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To: Rockingham
You seem unaware of the details of US tariffs in the antebellum era.

I'm quite well aware of the details of US Tariffs in the antebellum era.

James K. Polk, a Southerner, was elected President in 1844 based in part on his promise to lower tariff rates. In 1846, Polk secured the lowering of the tariff to a rate of 25 per cent, which was further reduced in 1857 to rates of 16 to 24 per cent, making American tariffs some of the lowest in the world. Not until 1861 and the election of Lincoln were tariffs raised.

Yes, the latter was the Walker Tariff.

Again, the South's articles of secession cited slavery as the reason for secession, not tariff rates. ,/p>

Again only 4 states issued declarations of causes and only 1 of those 4 (Mississippi) listed slavery alone. 3 of the 4 went on at length about other causes especially the tariff and the unequal federal outlays which heavily benefitted Northern business interests. They did this despite this not being unconstitutional. Refusal to enforce the fugitive slave clause of the Constitution was actually unconstitutional.

In a era of substantial property requirements to vote, slave owners had the upper hand politically. In effect, non-slave holders were mostly disenfranchised.

False. Of course the most wealthy had outsized influence just as they do today. It would be false however to say non slave holders were mostly disenfranchised. The vast majority of yeoman farmers did not own slaves. The vast majority of townsfolk who were small business owners, skilled craftsmen, etc did not own slaves. These classes of people could vote. There were far more of them than large plantation owners who comprised less than 3% of the White population.

As established, the Confederate central government began with a tariff rate of 12.5 per cent, but trade and revenue soon collapsed due to the Union blockade. The Confederate national and state governments then tried to finance themselves and the war effort through debt and currency printing, which resulted in catastrophic inflation.

As established, the Confederate Constitution allowed a tariff for revenue (maximum 10%) but did not allow a high protective tariff.

199 posted on 06/07/2023 2:06:52 PM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: FLT-bird
Even as the elite of the Old South wanted to preserve slavery and went to war over it, they recognized its moral opprobrium. Like lawyers with a bad case, Confederate partisans then (and now) try to confuse the issue with claims about tariffs and sectional oppression and obscurantism.

Rejecting the work of historians in the field as biased and wrong-minded and rummaging about for supposed support in original sources is obsessive crankery.

214 posted on 06/07/2023 8:30:25 PM PDT by Rockingham
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