IBf jAsPEJMBty 



It is difEcuTtfor us, now. to realize the comparatively helpless 

 aod destitute condition ol" the country, at the period of tlie De- 

 claration of Independence, in respect to manufactures and the 

 mechanic arts ; we presented the spectacle of a dependent people, 

 out off from our sources of supply. A multitude of human hands 

 were ready to labor for the supply of the wants of the country j 

 but the skill, the capital, the utensils, were wanting. And yet, 

 while the war continued, there was, as there always is under such 

 circumstances, an artificial prosperity, founded upon the absolute 

 necessity of the country's supplying its own wants. A state of 

 war has always been found to stimulate the energies of a nation, 

 by driving it to the use ot its own internal resources, and com- 

 pelling \t to employ its own labor. This explains the apparently 

 anomalous fact that our country has enjoyed greater prosperity 

 under circumstances seemingly adverse, than under those most 

 favorable. Hence, during Ihe Revolutionary war, real estate rose 

 iu value, our industry was protected by the existing relations of 

 the country, agriculture flourished, and our c-ondition, notwith- 

 standing the necessarily low state of our*mauufactures. wa« bette* 

 at the close of the war than at its commencement. 



The condition of the country after the restoration of pf^cc — 

 when the peculiar causes of prosperity, Just alluded to, had 

 ceased to acr — led such strong- heiir ted, clear-headed men as 

 Washington to fear that we had won our independence in vain. 

 We were suddenly deluged with British goods : the manufactures? 

 whicli had come into existence by the protection afforded by the 

 v/ar, were at once destroyed ; our specie was exhausted j real 

 estate lell so low as to ruin all who had bought land upon credit; 

 agricultural products were without a market, and universal dis- 

 tress pervaded the country. This state ol things led !o the for- 

 mation of our Federal (Constitution. Under the old confederation, 

 as is well known. Congress had no power to a&urd protection to 

 our labor. Some of the States atte.'upted to levy duties on foreign 

 goods, but their laws were defeated by the refusal oi' other States 

 to concur in their provisions. While Massachusetts and Connec- 

 ticut were willing to unite for this purpose, Rhode Island persisted 

 in making Newport a free port of entry, whereby the commercial 

 bu.siiies9 of that city was great !y loereased, at the ex.pense of 



