Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/204

164 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS tions, the state governments were sure to prove delinquent. Finding it impossible to obtain money for carrying on the war, congress had resorted to the issue of large quantities of inconvertible paper, with the natural results. There had been a rapid inflation of values, followed by sudden bankruptcy and the prostration of national credit. In 1783 it had become difficult to obtain foreign loans, and at home the government could not raise nearly enough money to defray its current expenses. To remedy the evil a tariff of five per cent, upon sundry imports, with a specific duty upon others, was proposed in congress and offered to the sev eral states for approval. To weaken as much as possible the objections to such a law, its operation was limited to twenty-five years. Even in this mild form, however, it was impossible to persuade the several states to submit to Federal taxation. Vir ginia at first assented to the impost law, but after ward revoked her action. On this occasion Mr. Madison, feeling that the very existence of the nation was at stake, refused to be controlled by the action of his constituents. He persisted in urging the necessity of such an impost law, and eventually had the satisfaction of seeing Virginia adopt his view of the matter. The discussion of the impost law in congress re vealed the antagonism that existed between the slave-states and those states which had emancipated