owed that war. There was at that period of our history a
departure from our earlier policy. The enlargement of the powers of the
Federal Government by _construction_, which obtained, was not warranted
by any just interpretation of the Constitution. A few years after the
close of that war a series of measures was adopted which, united and
combined, constituted what was termed by their authors and advocates the
"American system."

The introduction of the new policy was for a time favored by the
condition of the country, by the heavy debt which had been contracted
during the war, by the depression of the public credit, by the deranged
state of the finances and the currency, and by the commercial and
pecuniary embarrassment which extensively prevailed. These were not the
only causes which led to its establishment. The events of the war with
Great Britain and the embarrassments which had attended its prosecution
had left on the minds of many of our statesmen the impression that our
Government was not strong enough, and that to wield its resources
successfully in great emergencies, and especially in war, more power
should be concentrated in its hands. This increased power they did not
seek to obtain by the legitimate and prescribed mode--an amendment of
the Constitution--but by _construction_. They saw Governments in the Old
World based upon different orders of society, and so constituted as to
throw the whole power of nations into the hands of a few, who taxed and
controlled the many without responsibility or restraint. In that
arrangement they conceived the strength of nations in war consisted.
There was also something fascinating in the ease, luxury, and display of
the higher orders, who drew their wealth from the toil of the laboring
millions. The authors of the system drew their ideas of political
economy from what they had witnessed in Europe, and particularly in
Great Britain. They had viewed the enormous wealth concentrated in few
hands and had seen the splendor of the overgrown establishments of an
aristocracy which was upheld by the restrictive policy. They forgot to
look down upon the poorer classes of the English population, upon whose
daily and yearly labor the great establishments they so much admired
were sustained and supported. They failed to perceive that the scantily
fed and half-clad operatives were not only in abject poverty, but were
bound in chains of oppressive servitude for the benefit of favored
clas