132 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



policy Hamilton advocated a tariff for what is called 

 protection as well as for revenue, although his argu- 

 ment fell very short of meeting the exorbitant require- 

 ments of the pampered industries of our own time. 

 Here, as in his assumption policy, it was Hamilton's 

 aim to ally the government with powerful class inter- 

 ests. He saw the vast natural resources of the country 

 for manufactures, he knew that flourishing industries 

 must presently spring up, and he understood how to 

 enlist their selfish interests in defence of a liberal con- 

 struction of the powers of government. A remarkable 

 instance of his foresight was exhibited some years 

 afterward in the case of Daniel Webster, who, although 

 in principle an advocate of free trade, nevertheless 

 succumbed to the protectionists and allied himself 

 with them, in order to save the principle of loose con- 

 struction and thus leave the general government with 

 powers adequate to the paramount purpose of preserv- 

 ing the Union. 



'The necessity of relying chiefly upon custom-house 

 duties was strikingly illustrated by the reception given 

 in one part of the country to a direct federal tax. 

 Upon distilled liquors Hamilton thought it right to 

 lay a direct excise ; but it was with some difficulty 

 that he succeeded in getting the measure through 

 Congress, and it was no sooner enacted than riotous 

 protests began to come from the mountain districts of 

 North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The 

 highest tax laid on whiskey was only twenty-five cents 

 per gallon, but it led to such serious disturbances in 

 western Pennsylvania that in the summer of 1794 

 President Washington raised an army of 15,000 men 

 to deal with them. It was the design of the malcon- 



