HEZEKIAH NILES

This same argument was used before and since to justify protecting domestic manufacturing from foreign competition until it can mature sufficiently to compete in a global economy. One difficulty occurs if protective tariffs are imposed for this reason. The manufacturers protected never seem to reach the point where they can compete without the subsidy.

Vermont, Maine, Ohio, Vermont, Michigan, Missouri, Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire all ended their militia systems in that period. Militias were so unpopular that even Kentucky whose history involved militia more than most, ratified and 1850 Constitution that made no provision for a militia.

Even in 1828 there were issues of which politicians would protect Constitutional rights and which might not.

He used the term “essay makers” to refer to the intellectual and political leaders of Virginia. At the time the only “mass medium” was the written essay and politicians and other leaders used that medium the way that many use radio, television, and the Internet today. Holding on to a bottle referred to an alcoholic who would not give up drinking even though it was killing him. Ironically slavery caused Virginia to go from a leading commercial and intellectual state of the Union to a less than average one as Virginian energies all went to maintaining the status quo and their institutions, while the Northern and Midwestern State worked to modernize and improve. It took until the latter years of the 20th century before Virginia began to be a modern commercial state, but the legacy of looking backward still remains with political and cultural conflict between the traditionalists in Virginia who are still angry about the Civil War loss and modernists who have in large part come from other states. Virginia was the last state to decriminalize adultery for example and many educated modernists would not live in Virginia or move their businesses there. The modernists seem to be changing Virginia to where it again may be a leading state of the Union.

The Register was one of the most widely circulated journals of early America and Niles one of the most popular and influential journalists. Banks at the time could print their own paper money—unregulated by anyone. Often then did so knowing full well that if all the paper money they issued were presented for redemption they could not possible pay, as there was by the resolution of the bank directors not enough gold and silver to redeem all the money. Although few national leaders approved of the practice, it would have then been unthinkable and considered unconstitutional for the Federal government to interfere with a private bank’s right to print money or issue promissory notes regardless of the backing. See John Adams {615650} for a similar view.

These were amazingly accurate assessments at a time when this was not at all obvious to most. The large mechanization of agriculture would take place in the 1830s and 1840s but this astute observer saw the intellectual ideas impinging on society and realized that it was only a matter of time for these ideas to be implemented and bring great change to agriculture. That change has never stopped and continues at an even more rapid pace in modern times making American Agriculture the most efficient and effective in the world.

Niles shared with his close friend his great fear of a Civil War between South and North. He published in Baltimore (Maryland then being a slave state) and saw the slavery issue as leading the nation to national conflict three decades before it actually happened. As a distinguished Southerner he was respected and influential in the North where his Register was widely circulated. He himself however opposed slavery, and this made many of his attempts to prevent civil war ineffective as the more rabid Southerners saw anyone opposed to slavery as an enemy. See his editorial warning about the Civil War: {615640}.

Niles, a Southern editor was none the less anti-slavery. Other than the gross immorality of slavery, he saw that the economics of the institution actually inhibited the economic development of the South very early. Efficiency of machinery and organization of work and labor saving inventions were not as badly needed in a slave economy where human labor was so inexpensive. While in the North and most of Europe, there was skilled, but expensive, labor of freemen. This motivated all to improve processes and technology and increase productivity. There was much less motivation in the South and the slaves who actually understood the work had no way to experiment and were not allowed to read or write so the South was almost economically and technologically stagnant in comparison to the free labor states.

The same polarization is still with us.

Vermont, Maine, Ohio, Vermont, Michigan, Missouri, Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire all ended their militia systems in that period. Militias were so unpopular that even Kentucky whose history involved militia more than most, ratified and 1850 Constitution that made no provision for a militia.

These were amazingly accurate assessments at a time when this was not at all obvious to most. The large mechanization of agriculture would take place in the 1830s and 1840s but this astute observer saw the intellectual ideas impinging on society and realized that it was only a matter of time for these ideas to be implemented and bring great change to agriculture. That change has never stopped and continues at an even more rapid pace in modern times making American Agriculture the most efficient and effective in the world.

This same argument was used before and since to justify protecting domestic manufacturing from foreign competition until it can mature sufficiently to compete in a global economy. One difficulty occurs if protective tariffs are imposed for this reason. The manufacturers protected never seem to reach the point where they can compete without the subsidy.

He was a Southerner who was opposed to Slavery. He understood both North and South and feared the Civil War 20 years before the event. See also his letter {615642}.

Missouri was to be admitted to the Union. But the anti-slavery forces of Congress insisted that slavery be outlawed in the new state. Most Southerners argued that Congress had no right to regulate the slavery issue claiming among other arguments that the fact that slavery had not been regulated in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights was evidence of the agreement of the founding fathers that slavery was never to be interfered with. However the specific agreement on the subject called for no legislation on slavery to be debated in Congress in its early years, but the time of that agreement was up. The “Missouri Compromise” ended the debate for a short time. Niles knew his fellow Southerners and felt that Civil War was coming and strived to hold the Union together by compromise even though he was a personal opponent of slavery.

Niles shared with his close friend his great fear of a Civil War between South and North. He published in Baltimore (Maryland then being a slave state) and saw the slavery issue as leading the nation to national conflict three decades before it actually happened. As a distinguished Southerner he was respected and influential in the North where his Register was widely circulated. He himself however opposed slavery, and this made many of his attempts to prevent civil war ineffective as the more rabid Southerners saw anyone opposed to slavery as an enemy. See his editorial warning about the Civil War: {615640}.

Even in 1828 there were issues of which politicians would protect Constitutional rights and which might not.

He used the term “essay makers” to refer to the intellectual and political leaders of Virginia. At the time the only “mass medium” was the written essay and politicians and other leaders used that medium the way that many use radio, television, and the Internet today. Holding on to a bottle referred to an alcoholic who would not give up drinking even though it was killing him. Ironically slavery caused Virginia to go from a leading commercial and intellectual state of the Union to a less than average one as Virginian energies all went to maintaining the status quo and their institutions, while the Northern and Midwestern State worked to modernize and improve. It took until the latter years of the 20th century before Virginia began to be a modern commercial state, but the legacy of looking backward still remains with political and cultural conflict between the traditionalists in Virginia who are still angry about the Civil War loss and modernists who have in large part come from other states. Virginia was the last state to decriminalize adultery for example and many educated modernists would not live in Virginia or move their businesses there. The modernists seem to be changing Virginia to where it again may be a leading state of the Union.

The same polarization is still with us.

The Register was one of the most widely circulated journals of early America and Niles one of the most popular and influential journalists. Banks at the time could print their own paper money—unregulated by anyone. Often then did so knowing full well that if all the paper money they issued were presented for redemption they could not possible pay, as there was by the resolution of the bank directors not enough gold and silver to redeem all the money. Although few national leaders approved of the practice, it would have then been unthinkable and considered unconstitutional for the Federal government to interfere with a private bank’s right to print money or issue promissory notes regardless of the backing. See John Adams {615650} for a similar view.

Niles, a Southern editor was none the less anti-slavery. Other than the gross immorality of slavery, he saw that the economics of the institution actually inhibited the economic development of the South very early. Efficiency of machinery and organization of work and labor saving inventions were not as badly needed in a slave economy where human labor was so inexpensive. While in the North and most of Europe, there was skilled, but expensive, labor of freemen. This motivated all to improve processes and technology and increase productivity. There was much less motivation in the South and the slaves who actually understood the work had no way to experiment and were not allowed to read or write so the South was almost economically and technologically stagnant in comparison to the free labor states.