Beset as the republic then was by international forces hostile to democratic institutions, it was natural enough that the great men who presided over its early years should seek by Federal legislation to render it, as speedily and completely as possible, industrially self-dependent and self-supporting.

The war of 1812 enforced anew upon the attention of statesmen the importance of industrial independence.
The war debt, together with certain governmental enterprises and expenditures growing out of the war, was largely, if not wholly, responsible for the tariff of 1816.

This act dates the rise of our American system of protection.

It is curious to note that Southern men were the leaders of this new departure in the national fiscal policy.
Calhoun, Clay, and Lowndes were the guiding spirits of that period of industrial ferment and activity.

They little dreamt what economic evils were to fall in consequence upon the South.