W. Cobb, Edward F. Tatnal, and men of like age and political faith.  The members of Congress were elected by general ticket; and the selection of candidates was not by a convention of the people or party.  The names of candidates were generally recommended by influential parties, and their consent to become candidates obtained through solicitations addressed to them, and then published to the people.  The State was so unanimous in political sentiment, that for many years no opposition to the Republican party was thought of.

But now parties were organizing upon principles, or rather policies, entirely new; there was a fusion of the old elements of party, and Federalists and Republicans were side by side in this new organization.  Men who had been under the ban, for opinion’s sake, were coming into public view and public favor, and disclosing great abilities.  At the head of these was John McPherson Berrien, who, to the end of his life, was so distinguished in the councils of the nation.  At the same time, in every part of the State, young men were rising up as men of promise for talent and usefulness.  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.  It was sufficient to afford protection to the manufacturing interests of the North, to increase this into a formidable revenue, and to enlist a national party in its support.  It was now, when the public debt was liquidated, that another reason was necessary for continuing a policy which had grown up from the necessities of the nation—­consequently it was assumed to be a national policy to promote national independence, and protection was claimed for national industry against European competition.  This policy in the Government would encourage extravagance, waste, and corruption—­such a bane to republics—­because