No law specifically said that, but the manner in which it was enforced resulted in exactly that situation.
You keep throwing that number around, without any documentation.
I gave you documentation. Look in the thread up above. This is just another example of how you don't actually read what has been written.
And no, another poster’s comments do not constitute a legitimate source.
The source I cited above was from Thomas Prentice Kettel's book written in 1860 and using official government numbers to provide his data.
Other people have cited the official records, and they show exactly the same thing Kettel's book shows. The South was producing 73% of the total trade with Europe, and 60% of the money was ending up in New York and Washington DC.
The states comprising the Union in 1860 accounted for $175 million in exports in 1860, mostly farm products and manufactured goods.
The states comprising the CSA in 1860 accounted for $225 in exports, much of it cotton.
That’s 56.25%.
I think this is where it all began:
7/20/1789 Congress passed the Tonnage Act of 1789 levying a 50 cents per ton tax on foreign ships entering American ports, 30 cents per ton on American built but foreign owned ships, and 6 cents per ton on American ships.
1789 Congress passed the Judiciary Act establishing the Federal Court System. Among its granted authorities was the ability to make laws and regulate the maritime industry. This became known as Admiralty Law.
1789 Through legislative activism, Admiralty Law became protectionist for certain industries.
American shipping companies in the Northeast were protected against foreign shipping competition by laws that required domestic importers and exporters to pay a fee to the Customs department if they used foreign ships for trade. These fees were then disbursed to private shipping companies as compensation Other protectionist laws were arranged to the advantage of Northeastern shipping interests. To discourage competitive shipping, no person or company was permitted to purchase a fully rigged ship from foreign sources.
I think this is where it all began:
7/20/1789 Congress passed the Tonnage Act of 1789 levying a 50 cents per ton tax on foreign ships entering American ports, 30 cents per ton on American built but foreign owned ships, and 6 cents per ton on American ships.
1789 Congress passed the Judiciary Act establishing the Federal Court System. Among its granted authorities was the ability to make laws and regulate the maritime industry. This became known as Admiralty Law.
1789 Through legislative activism, Admiralty Law became protectionist for certain industries.
American shipping companies in the Northeast were protected against foreign shipping competition by laws that required domestic importers and exporters to pay a fee to the Customs department if they used foreign ships for trade. These fees were then disbursed to private shipping companies as compensation Other protectionist laws were arranged to the advantage of Northeastern shipping interests. To discourage competitive shipping, no person or company was permitted to purchase a fully rigged ship from foreign sources.
Northern Business Interests Gained Control of the Cotton Trade
In the early days after the invention of the cotton gin, the American South had controlled its own cotton industry. Southern cotton was shipped directly from southern ports by its owners to the textile mills of England.
During the three decade period before 1860, a combination of factors enabled the cotton trade to become dominated by the North. First, the Navigation Acts authored by Congress at the turn of the century had established protectionist laws favoring American shipping over foreign interests.
The exporting South was required by law to either use American owned, Northern ships, for their shipping, or pay to the Treasury compensation for their use of foreign ships. Foreign ships were prohibited by law from engaging in coastal trade between US harbors.
The laws also discouraged the Southern businessmen from becoming involved in the shipping business by prohibiting the purchasing of finished ships from overseas.
Therefore, Northern shipping companies, with the aid of Federal laws, came to dominate the carrying trade of the South.
As the trade in cotton increased, northern and particularly New York traders saw their opportunity and began sending agents south to purchase all the cotton they could, and ship it themselves by packet ships to England and Europe.
This direct purchase of cotton by the “factors” enabled the Southern growers to quickly turn a profit instead of waiting months for the cotton to be sold, and the money to return to them.
This benefit also cut their profits.
The plantation owners that could retain ownership and ship independently found themselves in a bind. If they wanted to ship their own cotton to market, the packet ship owner would charge them very high rates that were slightly under the rate of the foreign ship rate, plus the Federal shipping penalty that would be added.