Development of Cotton Manu factures. The invention of cotton spinning by machinery had been, to a great extent, perfected in England by Arkwright and Hargreaves. Several attempts to introduce improved machinery into the United States and establish the cotton manufacturing industry failed. One of these was made as early as 1787 at Beverly, Mass. Pawtucket, R. I., secured the services of SAMUEL SLATER, a skilled machinist, who, in 1799, established there the first successful cotton mill. In 1803 there were four in operation. Eleven million dollars of Englishmade cotton goods were being imported annually into this country, when commercial intercourse with Great Britain was cut off (1808). The year following the number of American mills in operation suddenly sprang to sixty-two. The mills first established only spun cotton. Weaving was done by hand. In 1814 LOWELL devised an improved power loom, and an impetus greater than ever was given to the cotton industry. Manufacturing towns rapidly arose and became centers of population. One of the most important of these was built on the Merimac River, and named after the inventor of the power loom. The rapid growth of cotton manufactures was rendered possible only by a proportionate increase in the supply of raw cotton from the South. ELI WHITNEY had given to the world his great invention of the COTTON GIN (1797), and the fleecy staple was rapidly becoming the most valuable agricultural product of the country. Thus was an inter-dependence established between the industrial prosperity of both sections. Both advanced steadily, and all was harmony until the governmental policy was instituted to encourage and foster the interests of the manufacturing section at the expense of the agricultural. Ill-feeling and strife then was the natural result. how her policy had system- Long after the Revolution, the and conven- life. ELI WHITNEY. The nonintercourse policy of the United States Government, prior to and during the War of 1812, demonstrated how inconvenient was this industrial dependence. With the exclusion of English goods from American markets, domestic manufactures arose. The commercial interferences of France and England had rendered the investment of American capital in shipping and foreign commerce of doubtful profit. Hence this capital sought other channels, and that section whose principal interest had been commerce, now turned its attention to manufactures. At the close of the War of 1812 commercial relations with England were resumed. Years of manufacturing experience had given to English goods and wares a cheapness and finish that American enterprise had not yet attained. English goods flooded the American markets, and domestic manufactures, then in the first stages of growth, found it difficult to withstand foreign competition. The industrial development of New England was arrested. Mills stopped work; labor became idle, and capital was unemployed. It is good that a country should be industrially independent. Many realized this, and the idea took shape to place American manufactures upon a firm basis, so that the United States might attain this independence. The feeling to protect INFANT AMERICAN INDUSTRIES steadily gained ground. The protective principle was slightly recognized in the tariff act of 1816-a revenue measure rendered necessary by the public debt incurred in the War of 1812. In 1824 a tariff of this great statesman act was passed that was pronouncedly protective in its HENRY CLAY. features, as were also acts passed in 1828 and 1832. These protective tariff measures were not popular in those sections of the country devoted to agriculture. The increase of prices caused by high tariff seemed to the peo ple of these sections extortionate. There was no logic, to them, in the idea that the general welfare of the country was promoted by building up the interests of one section at the expense of another. The cotton gin and slave labor had made the South already industrially independent, for southern cotton had no competitors, and was everywhere in demand. In return for much of this cotton they received manufactured goods from several countries, and the Southern people held it to be unjust that they should be forced to pay the exorbitant prices that a high tariff imposes, for no other reason than that a distant section might be benefited. Protest after protest went forth, all of which were ignored. When the tariff act of 1832 was passed, the State of South Carolina determined to oppose its enforcement. She considered herself a sovereign State, and she was one of the original parties to the con stitutional compact. She had delegated certain specified powers to the Federal Government, no one of which, in her opinion, was the power to levy a protective tariff. When, therefore, the general government assumed this undelegated power, it only remained for her to set aside its obnoxious measures and render them inoperative as far as her own territory was concerned. A convention was held (Novem Secession and Nullification. The idea generally prevailed that the Union was a compact between sovereign States, and that each had a right to withdraw from the compact for good and sufficient cause. The utterances of the great men whose labors and eloquence secured the adoption of the Constitution; the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions; the acts and deeds of the New England Federalists, particularly those legislative enactments of Massachusetts and Connecticut leading up to the Hart JOHN C. CALHOUN. ber, 1832) and a NULLIFICATION ORDINANCE adopted, declaring the tariff law null and void, and forbidding the collection of duties at any port in the State. In taking his office the President had sworn to execute the laws of the United States. ford Convention; all testify how generally this opinion prevailed. But national pride and love of the Union had been growing in strength, and a school of patriotic statesmen arose, led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who sought a remedy other than secession when the compact was broken in regard to any one State. These statesmen held that a State could NULLIFY any law passed by Congress, if, in its opinion, the Federal Government under cover of this law assumed powers not delegated to it by the Constitution. The Constitution specifies the right of Congress to levy a tariff for revenue, but makes no mention of a tariff for protection. Therefore, South Carolina, perceiving how oppressively a high protective tariff was bearing upon her interest, chose what to her appeared to be the best remedy for her grievance-that of nullification. With his characteristic firm ness, Jackson, though personally opposed to a high tarifi, proceeded to overcome the opposition to the authority of the Federal Government. The attitude of South Carolina. however, was a determined one, and preparations were made to resist force with force. For a time it appeared as if a bloody conflict would ensue, but before such a catastrophe was precipitated, Henry Clay came forward and introduced a compromise measure into Congress. It was supported by Calhoun, and became a law (1833). New England strenuously opposed a repeal of the tariff; South Carolina. was opposed to its enforcement. The compromise provided for a gradual reduction of duties, which satisfied both. South Carolina then repealed the Ordinance of Nullification, and tranquillity was restored without the sacrifice of a principle on the part of either side. QUESTIONS. What was the greatest political controversy of Jackson's administration? In what is every citizen interested? In what ways may taxes be levied? What is the principal method of indirect taxation? What is a tariff for revenue? For protection? Illustrate. What effect has a tariff upon domestic manufactures? When is an industry said to be protected? What circumstances led to the industrial dependence of the United States? Under what four headings may Tariff be classified? Illustrate each ? What difference of opinion exists between political parties of the present day upon the subject of Tariff? What caused American manufacturing enterprises to arise? What caused the transfer of capital from shipping to manufactures? What do you know of the development of cotton manufactures? Who was Samuel Slater? Lowell? What marked the rapid development of cotton manufactures? How was this development rendered possible? What invention caused a great increase in cotton production? What interdependence was established? What resulted from the resumption of commercial relations with England? What idea soon took shape? Trace the growth of the protective idea. What do you know of the American system? Why were not protective tariff measures popular in the South? What State opposed the tariff laws? Why? What do you know of the Nullification Ordinance? What idea upon secession generally prevailed at that time? What testify to this? Why was nullification resorted to by South Carolina rather than secession? Why did Jackson determine to enforce the laws of the United States? How was a conflict averted? What do you know of Clay's Compromise of 1833? |