1798.]

ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS.

9

lions for defence, not one cent for tribute." The envoys were then ordered to leave France, and it looked as if there would be war between the two countries. The French captured our ships on the high-seas, and there were some fights between French and American men-of-war; but Napoleon Bonaparte soon got into power, and made peace with the United States.

During these troubles with France the Federalists had gradually grown in power, and the watchword, "Millions for defence, not one cent for tribute," had become very popular. They began to think that the government belonged to them, and that the people would not object to any of their acts. But they soon found out their mistake. Among the laws passed during President Adams's administration were two called the "Alien Law" and the "Sedition Law.” The Alien Law empowered the President to arrest and send out of the United States any alien whom he might think dangerous to the peace and liberties of the country; and the Sedition Law imposed a heavy fine and imprisonment on any persons who should conspire against the government, or should publish any false or malicious writing against the Government, Congress, or President of the United States. The Federalists claimed that these laws were proper under the circumstances; that the Alien Law was made necessary by the acts of foreigners in this country, who had tried to stir up the passions of the people against their own government, and the Sedition Law was needed to curb the publication of malicious slanders against the President and Congress. The Republicans, on the contrary, claimed that they were meant to injure them as a party, and that they were contrary to the Constitution, which declares that Congress shall make no law "abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." As both Houses of Congress were then controlled by the Federalists, the Republicans tried to get the State Legislatures to protest against these unpopular laws, which, if unconstitutional, were against the rights of the States; and the States of Virginia and Kentucky, which had been settled largely from Virginia, both passed resolutions asserting the rights of the States. As these afterward became very famous, and are really the beginning of what led in the end to secession, we must state briefly what they were.

The Virginia Resolutions, which were drawn up by James

Madison, and passed in 1798, declared that the Constitution was a compact by which the States had given up only a part of their powers; that whenever the Federal Government tried to go beyond the authority given it by the States, it was the duty of the States to interfere and to maintain their rights; that the Alien and Sedition Laws were a usurpation by the Federal Government of powers not given to it; and that the State of Virginia declared those laws unconstitutional and asked the other States to join her in that declaration. The other States did not reply favorably, and Virginia passed the resolutions again the next year.

The Kentucky Resolutions, which were drawn up by Thomas Jefferson, were nearly the same as those of Virginia. They received no more attention than the others, and the next year (1799) Kentucky passed them again, and declared in addition that a State had the right to nullify and declare void any Act of Congress which it might consider unconstitutional. We shall see by and by how this last declaration, which was further than Jefferson intended to go, was used afterward by the nullifiers and secessionists.

The Alien and Sedition Laws and other unpopular party acts brought the Federalists into disrepute, and at the next election Thomas Jefferson was chosen President, and the Democratic-Republicans came into power; and from that time (1801) onward until the outbreak of the Civil War, with the exception of a few years, they ruled the country. It will be remembered that the Republicans favored France, while the Federalists liked England better. There had been much trouble with Great Britain during Jefferson's Presidency, and in 1812, when James Madison was President, war was declared against that nation. This was strongly opposed by New England, where the Federalists were still in power, and the Governors of Massachusetts and of Connecticut refused to allow their militia to leave their States, claiming that the Federal Government had no right, under the Constitution, to call them out except to repel actual invasion. As the war went on there was much distress in the New England States on account of the stopping of their trade, and the discontent went so far that threats of secession were made by prominent Federalists. In 1814 a convention of delegates from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, who

1814-20.]

SLAVE STATES AND FREE STATES.

11

were opposed to the acts of the government, met in Hartford, Connecticut, and discussed, it is said, the question of secession; but it is not now believed that its members had any treasonable designs. The meeting, however, which is known as the Hartford Convention, made a great stir at the time, and many thought it was the plan of New England to form a new kingdom with the Duke of Kent as its sovereign. It brought the Federal party into disrepute, and after the war the name Federalist gradually fell into disuse.

