[conimbricenses]

Hamilton’s overriding concern was benefiting the Union not this or that interest group

Then why did he pander to them anyway at the expense of trade-dependent exporters?

He was concerned about a balanced economy and bringing the nation into the future.

So was Stalin. And so is Obama. Simply being "concerned" about the future of the economy is not a license to use government in an attempt to manipulate and direct it.

Taylor? Give me a break.

Why? Free trade conclusively won out in the economics debate over a century ago. Nobody but the economically illiterate (and the LaRouchies, though that is redundant) takes Hamilton's trade theories seriously today. Taylor, on the other hand, has been generally validated both in free trade and in his early recognition of the economic rent principle that motivates protectionism.

While it is possible that the tariff retarded us it is virtually unprovable by nature

Go tell that to the econ discipline. There are highly sophisticated and scientifically validated trade models for practically every major industry that calculate the welfare effects of tariffs with remarkable precision.

In addition, we would need to compare relative tariff rates along with other import restriction which all countries had before we could conclude anything about this question.

You're committing a common protectionist fallacy that suggests our wealth is dependent upon how other countries treat our exports relative to what we import from them. That's not the case because trade is, by definition, a mutual exchange and therefore benefits both. Tariffs only get in the way and extract value from that exchange by diverting it elsewhere. The direct logical extension of your argument holds that we should adopt a conscious policy of filling up ships with exports and sinking them in the middle of the Atlantic since it would register as a "positive" balance of trade and would not be affected by discriminatory policies against it from other countries.

[arrogantsob]

Hamilton was one of the few among the founders who continually pressed for the creation of the US Navy which would have been of great benefit to exporters. His policies did not pander to any particular group and were strictly designed to aid the development of the nation's economy. They were phenomenally successful and laid the basis of the Union's industrial might which allowed the defeat of the RAT Rebellion. Prior to Hamilton there was no free trade and even thirty plus years after his death England was still protecting its agriculture. Smith's theories remained only that for decades. But Smith would not deny that the system he criticized was more than an economic system. It was a political economic system and took measures to development national power politically as well as economically. Taylor's view leds to a distorted and dependent economy based primarily on agriculture and would have reduced our economic and political power particularly when joined to Jefferson's anti-military viewpoint. There is a reason that Taylor is just an obscure footnote while Hamilton has worldwide renoun. How do you get the idea that other nations cannot affect our wealth when the period Jefferson was president showed decisively that they can? Not only was there open season on our shipping but blockades and embargoes almost destroyed the NE economy leading to the talk of secession. When one nation excludes your products by law that can have a huge impact on the other nation's wealth. All taxes distort trade and tariffs are no exception. However, for that period the latter were probably the most equitable and efficient means of taxation.