minimums_" to
make a false basis for the calculation of duties, by enacting that
all which cost less than a certain amount should be counted to have
cost that amount; and be rated at the custom-house accordingly. In
this early period the Southern States were as ready as any part
of the Union in extending the protection to home industry which
resulted from the imposition of revenue duties on rival imported
articles, and on articles necessary to ourselves in time of war;
and some of her statesmen were amongst the foremost members of
Congress in promoting that policy. As late as 1816, some of
her statesmen were still in favor of protection, not merely as
an incident to revenue, but as a substantive object: and among
these was Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina--who even advocated the
minimum provision--then for the first time introduced into a
tariff bill, and upon his motion--and applied to the cotton goods
imported. After that year (1816) the tariff bills took a sectional
aspect--the Southern States, with the exception of Louisiana (led
by her sugar-planting interest), against them: the New England
States also against them: the Middle and Western States for them.
After 1824 the New England States (always meaning the greatest
portion when a section is spoken of) classed with the protective
States--leaving the South alone, as a section, against that policy.
My personal position was that of a great many others in the three
protective sections--opposed to the policy, but going with it, on
account of the interest of the State in the protection of some
of its productions. I moved an additional duty upon lead, equal
to one hundred per centum; and it was carried. I moved a duty
upon indigo, a former staple of the South, but now declined to a
slight production; and I proposed a rate of duty in harmony with
the protective features of the bill. No southern member would move
that duty, because he opposed the principle: I moved it, that the
"American System," as it was called, should work alike in all parts
of our America. I supported the motion with some reasons, and some
views of the former cultivation of that plant in the Southern
States, and its present decline, thus:
"Mr. Benton then proposed an amendment, to impose a duty of 25
cents per pound on imported indigo, with a progressive increase
at the rate of 25 cents per pound per annum, until the whole
duty amounted to $1 per pound. He stated his object to be
two-fold in proposing this duty, first, to place the American
System beyond the reach of its enemies, by procuring a home
supply of an article indispensable to its existence; and next,
to benefit the South by reviving the cultivation of one of its
ancient and valuable staples.
"Indigo was first planted in the Carolinas and Georgia about the
year 1740, and succeeded so well as to command the attention of
the British manufacturers and the British parliament. An act
was passed for the encouragement of its production in these
colonies, in the reign of George the Second; the preamble to
which Mr. B. read, and recommended to the consideration of
the Senate. It recited that a regular, ample, and certain
supply of indigo was indispensable to the success of British
manufacturers; that these manufacturers were then dependent
upon foreigners for a supply of this article; and that it was
the dictate of a wise policy to encourage the production of
it at home. The act then went on to direct that a premium of
sixpence sterling should be paid out of the British treasury
for every pound of indigo imported into Great Britain, from the
Carolinas and Georgia. Under the fostering influence of this
bounty, said Mr. B., the cultivation of indigo became great and
extensive. In six years after the passage of the act, the export
was 217,000 lbs. and at the breaking out of the Revolution it
amounted to 1,100,000 lbs. The Southern colonies became rich
upon it; for the cultivation of cotton was then unknown; rice
and indigo were the staples of the South. After the Revolution,
and especially after the great territorial acquisitions which
the British made in India, the cultivation of American indigo
declined. The premium was no longer paid; and the British
government, actuated by the same wise policy which made them
look for a home supply of this article from the Carolinas,
when they were a part of the British possessions, now looked
to India for the same reason. The export of American indigo
rapidly declined. In 1800 it had fallen to 400,000 lbs.; in 1814
to 40,000 lbs,; and in the last few years to 6 or 8,000 lbs.
In the mean time our manufactories were growing up; and having
no supply of indigo at home, they had to import from abroad.
In 1826 this importation amounted to 1,150,000 lbs., costing a
fraction less than two millions of dollars, and had to be paid
for almost entirely in ready money, as it was chiefly obtained
from places where American produce was in no demand. Upon this
state of facts, Mr. B. conceived it to be the part of a wise and
prudent policy to follow the example of the British parliament
in the reign of George II. and provide a home supply of this
indispensable article. Our manufacturers now paid a high price
for fine indigo, no less than $2 50 per pound, as testified by
one of themselves before the Committee on Manufactures raised
in the House of Representatives. The duty which he proposed was
only 40 per cent. upon that value, and would not even reach that
rate for four years. It was less than one half the duty which
the same bill proposed to lay instanter upon the very cloth
which this indigo was intended to dye. In the end it would make
all indigo come cheaper to the manufacturer, as the home supply
would soon be equal, if not superior to the demand; and in the
mean time, it could not be considered a tax on the manufacturer,
as he would levy the advance which he had to pay, with a good
interest, upon the wearer of the cloth.
