Eventually, the south would have done in ‘60 what they did in 32 - threaten to nullify and secede again if they didn’t get a reduction in the tariffs.
The other economics of the time that hasn’t been addressed was what the cost of emancipation would be on producing commodities. Even if the South had been willing to emancipate (England wanted that very vociferously), the tariffs likely made it much harder to do and stay afloat.
If you ever fly in to DC, you’ll see that what was true in 1860 in terms of unbalanced infrastructure spending is truer now in 2014.
This is an excellent thread.
The Congress gave them what they wanted on the tariff issue in the early 1850s.