Division and reunion 18291909 Author:Woodrow Wilson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: tion, which he was unable to dislodge from its historical position. It was to be overwhelmed only by the power that makes and modifies constitutions, — by the fo... more »rce of national sentiment. 25. Tariff Legislation (1816-1828). South Carolina, nevertheless, meant to put this novel doctrine of nullification to the test of practical experiment. Her grievance had no immediate con- Tariffpolicy. ,. ... L. ,. , , . .. . , nection with the question of the public lands; it arose out of the tariff policy of the federal government. The question of western settlement was part of the economic situation as a whole; but the central question of that situation was the tariff; and the latest tariff legislation had, in the opinion of Carolinians, been the worst. Certainly the South had abundant reason to be dissatisfied with the operation of protective tariffs; and certainly the protective tariff of 1828 was a mon- ActofiSaS. . , . . . , , . , , . strosity of its kind (Formation of the Union, § 138). It was not equitable even when judged by the standard of its own purposes; it was not so much as self-consistent. It was a complex of compromises, and bore upon its face evidences of the notorious fact that it was the product of a selfish contest between several sections of the country for an economic advantage. The awkward part of the situation for the southern members was that they had themselves been in part responsible for this very law, and in a way that it was very embarrassing to defend. They had used their influence to fill the bill with as many provisions as possible that would be obnoxious to New England, and had then used their votes to prevent amendments, in order that the New England members might be forced to vote with them at the last against the adoption of the measure. ...« less