"
This was the voice of the country member, unaccustomed to the fostering
hand of government. It was also the voice of the minority. The
Constitution had been framed and adopted by the commercial interests
generally, who took quite an opposite view of the duty of government
toward business.
No one at this time seemed to feel the potency of the protective
principle in enlarging the power of the Union. It was unseen until
fully developed some thirty years later. Yet to appreciate the full
force of this tariff bill of July 4, 1789, with its protective preamble,
as a sample of Union-making legislation, one need only consider the
gratitude which the National Government has won through such protective
measures; the attachment of leading men to the Union from guarding
their interests; the accumulated strength of moneyed interests in time
of danger to the Republic; the use made of the tariff in protecting
workingmen; the revenue derived from high tariffs, which has been spent
on public improvements; and the force of public opinion which has been
frequently rallied by both employer and employee to the support of the
execution of a national revenue law.
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