1856 made no
declaration for or against free trade or protection. The results of the
election showed that the electoral votes of Pennsylvania and Illinois
would have been sufficient to give the party a victory in 1856. Both
party policy and a natural regard to its strong Whig membership dictated
a return to the protective feature of the Whig policy. In March,
1860, Mr. Morrill introduced a protective tariff bill in the House of
Representatives, and it passed that body; and, in June, the Republican
National Convention adopted, as one of its resolutions, a declaration
in favor of a protective system. The Democratic Senate postponed the
Morrill bill until the following session. When it came up again
for consideration, in February, 1861, conditions had changed very
considerably. Seven States had seceded, taking off fourteen Senators
opposed to the bill; and it was passed. It was signed by President
Buchanan, March 2, 1861, and went into operation April 1, raising the
rates to about 20 per cent. In August and in December, two other acts
were passed, raising the rates still higher. These were followed by
other increases, which ran the maximum up, in 1868, to 48 per cent. on
dutiable goods, the highest rate from 1860 to date. It may be noted,
however, that the rate of 1830--48.8 per cent. on dutiable goods--still
retains its rank as the highest in our history.

The controlling necessity for ready money, to prevent the over-issue of
bonds and green-backs, undoubtedly gained votes in Congress sufficient
to sustain the policy of protection, as a means of putting the capital
of the country into positions where it could be easily reached by
internal-revenue taxation. This conjunction of internal revenue and
protection proved a mutual support until the payment of the war debt
had gone so far as to provoke the reaction. The Democratic National
Convention of 1876 attacked the tariff system as a masterpiece of
iniquity, but no distinct issue was made between the parties on this
question. In 1880 and 1884, the Republican party was the one to force
the issue of protection or free trade upon its opponent, but its
opponent evaded it.

In 1884, both parties admit the necessity of a reduction in the rates
of duties, if for no other reason, in order to reduce the surplus of
Government receipts over expenditures, which is a constant stimulus
to congressional extravagance. The Republican policy is in general
to retain the principle of protec