The most notable portion of Henry Clay’s life was his great career as Senator in Congress, which he entered in December, 1831, two years after the inauguration of President Jackson.  The first subject of national importance to which he gave his attention was the one with which his name and fame are mostly identified,—­the tariff, to a moderate form of which the President in 1829 had announced himself to be favorable, but which he afterwards more and more opposed, on the ground that the revenues already produced were in excess of the needs of the government.  The subject was ably discussed,—­first, in a resolution introduced by Senator Clay declarative of principles involving some reduction of duties on articles that did not compete with American industries, but maintaining generally the “American System” successfully introduced by him in the tariff of 1824; and then, in a bill framed in accordance with the resolution,—­both of which were passed in 1832.

Clay’s speeches on this tariff of 1832 were among the strongest and ablest he ever delivered.  Indeed, he apparently exhausted his subject.  Little has been added by political economists to the arguments for protection since his day.  His main points were:  that it was beneficial to all parts of the Union, and absolutely necessary to much the largest portion; that the price of cotton and of other agricultural products had been sustained and a decline averted, by the protective system; that even if the foreign demand for cotton had been diminished by the operation of this system (the plea of the Southern leaders), the diminution had been more than compensated in the additional demand created at home; that the competition produced by the system reduces the price of manufactured articles,—­for which he adduced his facts; and finally that the policy of free trade, without benefiting any section of the Union, would, by subjecting us to foreign legislation, regulated by foreign interests, lead to the prostration and ruin of our manufactories.

It must be remembered that this speech was made in 1832, before our manufactures—­really “infant industries”—­could compete successfully with foreigners in anything.  At the present time there are many interests which need no protection at all, and the protection of these interests, as a matter of course, fosters monopolies.  And hence, the progress which is continually being made in manufactures, enabling this country to be independent of foreign industries, makes protective duties on many articles undesirable now which were expedient and even necessary sixty years ago,—­an illustration of the fallacy of tariffs founded on immutable principles, when they are simply matters of expediency according to the changing interests of nations.