In your post 417 you write:
“Imports are payment for exports. Is that such a hard concept to grasp? They must be roughly equal over time.”
I researched the numbers, and this was not the case. The aggregate imbalance between 1790 and 1860 was $379.2 million, worth about $10.5 billion today.
By adding the accounting for merchandise traded between 1820 and 1860, I arrived at the figure of $715.3 million more goods imported than exported. The total trade imbalance for that same period shows a total deficit of $275.70, worth about $7.64 billion today.
On what basis can you call these “roughly equal.”
On the basis that your number is a small percentage of the total trade. How about you add up the total trade? Go look on page 34.
I dare say that when you have totaled up all the trade between 1820 and 1860, you will discover your number (which I still don't see how you got) is a small percentage of the total.
And I now marvel at your willingness to go to all this trouble to ignore the fact that the South produced the vast majority of all Trade income for the US, while trying to salvage what you wish to believe by attempting to see if you could get the statistics to lie on your behalf.
I dare say you didn't even know the South was producing the vast majority of export income until I informed you of it. You still do not want to believe it, because it make my argument that the North attacked the South to prevent Trade competition, uncomfortably close to proven for your taste.