“But the bulk of Federal expenditures of this money were done in the North.”
Factually incorrect, as are all of your “arguments.”
Federal expenditures 1789-1860
________1789-1834____1834-1837____1838—1850____1851—1860______Total
Fortifications
Free____$5,265,332___$1,122,644___$4,711,611___$5,281,373____$16,380,960
Slave___$10,019,249__$1,666,990___$4,357,427___$6,004,100____$22,047,767
Internal improvements
Free____$2,452,635___$1,779,958___$2,013,511___$1,780,077____$8,026,183
Slave___$1,859,710___$1,872,903___$545,229_____$1,428,090____$5,705,932
Lighthouses
Free____$2,001,946_____$509,319___$1,155,375___$2,976,079____$6,642,720
Slave___$2,161,047_____$530,769_____$636,760___$2,044,640____$5,373,218
Hospitalization
Free________________________________$392,032___$688,238______$1,080,271
Slave_______________________________$282,005___$757,813______$1,039,819
Pensions
Free____$21,894,322___$8,012,252______________$5,589,210*
Slave___$6,816,542____$2,588,091______________$2,816,534*
“Where did the merchants in the area (New York) get the money to pay for European goods?”
Probably the same places where merchants get the money to finance business today. Supplier credit, bank loans, stock investment, past profits. What a dumb question.
“The “navigation act of 1817” caused all sorts of problems for the South.”
That act simply required imported goods to be shipped on vessels owned by companies in the US or in nations from which the goods were made. How is that unfair to one region or another?
“Where did the merchants in the area (New York) get the money to pay for European goods?”
Probably the same places where merchants get the money to finance business today. Supplier credit, bank loans, stock investment, past profits. What a dumb question.
The question is the most salient question which can be asked on this topic, it is your attempted deflection answer which is stupid. It ignores all the mechanics of how European money gets into the hands of New York merchants.
Somehow the money has to come from Europe or specie has to be traded for European products, and few people want to give up their gold. Most would rather trade their goods for foreign goods.
Somehow there has to be a trade of assets or services to acquire European currency with which to purchase European products.
What assets were New York merchants trading for European goods in order to buy them?
That act simply required imported goods to be shipped on vessels owned by companies in the US or in nations from which the goods were made. How is that unfair to one region or another?
That's another bit of complication of the situation that I would rather discuss at a later time. I want to focus on the big pieces, and then later we can come back and talk about the smaller pieces. After we've figured out where New York Merchants got their hands on that European money, then we can talk about how the Navigation act of 1817 handed a defacto monopoly to New York shipping interests.