“So, your knowledge ends in the 1850s?”
Bwahahaha! Good one!
He asked me why the South didn’t build their own ships. Apparently his history lessons ended in 6th grade. He doesn’t even have a grasp of the reason the South was so upset about the Cotton tariff because he didn’t even know that:
1. All exports had to be on American built ships.
2. The ship building ports and industry were in New England
3. 65% of all the exports in the US at that time were
Southern cotton and it was all sent up to Northern
ports and shipped out of NY because all
the ships were in the North and the North
realized about 40 cents out of every dollar on the
deal.
But the war started over slavery.
These civil war trolls about 3 of them come on every thread. I think they are high school kids or something. Or all three are one as they say the same stuff over and over. Its like its been written out on note cards. :-)
I'll ask again...You say the war was over shipping. If the south spent 33 years angry that all the ships were in the north, then why didn't someone somewhere in the south start building ships? If you're right it would have been highly lucrative. They built them when the war started, why not before?
Utter nonsense.
2. The ship building ports and industry were in New England
What about Norfolk? What about Pensacola? Don't you even know your own history?
3. 65% of all the exports in the US at that time were Southern cotton and it was all sent up to Northern ports and shipped out of NY because all the ships were in the North and the North realized about 40 cents out of every dollar on the deal.
Balderdash. Most was shipped from New Orleans, Charleston, and Mobile. You might recall that those are southern cities.
But the war started over slavery.
Finally you got something right! Bravo!
That is not true, and never had been.
The coastal trade, (between US ports had to be on American ships,) but foreign ships were always allowed to both deliver goods or to purchase US goods.
2. The ship building ports and industry were in New England
Why was that? There was no law forbidding building a ship anywhere you wanted. No one stopped Southerns from entering the shipping trade. There were shipyards in Virginia and Maryland, but the Deep South wanted no part of that by their own choice.
Shipping was a very risky business, and really still is. You could lose your entire investment with one storm. The antebellum South found that land and slaves were a far less risky place to invest money so they relied on those grubby merchants and mechanics from the North to transport their products.