How Mathew Carey Suggested Madison Deal with Secessionists During the War of 1812
As Madison passively ignored him, and New Englanders became bolder, Carey’s protests became more urgent. He continued to write to Madison, even suggesting that Congress pass a law convicting secessionists for high crimes against the government.[1]
Carey took his arguments out of private letters to Madison and made them public. On February 14 1814, he published Prospects on the Banks of the Rubicon, using the pseudonym “Cassandra.” He explained the threats of secession from New England, and repeated his suggestions for a Washington Union Society and bringing Federalists into the government. He found fault with both the Essex Junto and the British. His publication had little effect. The public, like Madison, ignored him.[2]
How John Quincy Adams Responded to South Carolina’s Nullification Threats in 1832
John Quincy Adams supported proposals by Henry Clay and Mathew Carey for internal improvements and protective tariffs. Congress passed the Tariff of 1828 while he was president. John C.Calhoun, who opposed of the tariff, was vice president. In response to the tariff that he and other South Carolinians despised Calhoun crafted arguments for its nullification in the South Carolina Exposition in 1828.
In 1831, John Quincy Adams returned to the House of Representatives, becoming chairman of the Committee on Manufactures. Adams drafted a new bill for a tariff acceptable to Southerners. He addressed the needs of plantation owners in South Carolina. Their depleted soil reduced the profitability of their cotton, yet they had to clothe their slaves. The Tariff of 1828 made it difficult to buy reasonably priced fabric. He slashed duty on inexpensive woolens from 45 percent to 5 percent. The tariff continued to protect iron and cotton textiles. The tariff reduced duties on products the United States did not manufacture. [3]
The Tariff of 1832 was acceptable to most Northerners and Southerners, except in South Carolina. South Carolina had the highest percentage of slaves of any Southern state. Robert J. Turnbull, writing under the pseudonym of Brutus, wrote pamphlet entitled The Crisis, in 1827. He linked protective tariffs and internal improvement proposals to abolition of slavery. Turnbull claimed the American Colonization Society planned to abolish slavery.[4] Henry Clay relied on Mathew Carey’s writings to promote internal improvements and protective tariffs. Clay was a founder of the American Colonization Society. Mathew Carey was secretary of the organization’s Philadelphia chapter.[5]
Calhoun realized that if threats of nullification resulted in John Quincy Adams’ revised tariff, those threats could be used to protect slavery. [6] Originally Calhoun applied nullification to an economic issue, the Tariff of 1828. Calhoun and his radical allies then applied it to a larger social and moral issue, slavery. The Tariff of 1832 came under attack in South Carolina.
Next: What the New England Federalists did when the British Invaded Washington and Burned the White House; What was the American Colonization Society, and Why was it Important?
[1] Edward C. Carter II, “Mathew Carey and the ‘Olive Branch’ 1814-1818,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 89. No. 4 (Oct. 1965) 402.
[2] Carter, “Olive Branch,” 404.
[3]Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) 400-2.
[4] Howe, What Hath God Wrought,402-3.
[5] The African Repository and Colonial Journal, Vol. IX, (Washington: James C. Dunn, 1834) 315.
[6] Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 402-3.