"Mr. B. then went into an exposition of the reasons for
encouraging the home production of indigo, and showed that the
life of the American System depended upon it. Neither cotton nor
woollen manufactures could be carried on without indigo. The
consumption of that article was prodigious. Even now, in the
infant state of our manufactories, the importation was worth two
millions of dollars: and must soon be worth double or treble
that sum. For this great supply of an indispensable article,
we were chiefly indebted to the jealous rival, and vigilant
enemy, of these very manufactures, to Great Britain herself. Of
the 1,150,000 lbs. of indigo imported, we bring 620,000 lbs.
from the British East Indies; which one word from the British
government would stop for ever; we bring the further quantity
of 120,000 lbs. from Manilla, a Spanish possession, which
British influence and diplomacy could immediately stop: and the
remainder came from different parts of South America, and might
be taken from us by the arts of diplomacy, or by a monopoly of
the whole on the part of our rival. A stoppage of a supply of
indigo for one year, would prostrate all our manufactories,
and give them a blow from which they would not recover in many
years. Great Britain could effect this stoppage to the amount of
three fourths of the whole quantity by speaking a single word,
and of the remainder by a slight exertion of policy, or the
expenditure of a sum sufficient to monopolize for one year, the
purchase of what South America sent into the market.
"Mr. B. said he expected a unanimous vote in favor of his
amendment. The North should vote for it to secure the life of
the American System; to give a proof of their regard for the
South; to show that the country south of the Potomac is included
in the bill for some other purpose besides that of oppression.
The South itself, although opposed to the further increase of
duties, should vote for this duty; that the bill, if it passes,
may contain one provision favorable to its interests. The West
should vote for it through gratitude for fifty years of guardian
protection, generous defence, and kind assistance, which the
South had given it under all its trials; and for the purpose of
enlarging the market, increasing the demand in the South and
its ability to purchase the horses, mules, and provisions which
the West can sell nowhere else. For himself he had personal
reasons for wishing to do this little justice to the South. He
was a native of one of these States (N. Carolina)--the bones of
his father and his grandfathers rested there. Her Senators and
Representatives were his early and his hereditary friends. The
venerable Senator before him (Mr. Macon) had been the friend
of him and his, through four generations in a straight line;
the other Senator (Mr. Branch) was his schoolfellow: the other
branch of the legislature, the House of Representatives, also
showed him in the North Carolina delegation, the friends of
him and his through successive generations. Nor was this all.
He felt for the sad changes which had taken place in the South
in the last fifty years. Before the Revolution it was the seat
of wealth as well as of hospitality. Money, and all that it
commanded, abounded there. But how now? All this is reversed.
"Wealth has fled from the South, and settled in the regions
north of the Potomac, and this in the midst of the fact that
the South, in four staples alone, in cotton, tobacco, rice and
indigo (while indigo was one of its staples), had exported
produce since the Revolution, to the value of eight hundred
million of dollars, and the North had exported comparatively
nothing. This sum was prodigious; it was nearly equal to half
the coinage of the mint of Mexico since the conquest by Cortez.
It was twice or thrice the amount of the product of the three
thousand gold and silver mines of Mexico, for the same period
of fifty years. Such an export would indicate unparalleled
wealth; but what was the fact? In place of wealth, a universal
pressure for money was felt; not enough for current expenses;
the price of all property down; the country drooping and
languishing; towns and cities decaying; and the frugal habits of
the people pushed to the verge of universal self-denial, for the
preservation of their family estates. Such a result is a strange
and wonderful phenomenon. It calls upon statesmen to inquire
into the cause; and if they inquire upon the theatre of this
strange metamorphosis, they will receive one universal answer
from all ranks and all ages, that it is federal legislation
which has worked this ruin. Under this legislation the exports
of the South have been made the basis of the federal revenue.
