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He was talking about the whole nation, not just the South. You have this South good guys and North bad guys view of history. Lincoln was looking at the nation. If the South refused to pay tariffs, why would the North continue paying them. You seem to think the South should have been able to do anything they wanted and what ever the North wanted was bad. That’s a childish way of looking at history, but not surprising.

If you look at the newspapers of the time and the different acts passed by Congress, it is pretty clear that the northern manufacturing companies controlled Congress. They passed acts and tariffs that were in their best interests and economically punished the agricultural south.

Then the slavery factor lent a veneer of moral superiority. It was okay to dislike/distrust/abuse the south...they enslaved human beings! Forget the fact that less than 3% of the population owned slaves...the south was evil!

You can only poke the bear so many times until you get some claws and teeth. Economically abused and disparaged, the south wanted autonomy. The north did not have the best interests of the farmers in the south at heart.

Mom’s side of the family is mostly from the south...related to the Lees of Virginia. Dad’s side of the family is mostly from the north with ties to the Buchannans. Funny, we never had any get togethers with BOTH sides of the family...

He was talking about the whole nation, not just the South. You have this South good guys and North bad guys view of history. Lincoln was looking at the nation. If the South refused to pay tariffs, why would the North continue paying them. You seem to think the South should have been able to do anything they wanted and what ever the North wanted was bad. That’s a childish way of looking at history, but not surprising.

That is not how I see things.

And remember those newspaper accounts I mentioned before? They make this very point. If the South doesn't have to pay the duties, the North wouldn't either. They said the South's refusal to pay them meant the duties have effectively been repealed for the whole nation.

Which is one of the things the South wanted, but didn't have the power in Congress to enact.

But even the Northern states knew that if the duties were kept high, the trade would move to port cities where the tariffs were low.

He was talking about the whole nation, not just the South. You have this South good guys and North bad guys view of history. Lincoln was looking at the nation. If the South refused to pay tariffs, why would the North continue paying them. You seem to think the South should have been able to do anything they wanted and what ever the North wanted was bad. That’s a childish way of looking at history, but not surprising.

There was no single whole nation after the Southern states seceded. Why should they pay tariffs to a foreign country? Those states in the North that were still part of the US were subject to pay the tariffs of the US.