ABSTRACT
The close of the war with Great Britain led to the necessity of reducing the expenses of the Government to the demands of a peace establishment; but it left a large war debt for which provision had to be made. Financial problems are not always easy of solution. Mr. Madison was unwilling to see the course of the Government changed, or the principle of protection abandoned. He had seen too clearly the beneficial consequences of the policy established under Washington, and persevered in under Adams and Jefferson. The resources of the country were at all times competent to the attainment of every national object; but they will now be enriched and invigorated by the activity which peace will introduce into all the means of domestic enterprise and labor. He considered agriculture the foundation of all national prosperity, and that its surplus products would be lost, instead of becoming sources of domestic wealth.
