ration a tariff bill which
had been drafted on lines marked out by the new Secretary of the
Treasury, A. J. Dallas, of Pennsylvania. The debates brought out a wide
diversity of interests. Daniel Webster represented admirably the mingled
feelings of his New England constituents when he professed to favor
existing manufactures, but deprecated any action calculated to produce
new industries. He never wished to see the time when the young men of
the country would be forced to close their eyes to heaven and earth, and
open them in the dust and smoke of unwholesome factories. On the other
hand, Calhoun, eschewing a narrow sectionalism, declared that
manufacturing must be encouraged as a wise national policy. "Neither
agriculture, manufactures, nor commerce, taken separately, is the cause
of wealth," said he. "It flows from the three combined and cannot exist
without each." The South showed little of the apprehension which John
Randolph expressed when he cried, "Upon whom bears the duty on coarse
woolens and linens and blankets, upon salt, and all the necessaries of
life?" and answered, "On poor men, and on slaveholders."

The bill which Congress eventually passed fixed somewhat lower duties
than Dallas had advised. A duty of twenty-five per cent was placed on
cotton and woolen goods until June 30, 1819, when it was to be reduced
to twenty per cent. By what was known as the minimum principle, all
cotton fabrics costing less than twenty-five cents a square yard were
held to have cost that amount and were made to pay corresponding duties.
The object of this provision was to exclude from India the coarser and
cheaper cotton textiles which would menace the products of New England
looms. Other important articles were made subject to higher duties, such
as rolled and hammered iron, leather goods, hats, carriages, and
writing-paper. A comparison of these duties with those of the tariff of
1789 shows a marked increase. Where the average duty was seven and one
half per cent in 1789, it was thirty per cent in the tariff of 1816. So
far as the intent of the law is concerned, this tariff act committed the
country to a fiscal policy in which "revenue was subordinated to
industrial needs."

Although the largest vote against the tariff bill came from the South
and Southwest, twenty-three out of fifty-seven Representatives voted for
the bill. New England showed a prepondering opinion in favor of
protection: only ten out of twenty-seven Repre