The 14th Congress convened in December 1815, several months after the end of the War of 1812. Recognizing the difficulties of financing the war and the necessity of an institution designed to help regulate currency, Madison proposed the re-establishment of a national bank. He also favored increased spending on the Army and the Navy, as well as a tariff designed to protect American goods from foreign competition. Madison noted that internal improvements like roads and canals helped promote economic prosperity as well as unity within the United States, and he called for a constitutional amendment to explicitly authorize federal spending on internal improvements. These initiatives represented a major change in course for the Democratic-Republican president, and were opposed by strict constructionists like John Randolph, who stated that Madison's proposals "out-Hamiltons Alexander Hamilton." Madison's tariff proposal did win the support of Jefferson, who stated that "we must now place the manufacturer by the side of the agriculturalist.