Editing John C. Calhoun (section)

===Postwar planning===
Despite American successes, the mismanagement of the Army during the war very much distressed Calhoun, and he resolved to strengthen and centralize the [[United States Department of War|War Department]].{{sfn|Wiltse|1944|pp=103–105}} The militia had proven itself quite unreliable during the war and Calhoun saw the need for a permanent and professional military force. In 1816 he called for building an effective navy, including steam frigates, as well as a standing army of adequate size. The British blockade of the coast had underscored the necessity of rapid means of internal transportation; Calhoun proposed a system of "great permanent roads". The blockade had cut off the import of manufactured items, so he emphasized the need to encourage more domestic manufacture, fully realizing that industry was based in the Northeast. The dependence of the old financial system on import duties was devastated when the blockade cut off imports. Calhoun called for a system of internal taxation that would not collapse from a war-time shrinkage of maritime trade, as the tariffs had done. The expiration of the charter of the [[First Bank of the United States]] had also distressed the Treasury, so to reinvigorate and modernize the economy Calhoun called for a new national bank. A new bank was chartered as the [[Second Bank of the United States]] by Congress and approved by President [[James Madison]] in 1816. Through his proposals, Calhoun emphasized a national footing and downplayed sectionalism and states rights. Historian [[Ulrich Bonnell Phillips|Ulrich B. Phillips]] says that at this stage of Calhoun's career, "The word ''nation'' was often on his lips, and his conviction was to enhance national unity which he identified with national power."{{sfn|Phillips|1929|loc=3:412–414}}