Save for a few Pennsylvanians, the people were
Southern; the State was for all practical purposes a Southern
State. As late as 1883 the Legislature numbered fifty-eight
members from the South, nineteen from the Middle States, and only
four from New England.
Of the great national issues in the quarter-century following the
War of 1812 there were some upon which people of the Northwest,
in spite of their differing points of view, could very well
agree. Internal improvement was one of these. Roads and canals
were necessary outlets to southern and eastern markets, and any
reasonable proposal on this subject could be assured of the
Northwest's solid support. The thirty-four successive
appropriations to 1844 for the Cumberland Road, Calhoun's "Bonus
Bill" of 1816, the bill of 1822 authorizing a continuous national
jurisdiction over the Cumberland Road, the comprehensive "Survey
Bill" of 1824, the Maysville Road Bill of 1830--all were backed
by the united strength of the Northwestern senators and
representatives.
So with the tariff. The cry of the East for protection to infant
industries was echoed by the struggling manufacturers of
Cincinnati, Louisville, and other towns; while a protective
tariff as a means of building up the home market for foodstuffs
and raw materials seemed to the Westerner an altogether
reasonable and necessary expedient.
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