An interesting theory but one which overlooks the fact that the South controlled the government for most of the time up to the rebellion. Alexander Stephens summed it up in his address to the Georgia Secession Convention in January 1861:
"But, again, gentlemen, what have we to gain by this proposed change of our relation to the general government? We have always had the control of it, and can yet, if we remain in it, and are as united as we have been. We have had a majority of the Presidents chosen from the South; as well as the control and management of most of those chosen from the North. We have had sixty years of Southern Presidents to their twenty-four, thus controlling the Executive department. So of the judges of the Supreme Court, we have had eighteen from the South, and but eleven from the North; although nearly four-fifths of the judicial business has arisen in the Free States, yet a majority of the Court has always been from the South. This we have required so as to guard against any interpretation of the Constitution unfavorable to us. In like manner we have been equally watchful to guard our interests in the Legislative branch of government. In choosing the presiding Presidents (pro tern.) of the Senate, we have had twenty-four to their eleven. Speakers of the House, we have had twenty-three, and they twelve. While the majority of the Representatives, from their greater population, have always been from the North, yet we have so generally secured the Speaker, because he, to a great extent, shapes and controls the legislation of the country. Nor have we had less control in every other department of the general government. Attorneys, Generals we have had fourteen, while the North have had but five. Foreign ministers we have had eighty-six, and they but fifty-four. While three-fourths of the business which demands diplomatic agents abroad is clearly from the Free States, from their greater commercial interests, yet we have had the principal embassies, so as to secure the world markets for our cotton, tobacco and sugar on the best possible terms. We have had a vast majority of the higher offices of both army and navy, while a larger proportion of the soldiers and sailors were drawn from the North. Equally so of Clerks, Auditors and Comptrollers filling the Executive department; the records show for the last fifty years, that of the three thousand thus employed, we have had more than two-thirds of the same, while we have but one-third of the white population of the Republic."
It is hard to believe that the South's "wishes and wants" were ignored by the government when they exercised such a disproportionate level of influence over it.
The higher the tariffs, the better the northeast manufacturers did while the worse the south did.
Why?
Comment 54 in the thread said 75% of the tariffs were paid by the south. Without trying to confirm it, I assumed that was correct.
The quote you provided, talking about what the situation HAD been over the previous 70 years, ignores that the times had changed from the beginning of that time to the end. From 1844 to 1860, seven states were added to the union. MI, WI, MN, FL, TX, CA, and OR. Areas of the country where slavery was considered vital to the economy had reached it's natural limits, while the remainder of the country continued to expand. I believe that politics forced compromises in the 20 years prior to the war to appease the south, with the intention of holding the union together, but the trend pointed to an inevitable conclusion.