working classes were good purchasers, and
lent generous support to manufacturers. Exporting its raw cotton to
England, the South sent its leaders to Congress to ask for free trade
with foreign countries, or in any event, a lower tariff. The Northern
manufacturers sent their leaders to Congress to ask for protection
against foreign woollens, cottons, and all English tools and French
silks, and luxuries. Therefore the interests of the North antagonized
the interests of the South. In the South the anti-slavery sentiment had
disappeared because of Whitney's cotton gin. As Beecher wittily put it
in his Manchester speech: "Slaves that before had been worth three to
four hundred dollars began to be worth six hundred. That knocked away
one-third of adherence to the moral law. Then they became worth seven
hundred dollars, and half the law went; then eight or nine hundred
dollars, and there was no such thing as moral law; then one thousand or
twelve hundred dollars, and slavery became one of the beatitudes."

The Southern leaders, therefore, wanted free trade with England; the
North urged protection, in the interest of the whole country, rather
than a group of States. The South believed that Northern politics was
selfish; the North believed that the Southern leaders were building up
English manufacturers, and weakening their own country! The people
became one great debating club, and the dispute waxed more bitter day by
day. Every new event seemed to widen the breach. The war of the
Revolution made for unity between North and South, just as the hammer
welds together two pieces of red hot iron. The soldiers of the
Revolution had marched under the same flag, supported the same
Declaration of Independence, and fought for the same Constitution.
Slavery in the North had died through inanition, and during the
eighteenth century in the South also slavery seemed in process of
extinction. But now, in 1830, slavery had become a great source of
immeasurable wealth to the South, just as manufacturing had built up the
prosperity of the North.

The tariff discussion came to a climax in 1828, through the passing of a
customs act, known as the Tariff of Abominations. Sparks falling on ice
carry no peril, but sparks falling on the dry prairie cause
conflagrations. The news of the passing of the protective tariff created
intense excitement in South Carolina. Public meetings were called in all
the towns in the land, and protests were made against