The South was in turmoil after Lincoln's election. Southern states started seceding in December 1860. Why? Some Northern states were nullifying the Constitution by flouting the Fugitive Slave Act. Plus, Lincoln was saying the US couldn't permanently exist half slave and half free - it would have to be one or the other. Then there was the endorsement by many Republican Congressmen of the Helper Book, which included such statements as:
... our purpose is as fixed as the eternal pillars of heaven; we have determined to abolish slavery, and -- so help us God -- abolish it we will! [page 187]We believe it is, as it ought to be, the desire, the determination, and the destiny of this party [Republican] to give the death-blow to slavery; ... [page 234]
We are determined to abolish slavery at all hazards ... [page 149]
While the abolition of slavery was by far the best thing that came out of the war, slavery was the basis of much of the South's economy, and to Southerners the threat to their economy was very real.
The North had a similar threat to their economy, one that was basically self inflicted. Lincoln ran on a platform of increasing the tariff, which, if passed, would extract even more wealth from the South to benefit Northern manufacturers and provide more jobs for Northern workers.
On the other hand, why wouldn’t the South let the North do something stupid to the North’s economy like substantially raising the US tariff by passing the Morrill Tariff after Southern states started seceding and the Confederacy had issued their own temporary tariff earlier in February. The Confederate Tariff in February was essentially the same as the tariff that the US had used since 1857. The North then passed the Morrill Tariff. As a result, there was a high tariff in the North and a low tariff in the South. The incentive existed for importers to ship their imports directly to Southern ports and thereby bypass the Morrill tariff. No wonder a number of import businesses immediately started failing or closing in Northern ports.
Here's data on the change in the value of imports at the Port of New York from 1860 to 1861 on a monthly basis [Source of the data that went into my calculation: the 1865 Appleton's]:
Month ... % change from 1860 to 1861Jan ..... 23.5
Feb ..... -15.6
Mar ..... -22.8
Apr ..... -12.3
May ..... -11.5
Jun ..... -34.0
Jul ..... -40.0
Aug ..... -65.7
Sep ..... -55.1
Oct ..... -49.2
Nov ..... -37.5
Dec ..... -54.8
That Confederate blockade of the Port of New York was really effective, wasn't it?
The two different tariffs created obvious revenue and balance of payments problems for the North. Lincoln would say to at least two different people on separate occasions and to one large group of people urging peace on a third occasion, “what about my revenue?” or equivalent statements. IMO, that is what drove the North to provoke the war and start blockading Southern ports. Lincoln's Treasury Secretary advocated repealing the Morrill Tariff (so a newspaper said), but Lincoln found a different solution.
Thank you, your post shows how secession could not have been motivated by tariffs. The calculus was simple. Stay in the Union and cast your no votes and kill the bill, or leave and allow higher tariffs. And risk war, since Presidents had made it clear that disunion was not going to happen, back at least to Andrew Jackson. So we can dispense with that nonsense going forward. But what was the reason?
“The South was in turmoil after Lincoln’s election. Southern states started seceding in December 1860. Why? Some Northern states were nullifying the Constitution by flouting the Fugitive Slave Act. Plus, Lincoln was saying the US couldn’t permanently exist half slave and half free - it would have to be one or the other.”
I do declare, sir, you have acknowledged the corn at last! Praise be to the Almighty! You see that Dim, some Southrons CAN handle the truth!