Editing Tariff of 1789 (section)

== Political and sectional responses to the tariff ==
Madison's attempt to enlist northern merchants and businessmen in supporting an economic contest with Great Britain elicited a cool response.<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 18, p. 19">Miller, 1960, p. 18, p. 19</ref> Firstly, British capital and markets contributed to the general prosperity of the North, and secondly, a shift towards France would mean aligning the United States with a [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|revolutionary government]] that exhibited what Federalist leadership regarded as "an excess of democracy."<ref>Brock, 1957, pp. 47–48</ref><ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 100">Miller, 1960, p. 100</ref> 
[[Alexander Hamilton]], soon to enter the executive branch as Secretary of the Treasury, declined to support Madison's proposal and warned that economic warfare with Great Britain would drastically reduce the import duty revenue that the tariff legislation called for, placing at risk the funds anticipated to run the new federal government and finance the national debt.<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 18"/>

This dispute between Madison and Hamilton marked "the first important breach" between these two Federalist leaders,<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 19"/> which would deepen when Hamilton, as Treasury Secretary, launched his fiscal and economic programs, ending their long collaboration.<ref>Miller, 1960, pp. 100–101</ref> The legislation produced the first sectional strains within "the Federalist coalition of northern businessmen and southern planters."<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 100"/> In the South, "agricultural interests" viewed the high tariff and tonnage rates as a triumph for northern merchants and manufacturers, the burden of which fell on southern staple crop exporters.<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 18, p. 19"/>

This early application of constitutional authority highlighted north-south social and economic differences and presaged the dissolution of the Federalist coalition, the formation of an agrarian alliance,<ref name="Miller, 1960, p. 100"/><ref>Hofstadter, 1948, p. 14</ref> and the rise of the [[First Party System]].<ref>Miller, 1960, p. 101</ref><ref>Malone, 1960, p. 265</ref>