<P> Democratic President Grover Cleveland redefined the issue in 1887, with his stunning attack on the tariff as inherently corrupt, opposed to true republicanism, and inefficient to boot: "When we consider that the theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and enterprise...it is plain that the exaction of more than (minimal taxes) is indefensible extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice ." The election of 1888 was fought primarily over the tariff issue, and Cleveland lost . Republican Congressman William McKinley argued, </P> <P> "Free foreign trade gives our money, our manufactures, and our markets to other nations to the injury of our labor, our tradespeople, and our farmers . Protection keeps money, markets, and manufactures at home for the benefit of our own people ." </P> <P> Democrats campaigned energetically against the high McKinley tariff of 1890, and scored sweeping gains that year; they restored Cleveland to the White House in 1892 . The severe depression that started in 1893 ripped apart the Democratic party . Cleveland and the pro-business Bourbon Democrats insisted on a much lower tariff . His problem was that Democratic electoral successes had brought in Democratic congressmen from industrial districts who were willing to raise rates to benefit their constituents . The Wilson - Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 did lower overall rates from 50 percent to 42 percent, but contained so many concessions to protectionism that Cleveland refused to sign it (it became law anyway). </P> <P> McKinley campaigned heavily in 1896 on the high tariff as a positive solution to depression . Promising protection and prosperity to every economic sector, he won a smashing victory . The Republicans rushed through the Dingley tariff in 1897, boosting rates back to the 50 percent level . Democrats responded that the high rates created government sponsored "trusts" (monopolies) and led to higher consumer prices . McKinley won reelection by an even bigger landslide and started talking about a post-tariff era of reciprocal trade agreements . Reciprocity went nowhere; McKinley's vision was a half century too early . The Republicans split bitterly on the Payne - Aldrich Tariff of 1909 . Republican President Theodore Roosevelt (1901--1909) saw the tariff issue was ripping his party apart, so he postponed any consideration of it . The delicate balance flew apart on under Republican William Howard Taft . He campaigned for president in 1908 for tariff "reform", which everyone assumed meant lower rates . The House lowered rates with the Payne Bill, then sent it to the Senate where Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich mobilized high - rate Senators . Aldrich was a New England businessman and a master of the complexities of the tariff, the Midwestern Republican insurgents were rhetoricians and lawyers who distrusted the special interests and assumed the tariff was "sheer robbery" at the expense of the ordinary consumer . Rural America believed that its superior morality deserved special protection, while the dastardly immorality of the trusts--and cities generally--merited financial punishment . Aldrich baited them . Did the insurgents want lower tariffs? His wickedly clever Payne - Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 lowered the protection on Midwestern farm products, while raising rates favorable to his Northeast . </P>

Who supported tariffs to protect american industries from foreign competition