If the South seceded, and took better than 70% of the tariff revenue of the US with it, the Union would have folded pretty quickly through default.
One take on this might be that the South was providing a living for the US, and the North was not only the principal beneficiary, but then also questioning the manner in which it was provided, in violation of the 10th amendment.
The North had several legitimate economic problems with the South seceding beyond moving from a recipient of tariffs to a payer of tariffs. From the North’s perspective, the peril was real.
Very true. The North had a quandary in that it wanted to control the golden goose but the goose was getting loose.
There was no levy or tariff on the south.
The North had several legitimate economic problems with the South seceding beyond moving from a recipient of tariffs to a payer of tariffs.
The tariff was on foreign goods.