THE WEBSTER-HAYNE DEBATE

The United States came out of her second war with Great Britain a
proud and fearless nation, though her record was not, on its face,
glorious. She went to war shockingly unprepared; the people were of
divided opinion, and one great section was in open revolt; the
military leaders were without distinction; the soldiery was poorly
trained and equipped; finances were disordered; the operations on land
were mostly failures; and the privateers, which achieved wonders in
the early stages of the contest, were driven to cover long before the
close; for the restoration of peace the nation had to thank England's
war weariness far more than her own successes; and the Treaty of Ghent
did not so much as mention impressment, captures, or any of the other
matters mainly at issue when the war was begun. Peace, however,
brought gratitude, enthusiasm, optimism. Defeats were quickly
forgotten; and Jackson's victory at New Orleans atoned for the
humiliations of years. After all, the contest had been victorious in
its larger outcome, for the new world conditions were such as to
insure that the claims and practices which had troubled the relations
of the United States and Great Britain would never be revived. The
carpings of critics were drowned in the public rejoicings. The
Hartford Convention dissolved unwept and unsung. Flushed with pride
and confidence, the country entered upon a new and richer epoch.

The dominant tone of this dawning period was nationalism. The nation
was to be made great and rich and free; sectional interests and
ambitions were to be merged in the greater national purpose. Congress
voiced the sentiment of the day by freely laying tariffs to protect