US Presidency
1845

The farmer or planter who toils yearly in his fields is engaged in domestic industry, and is as much entitled to have his labor protected as the manufacturer, the man of commerce, the navigator, or the mechanic, who are engaged also in domestic industry in their different pursuits. The joint labors of all these classes constitute the aggregate of the domestic industry of the nation, and they are equally entitled to the nation's protection. No one of them can justly claim to be the exclusive recipient of protection, which can only be afforded by increasing burdens on the domestic industry of the others. If these views be correct, it remains to inquire how far the tariff act of 1842 is consistent with them. That many of the provisions of that act are in violation of the cardinal principles here laid down all must concede.