The twenty odd millions annually levied upon imported goods,
are deducted out of the price of their cotton, rice and tobacco,
either in the diminished price which they receive for these
staples in foreign ports, or in the increased price which they
pay for the articles they have to consume at home. Virginia, the
two Carolinas and Georgia, may be said to defray three fourths
of the annual expense of supporting the federal government;
and of this great sum annually furnished by them, nothing, or
next to nothing, is returned to them in the shape of government
expenditure. That expenditure flows in an opposite direction; it
flows northwardly, in one uniform, uninterrupted and perennial
stream; it takes the course of trade and of exchange; and this
is the reason why wealth disappears from the South and rises up
in the North. Federal legislation does all this; it does it by
the simple process of eternally taking away from the South, and
returning nothing to it. If it returned to the South the whole,
or even a good part of what it exacted, the four States south of
the Potomac might stand the action of this system, as the earth
is enabled to stand the exhausting influence of the sun's daily
heat by the refreshing dews which are returned to it at night;
but as the earth is dried up, and all vegetation destroyed in
regions where the heat is great, and no dews returned, so must
the South be exhausted of its money and its property by a course
of legislation which is for ever taking from it, and never
returning any thing to it.
"Every new tariff increases the force of this action. No tariff
has ever yet included Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia,
within its provisions, except to increase the burdens imposed
upon them. This one alone, presents the opportunity to form an
exception, by reviving and restoring the cultivation of one of
its ancient staples,--one of the sources of its wealth before
the Revolution. The tariff of 1828 owes this reparation to the
South, because the tariff of 1816 contributed to destroy the
cultivation of indigo; sunk the duty on the foreign article,
from twenty-five to fifteen cents per pound. These are the
reasons for imposing the duty on indigo, now proposed. What
objections can possibly be raised to it? Not to the quality;
for it is the same which laid the foundation of the British
manufactures, and sustained their reputation for more than
half a century; not to the quantity; for the two Carolinas
and Georgia alone raised as much fifty years ago as we now
import, and we have now the States of Louisiana, Alabama, and
Mississippi, and the Territories of Florida and Arkansas, to
add to the countries which produce it; not to the amount of
the duty; for its maximum will be but forty per cent., only
one half of the duty laid by this bill on the cloth it is to
dye; and that maximum, not immediate, but attained by slow
degrees at the end of four years, in order to give time for the
domestic article to supply the place of the imported. And after
all, it is not a duty on the manufacturer, but on the wearer
of the goods; from whom he levies, with a good interest on
the price of the cloths, all that he expends in the purchase
of materials. For once, said Mr. B., I expect a unanimous vote
on a clause in the tariff. This indigo clause must have the
singular and unprecedented honor of an unanimous voice in its
favor. The South must vote for it, to revive the cultivation
of one of its most ancient and valuable staples; the West must
vote for it through gratitude for past favors--through gratitude
for the vote on hemp this night[2]--and to save, enlarge, and
increase the market for its own productions; the North must
vote for it to show their disinterestedness; to give one proof
of just feeling towards the South; and, above all, to save
their favorite American System from the deadly blow which Great
Britain can at any moment give it by stopping or interrupting
the supplies of foreign indigo; and the whole Union, the entire
legislative body, must vote for it, and vote for it with joy and
enthusiasm, because it is impossible that Americans can deny
to sister States of the Confederacy what a British King and a
British Parliament granted to these same States when they were
colonies and dependencies of the British crown."
[2] "The vote on hemp this night." In rejecting Mr. Webster's
motion to strike out the duty on hemp, and a vote in which the
South went unanimously with the West.--_Note by Mr. B._
Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, seconded my motion in a speech of
which this is an extract:
"Mr. Hayne said he was opposed to this bill in its principles
as well as in its details. It could assume no shape which would
make it acceptable to him, or which could prevent it from
operating most oppressively and unjustly on his constituents.
With these views, he had determined to make no motion to amend
the bill in any respect whatever; but when such motions were
made by others, and he was compelled to vote on them, he knew
no better rule than to endeavor to make the bill consistent
with itself. On this principle he had acted in all the votes he
had given on this bill. He had endeavored to carry out to its
legitimate consequences what gentlemen are pleased to miscall
the 'American System.' With a fixed resolution to vote against
the bill, he still considered himself at liberty to assist in so
arranging the details as to extend to every great interest, and
to all portions of the country, as far as may be practicable,
equal protection, and to distribute the burdens of the system
equally, in order that its benefits as well as its evils may
be fully tested. On this principle, he should vote for the
amendment of the gentleman from Missouri, because it was in
strict conformity with all the principles of the bill. As a
southern man, he would ask no boon for the South--he should
propose nothing; but he must say that the protection of indigo
rested on the same principles as every other article proposed
to be protected by this bill, and he did not see how gentlemen
could, consistently with their maxims, vote against it. What
was the principle on which this bill was professedly founded?
