ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 69 



The exigencies of the war of 1812 had compelled us to depend 

 upon our own manufactures, the consequence of which was, that 

 every branch of them was stimulated, and when the war closed 

 they were advanced and prosperous, while agriculture and com- 

 merce were greatly depressed. All engaged in agriculture or 

 commerce were anxious for the restoration of these two great 

 sources of national wealth; but, as the natural eifects of the war, 

 a period of great depression set in, which ultimately extended to 

 every branch of industry, and lasted for nearly ten years. 



As happens in times of national prostration, a wide difference of 

 opinion existed both as to the cause of it, and as to the remedy.. 

 In the Middle States it was generally thought that our whole policy 

 should be devoted to the promotion of agriculture and the encour- 

 agement of our domestic manufactures, and the fairs or industrial 

 exhibitions, with the incentives of rewards and premiums adopted 

 in the State of New York, were the result of this conviction. In 

 those parts of the countr}-, however, which then depended chiefly 

 upon commerce. New England and the sea-board cities, and in those 

 States of the South for whose agricultural productions there was a 

 market abroad, a very different opinion prevailed. 



The people of those parts of the Union were not only indifferent 

 to the subject of domestic manufactures, but inclined to the opin- 

 ion that their further encouragement would be detrimental to the 

 interests of agriculture and commerce. With an immense extent of 

 ^ea-coast, offering extraordinary facilities for commerce, and a vast 

 domain of land, embracing the whole of the South and the valley 

 of the Mississippi, adapted to the growth of the great staples, it 

 was urged that we were designed by nature to be a great agricul- 

 tural and commercial people, and that it would be throwing away 

 these natural advantages if the industry and capital of the country 

 was employed to any considerable extent in manufactures, views 

 which became widely spread and deeply rooted. 



There was a large and influential class, however, in every part of 

 the country, who steadfastly maintained that national wealth was 

 derived from agriculture, commerce and manufactures combined, that 

 eacli branch acted reciprocally, the interest of one being interwoven 

 with that of the other, and that the true policy of the nation was to 

 encourage our manufactures until they were sufficiently developed to 

 bring about a system of mutual exchange. 



There could be little doubt of the correctness of this general view, 

 but the point of difference was, and has ever since been, as to the 

 mode in which this encouragement should be given. Hamilton, in 

 his report upon manufactures, in 1790, recommended a restrictive 



