ABSTRACT
Reaction Comes to the South. It is possible to pinpoint the time when the southern states committed themselves to a defense of the slavery system (see p. 34). Precisely what factors entered into the de cision, however, can never be fully determined. That there were committed reactionaries as far back as slavery’s beginnings in Amer ica cannot be doubted. Their strength was held in check by others motivated by humanitarian, religious, economic, or other impulses, or by practical situations which impugned the value or the right of slavery. (See Reading No. 11.)
Thus, John C. Calhoun, South Carolina statesman and an aspir ant to the Presidency, dreamed of a southern industry which would free his section of dependence on manufacturers elsewhere. Prior to the War of 1812, he was a nationalist and expansionist who de manded a high protective tariff on imports, to give native manufac turers an advantage over foreigners. Southern commercial interests, however, failed to rise to the opportunity the war gave them to build industries based on government contracts. Ironically, it was conserv ative New England businessmen, who had opposed “Mr. Madison’s War,” believing that it hurt their shipping establishment and made a foe of their traditional friends and customers, Great Britain, who profited by the war. They seized the opportunity it offered and cre ated a new, modern industry in the North.
