Mr. Morrill saw the opportunity for reviving protection in 1858 when the revenues were insufficient, and he determined to prepare a new bill which should represent his views. But the interest in the subject at that moment was so little that he could not get a hearing from the House. The next session, however, gave him a rare chance. In the fall of 1859 a Congress largely Republican took its seat. After a fierce fight this Congress elected a Republican speaker, and this speaker put a young man destined to play a large part in National finances at the head of the Ways and Means Committee—John Sherman of Ohio. Mr. Sherman was just 37 years old, and as shrewd, as active, and as experienced a politician as the Republicans had in the House. He had begun his political life when about 21 years old with but two political tenets—hatred of the Democratic party and belief in protection of American industries. Political conscience had been unstirred within him until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. That turned him into a Crusader. Sherman had been fighting solely against slavery extension for six years, when his appointment to the head of the Ways and Means Committee suddenly made it his duty to consider finances. At once his old faith in protection asserted itself, and he gave full support to Mr. Morrill, who was instructed by the Committee of Ways and Means to prepare a new tariff bill. Mr. Morrill worked out his bill with great care and patience, and when it came out of committee early in 1860 it represented very nearly what he believed. Mr. Sherman, who from this time on had much to do with tariff bills, says in his autobiography that the Morrill Bill at the start was nearer meeting the double requirement of revenue and protection than any bill he was ever familiar with.