I was wrong. I am not ashamed or afraid to admit mistakes that I make. I remembered this from High School over 42 years ago. I was wrong about the tariffs being on exports. Tariffs on imports were one of the major causes of the War Between the States.
European Countries were selling textiles at a lower price than the North could. The tariffs put a tax on imports. This protected the Northern Textile Mills. The North did not import nearly as much as the South so the taxes actually benefited the North.
The South relied heavily on imports. The taxes raised the cost of living in the South and they got very little from it. People in the South had to pay more for products. They had to buy products from the North at a higher price than before.
The European countries would retaliate by not buying cotton from the South.
Cotton was the America's largest merchandise export. After 1820, Cotton exports accounted for from almost half to two- thirds of the value of all exports. Cotton was grown in the South. The North was destroying it's economy.
Only an idiot or a disrupter would argue when they know they are wrong. Ignorance is bliss isn't it.
I keep hearing that and I still find it hard accept. The North had four and a half times the free population of the southern states, 10 times the industry, 14 times the txtile production, 15 times the iron production, produced 38 times as much coal, 4 times as much wheat, had 7 times as much railroad mileage, and on and on. Just what was it that the south imported in such massive amounts that they paid so much more in taxes? And if the tariff protected northern industries and forced the south to pay higher prices for domestically produced goods, the North had to pay those same prices, too. And purchased more of the goods. And what about southern industries? There were tariffs on tobacco products, raw cotton, sugar and sugar related products, naval stores like turpentine, all products of the south. All protected by the tariffs, which forced the Noth to pay more for their products.
The European countries would retaliate by not buying cotton from the South.
And when did they retaliate? Prior to the rebellion the south sold all the cotton it could produce at higher prices than every before.
Ignorance is bliss isn't it.
Then you must be the happiest person on FreeRepublic.