In  1819,  however,  there  was  a  general  depression  in  all
values  throughout  the  United  States,  which,  of  course,
lessened  the  prices  of  labor  in  all  its  departments,  as  well
as  the  business  and  profits  of  manufactures.  This  depres-
sion was  said  to  have  been  produced  by  the  reduction  of
the  currency,  made  in  order  to  keep  the  bank  circulation
of  equal  value  with  specie.  Whether  this  was  the  real
cause  or  not  it  must  have  contributed  to  the  result  in  a
cohsiderable  degree.  But  however  this  may  have  been,
the  derangement  of  business  was  only  temporary — for
then,  as  now,  the  American  people  were  competent  to  con-
tend successfully  against  any  unfavorable  condition  of  their
affairs.  The  public  debt  was  regularly  and  promptly  paid
as  the  bonds  matured,  with  the  accruing  revenue  from
customs,  aided  by  limited  internal  duties  and  excise  taxes;
so  that,  by  1821,  brighter  financial  prospects  began  to  dawn.
And  when  this  occurred,  the  state  of  things  not  only
demonstrated  the  advantages  that  had  been  previously
derived  from  protection  to  manufactures  and  the  conse-


HISTORY    OF   THE    PROTECTIVE   TARIFF.  I47

quent  increase  in  the  general  wealth  of  the  country,  but  it
induced  Mr.  Monroe  to  remind  Congress  again  of  jtsduty
on  this  important  and  vital  subject.  Accordingly,  in  his
message  of  182 1,  he  said  :

"It  may  fairly  be  presumed  that  under  the  protection  given
to  domestic  manufactures  by  the  existing  laws,  we  shall  become,  at
no  distant  period,  a  manufacturing  country  on  an  extensive  scale.