The United States continued to grow and to prosper. When the Constitution was adopted the population of the thirteen original States was less than three millions. In 1820 this had increased to nearly ten millions (9,638,453). Many people meanwhile had gone from the seaboard to what was then the far West, and new States and Territories had been formed. The new States which had been admitted into the Union were, in the order of their admission, Kentucky, Vermont, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, and Alabama, so that in 1820 the whole number was twenty-two. It will be seen that in these admissions a free State was taken in after each slave State-that is, a State where it was not lawful to hold slaves, after each State where slaveholding was lawful. Thus, Kentucky was a slave State and Vermont a free State, Tennessee a slave State and Ohio a free State, and so on through the list. The balance of power was thus kept even, and so much good feeling existed between the two great divisions of the country that party divisions almost disappeared. The same differences of opinion existed, but the country had done so well under President Monroe, who succeeded President Madison, that there was little opposition to him and his administration.

But the good feeling soon came to an end. In 1819 Missouri asked to be admitted as a State. The Southern members of Congress wanted it admitted as a slave State, but the Northern members opposed this, and thus the great question of slavery came up. Slavery had once been common in all the colonies, as has been shown before; but in the Northern colonies it had existed only in a mild form, and as slave labor proved unprofitable it was soon abolished in all the States north of Maryland. In the Southern States, on the contrary, it had become the settled system of labor; the invention of the cotton

gin (1793) had made it very profitable, and the Southerners had come to look upon slavery as an institution to be defended. They saw that if more free States than slave States were admitted, that the States not holding slaves would soon get more political power than the States holding them, and would make laws unfavorable to slaves. They therefore struggled hard to have Missouri admitted as a slave State, but the North opposed the bill and it was defeated. During the next Congress Missouri again asked to be admitted as a State, and Maine, which was then a part of Massachusetts, made the same request. After a hard struggle both were admitted, Maine as a free State and Missouri as a slave State; it was also agreed that slavery should be forever prohibited in all other territory of the United States north of 36° 30' north latitude, this being the southern boundary line of Missouri. All States formed in territory south of that line might have slavery or not, as they preferred. This bargain, which is called the Missouri Compromise of 1820, was supposed at the time to have settled the question of slavery, and other questions became after that of more importance.

In the next Presidential election all the candidates called themselves Republicans, and it was really a personal and not a party election. But the Republican party had gradually divided into two wings, one of which still kept to the old principles of the party and believed in following the Constitution strictly or in doing only things it expressly permitted, while the other took the loose or broad view of the Constitution, as it is called that is, they believed the government at Washington had a right to do almost everything that the Constitution did not prohibit, much the same as the Federal party had done. John Quincy Adams was chosen President by the latter wing, which soon became known as the National Republican party, while the other wing took the name of Democratic party.

Under the administration of President Adams a new trouble arose between the North and South--the question of the tariff. A tariff is a list of rates or duties to be paid on goods brought from a foreign country. The duties, or moneys paid on the goods, are collected at custom-houses established by the government at the ports of entry, or ports into which foreign vessels are allowed to enter, and go toward paying the expenses

1828.]

FREE TRADE OR PROTECTION.

13

of the government. There have always been differences of opinion about a tariff. Some people believe in free trade-that is, in having no tariff or custom-houses at all, but in making trade almost entirely free; while others believe in protectionthat is, they think that foreign goods should be made to pay high duties, in order to keep them out of the country, so that native manufacturers can make everything and charge what they please. In the beginning the Northern States had favored free trade, because they thought that the shipping business, then their principal source of wealth, would gain by it; while the Southern States had favored protection, because they thought that if the Northern States

could be prevented from buying foreign goods they would be forced to go to manufacturing, and that this would make a fine market for Southern cotton. The Northern States resisted, but the Southern States succeeded in having the law passed, and the Northern States began to manufacture cotton. After a while the New England manufacturers found out that it was to their interest to keep out foreign goods too, while the Southern States discovered that the tariff was doing them an injury by keeping out cheap foreign goods and obliging them to buy at higher prices of Northern manufacturers. Thus it came about that the two sides changed their views on this question, and the Southern States came to favor free trade, while the Northern States favored protection.

JOHN C. CALHOUN.

In the days of the rule of Great Britain the Southern Colonies had been well off, because their tobacco and other crops sold for high prices, while the Northern Colonies, where farming did not pay, were poor, but in fifty years after the Declaration of Independence they had changed positions-the North had gained wealth and her towns had grown into large cities, while the South had lost her prosperity and her cities had remained stationary or had decayed. The protection which at