The lower counties of New York
along the Hudson revealed their identity with the commercial
interests by opposing the bill. New England broke in two; Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Connecticut voted almost unanimously in favor of
the proposition; while Maine cast a unanimous vote in opposition.
Rhode Island was divided, and in Massachusetts only two districts--
that of the Berkshire wool-growing region and the Essex county area-
-supported the bill.
In the Senate, an amendment was passed making the duty on woolens an
ad valorem rate of forty-five per cent., but retaining the minima.
Various considerations induced some New England friends of Adams to
support the measure. Webster defended his action in voting for the
bill by declaring that New England had accepted the protective
system as the established policy of the government, and after 1824
had built up her manufacturing enterprises on that basis.
Nevertheless, in the final vote in the Senate, the five northern
members who opposed were all from New England.
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