The South
was beginning to see that a tariff benefits the manufacturer of goods
more than the producer of raw materials. The Senate shows this sectional
bias even more clearly. The reversal of the vote of the Southern
senators is particularly noticeable.
SENATE VOTES ON THE TARIFF MEASURES
1816 1824
Northern Senators /For........16......19
\Against.....2.......6
Southern Senators /For.........9.......4
\Against.....5......17
The advocates of the measure in the second debate made use of the
national spirit as they had in the first. Clay's "American system,"
as the protective policy began to be called, was declared a remedy for
the commercial depression under which the country suddenly found itself
suffering. Petitions, asking such relief, poured into Congress. The
economic conditions of Europe had become adjusted to peace, a condition
which had not existed since the Constitution had been first put into
execution. The United States began to realise the force of competition.
The distress which prevailed in European countries a few years before
was suddenly transferred to the United States.
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