Then we are back pre Constitution where the national government had zero ability to do anything. Is that what you think is best?
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.
The tariff rate in 1860 was the lowest it had even been. The lowest. That is not what caused the war. When the Confederates congress enacted their own tariffs, they were basically at the same rate.
I think both sides had valid points, but this is a very good example of the "Tyranny of the Majority."
The South thought the laws were unfair, but as the North benefited, and had the majority, they just didn't care what the South thought.
The tariff rate in 1860 was the lowest it had even been. The lowest. That is not what caused the war. When the Confederates congress enacted their own tariffs, they were basically at the same rate.
The South had been trying to secede since the 1820s, and their major complaint was always economic during that time period. I think the realization that Liberals had won control of the government to the extent that they did convinced them that more trouble was on the way, even if it was at the moment, temporarily lessened.
This is simply false. The Tariff of 1857 which replaced the Walker Tariff, lowered rates to between 15% and 24%. Two things to bear in mind. Firstly, the Southern states set a maximum of 10% in the Confederate Constitution so even the compromise tariff of 1857 was at least about twice the rate that would have been beneficial to them and Secondly, By 1860 it was clear to everybody that the Morrill Tariff was going to pass. The Morrill Tariff went on to triple tariff rates....making them even worse than the Tariff of Abominations which had crushed the Southern economy a generation earlier.