These men arrayed themselves with either of
the two parties, as inclination or interest prompted. Active and
assiduous, they were soon prominent before the people, and a new era
was commencing. With the election of John Quincy Adams, the State was
in a blaze and politics a furor. Opposition immediately commenced to
the leading measures of the Administration, and the Legislature of 1825
was filled with young men of talent, who were enthusiastic and fierce
in their sentiments and feelings. They had been divided as partisans of
Troup and Clarke, and met as antagonists in the Legislature; but really
without any defined policy in opposition to that of the administration
of the General Government of the nation. A suspicion filled every one
that this policy was disastrous to Southern interests, and sectional in
its character, although designated as national.
Few men of the South had given much attention to the effect a tariff
for revenue had upon the commercial and manufacturing interests of the
North. The war with England had created a debt, and this tariff had
been imposed solely for the purpose of securing, not only a sufficient
revenue for the current necessities of the Government, but a surplus,
which should in a short time liquidate the public debt.
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