If there was any principle at all in the bill, it was that,
whenever the country had the capacity to produce an article
with which any imported article could enter into competition,
the domestic product was to be protected by a duty. Now, had
the Southern States the capacity to produce indigo? The soil
and climate of those States were well suited to the culture of
the article. At the commencement of the Revolution our exports
of the article amounted to no less than 1,100,000 lbs. The
whole quantity now imported into the United States is only
1,150,000 lbs.; so that the capacity of the country to produce
a sufficient quantity of indigo to supply the wants of the
manufacturers is unquestionable. It is true that the quantity
now produced in the country is not great.
"In 1818 only 700 lbs. of domestic indigo were exported.
"In 1825 9,955 do.
"In 1826 5,289 do.
"This proves that the attention of the country is now directed
to the subject. The senator from Indiana, in some remarks which
he made on this subject yesterday, stated that, according to the
principles of the American System (so called), protection was
not extended to any article which the country was not in the
habit of exporting. This is entirely a mistake. Of the articles
protected by the tariff of 1824, as well as those included in
this bill, very few are exported at all. Among these are iron,
woollens, hemp, flax, and several others. If indigo is to be
protected at all, the duties proposed must surely be considered
extremely reasonable, the maximum proposed being much below that
imposed by this bill on wool, woollens, and other articles. The
duty on indigo till 1816, was 25 cents per pound. It was then
(in favor of the manufacturers) reduced to 15 cents. The first
increase of duty proposed here, is only to put back the old
duty of 25 cents per pound, equal to an ad valorem duty of from
10 to 15 per cent.--and the maximum is only from 40 to 58 per
cent. ad valorem, and that will not accrue for several years to
come. With this statement of facts, Mr. H. said he would leave
the question in the hands of those gentlemen who were engaged in
giving this bill the form in which it is to be submitted to the
final decision of the Senate."
The proposition for this duty on imported indigo did not prevail.
In lieu of the amount proposed, and which was less than any
protective duty in the bill, the friends of the "American System"
(constituting a majority of the Senate) substituted a nominal duty
of five cents on the pound--to be increased five cents annually for
ten years--and to remain at fifty. This was only about twenty per
centum on the cost of the article, and that only to be attained
after a progression of ten years; while all other duties in the
bill were from four to ten times that amount--and to take effect
immediately. A duty so contemptible, so out of proportion to the
other provisions of the bill, and doled out in such miserable drops,
was a mockery and insult; and so viewed by the southern members. It
increased the odiousness of the bill, by showing that the southern
section of the Union was only included in the "American System" for
its burdens, and not for its benefits. Mr. McDuffie, in the House
of Representatives, inveighed bitterly against it, and spoke the
general feeling of the Southern States when he said:
"Sir, if the union of these States shall ever be severed,
and their liberties subverted, the historian who records
these disasters will have to ascribe them to measures of this
description. I do sincerely believe that neither this government
nor any free government, can exist for a quarter of a century,
under such a system of legislation. Its inevitable tendency
is to corrupt, not only the public functionaries, but all
those portions of the Union and classes of society who have
an interest, real or imaginary, in the bounties it provides,
by taxing other sections and other classes. What, sir, is the
essential characteristic of a freeman? It is that independence
which results from an habitual reliance upon his own resources
and his own labor for his support. He is not in fact a freeman,
who habitually looks to the government for pecuniary bounties.
