CHAPTER VII 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE TARIFF ON 

 AGRARIANISM 



While the land policies of the federal government 

 were scattering the rural population over vast areas 

 of the middle West, and developing a spirit of indi- 

 vidualism, there were other political and economic 

 policies that were slowly inculcating a sense of con- 

 scious solidarity in the minds of the farm population. 

 The tariff was the most significant influence of this 

 character. 



The transition from an agricultural economy to a 

 more diversified system of industry slowly took 

 place between 1789 and 1819. During this period 

 great changes were being made in mechanical in- 

 vention and industrial processes, but during the 

 closing years of the eighteenth century exports of 

 agricultural products continued to predominate in 

 American foreign trade. The range of importable 

 articles, principally from England, consisted of cot- 

 ton and woolen goods. The wars of the French 

 Revolution gave the United States almost an exclu- 

 sive market for her agricultural products in Europe 

 and the West Indies. During the Napoleonic wars 



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