And I confess that nothing in the conduct of those who are
the prominent advocates of this system, has excited more
apprehension and alarm in my mind, than the constant efforts
made by all of them, from the Secretary of the Treasury down
to the humblest coadjutor, to impress upon the public mind,
the idea that national prosperity and individual wealth are
to be derived, not from individual industry and economy, but
from government bounties. An idea more fatal to liberty could
not be inculcated. I said, on another occasion, that the days
of Roman liberty were numbered when the people consented to
receive bread from the public granaries. From that moment it
was not the patriot who had shown the greatest capacity and
made the greatest sacrifices to serve the republic, but the
demagogue who would promise to distribute most profusely the
spoils of the plundered provinces, that was elevated to office
by a degenerate and mercenary populace. Every thing became
venal, even in the country of Fabricius, until finally the
empire itself was sold at public auction! And what, sir, is
the nature and tendency of the system we are discussing? It
bears an analogy, but too lamentably striking, to that which
corrupted the republican purity of the Roman people. God forbid
that it should consummate its triumph over the public liberty,
by a similar catastrophe, though even that is an event by no
means improbable, if we continue to legislate periodically in
this way, and to connect the election of our Chief Magistrate
with the question of dividing out the spoils of certain
States--degraded into Roman provinces--among the influential
capitalists of the other States of this Union! Sir, when I
consider that, by a single act like the present, from five to
ten millions of dollars may be transferred annually from one
part of the community to another; when I consider the disguise
of disinterested patriotism under which the basest and most
profligate ambition may perpetrate such an act of injustice
and political prostitution, I cannot hesitate, for a moment,
to pronounce this very system of indirect bounties, the most
stupendous instrument of corruption ever placed in the hands
of public functionaries. It brings ambition and avarice and
wealth into a combination, which it is fearful to contemplate,
because it is almost impossible to resist. Do we not perceive,
at this very moment, the extraordinary and melancholy spectacle
of less than one hundred thousand capitalists, by means of this
unhallowed combination, exercising an absolute and despotic
control over the opinions of eight millions of free citizens,
and the fortunes and destinies of ten millions? Sir, I will
not anticipate or forebode evil. I will not permit myself to
believe that the Presidency of the United States will ever be
bought and sold, by this system of bounties and prohibitions.
But I must say that there are certain quarters of this Union in
which, if a candidate for the Presidency were to come forward
with the Harrisburg tariff in his hand, nothing could resist his
pretensions, if his adversary were opposed to this unjust system
of oppression. Yes, sir, that bill would be a talisman which
would give a charmed existence to the candidate who would pledge
himself to support it. And although he were covered with all the
"multiplying villanies of nature," the most immaculate patriot
and profound statesman in the nation could hold no competition
with him, if he should refuse to grant this new species of
imperial donative."
Allusions were constantly made to the combination of manufacturing
capitalists and politicians in pressing this bill. There was
evidently foundation for the imputation. The scheme of it had
been conceived in a convention of manufacturers in the State of
Pennsylvania, and had been taken up by politicians, and was pushed
as a party measure, and with the visible purpose of influencing the
presidential election. In fact these tariff bills, each exceeding
the other in its degree of protection, had become a regular
appendage of our presidential elections--coming round in every cycle
of four years, with that returning event. The year 1816 was the
starting point: 1820, and 1824, and now 1828, having successively
renewed the measure, with successive augmentations of duties. The
South believed itself impoverished to enrich the North by this
system; and certainly a singular and unexpected result had been seen
in these two sections. In the colonial state, the Southern were
the rich part of the colonies, and expected to do well in a state
of independence. They had the exports, and felt secure of their
prosperity: not so of the North, whose agricultural resources were
few, and who expected privations from the loss of British favor.
But in the first half century after Independence this expectation
was reversed. The wealth of the North was enormously aggrandized:
that of the South had declined. Northern towns had become great
cities: Southern cities had decayed, or become stationary; and
Charleston, the principal port of the South, was less considerable
than before the Revolution. The North became a money-lender to the
South, and southern citizens made pilgrimages to northern cities,
to raise money upon the hypothecation of their patrimonial estates.
And this in the face of a southern export since the Revolution to
the value of eight hundred millions of dollars!--a sum equal to
the product of the Mexican mines since the days of Cortez! and
twice or thrice the amount of their product in the same fifty
years. The Southern States attributed this result to the action
of the federal government--its double action of levying revenue
upon the industry of one section of the Union and expending it in
another--and especially to its protective tariffs. To some degree
this attribution was just, but not to the degree assumed; which is
evident from the fact that the protective system had then only been
in force for a short time--since the year 1816; and the reversed
condition of the two sections of the Union had commenced before that
time. Other causes must have had some effect: but for the present
we look to the protective system; and, without admitting it to have
done all the mischief of which the South complained, it had yet done
enough to cause it to be condemned by every friend to equal justice
among the States--by every friend to the harmony and stability of
the Union--by all who detested sectional legislation--by every
enemy to the mischievous combination of partisan politics with
national legislation. And this was the feeling with the mass of
the democratic members who voted for the tariff of 1828, and who
were determined to act upon that feeling upon the overthrow of the
political party which advocated the protective system; and which
overthrow they believed to be certain at the ensuing presidential
election.