Ok fine, you were wrong Non-Seq, a tariff IS a tax. Just admit as much.
It's scary when people say things like "a tariff is not a tax" - at least to people like me.
Look, here's the bottom line of the Civil War, what the Civil War was all about. Follow me guys.
1) Lincoln was beholden to Northern Industrialists who were losing business to the South because the South traded predominantly with Europe.
2) Lincoln wanted to empower the federal govt and force his Henry Clay ideas (the American System) on everyone in the country by initiating massive publics works projects in the North.
3) Lincoln had to put massive tariffs on the South in order to fund his American system.
4) The South seceded because of the tariff, not because of some imaginary nonsense that Lincoln was going to war to free slaves in America. The Confederate Constitution is clear on this.
5) Lincoln stated he would collect the tariff revenue by force but was assured the war would only last a couple months.
BOTTOM LINE: This was a tariff war, not a war about slavery.
Declaration of Causes of Secession
The word "Tariff" does not appear in any of the Declarations of Secession.
SOUTH CAROLINA
But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution.
MISSISSIPPI
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.
GEORGIA
The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery.
TEXAS
She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery-- the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits-- a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. Her institutions and geographical position established the strongest ties between her and other slave-holding States of the confederacy.
Yes, a tariff is a tax. But not all taxes are tariffs. The words are not synonyms.
As for the rest of your rant, it's odd how little tariffs are mentioned by the south as the motive for secession, and how often slavery is mentioned.
Traded in what? The South exported cotton, tobacco, and the like. What were they importing in such massive quantities?
2) Lincoln wanted to empower the federal govt and force his Henry Clay ideas (the American System) on everyone in the country by initiating massive publics works projects in the North.
Having read the 1860 Republican platform, and a good number of Lincoln's writings, I'm not sure just what massive public works projects you could be talking about. The transcontinental railroad? I would point out that both the Douglas Democratic Platform AND the Breckenridge Democratic platform both called for the transcontinental railroad as well. Maybe they were all for 'massive public works projects' too?
3) Lincoln had to put massive tariffs on the South in order to fund his American system.
The tariffs hit everyone who imported goods, not just southerners. Why would a tariff hit them disproportionately?
4) The South seceded because of the tariff, not because of some imaginary nonsense that Lincoln was going to war to free slaves in America. The Confederate Constitution is clear on this.
Can't be that clear. I see where the confederate constitution protects slavery. I see where it protects slave imports. I see where it guarantees that slavery would exist throughout the south and in any territories it acquired. I don't see where the confederate constitution is all that big on tariffs.
Oh, and let me ask you one other thing. If the tariff was such a big bone of contention then why was one of the first acts of the confederate congress the passage of, you guessed it, a tariff? Using the same rates as they were before the rebellion? And enacting the same protectionist measures as were enacted before the rebellion? I thought that the confederate constitution explicitly forbids protectionist tariffs but there it is, a 25% tariff on tobacco products. High tariffs on molasses and sugar. My, my. What possible explanation can there be for ignoring their own constitution so blatantly?
5) Lincoln stated he would collect the tariff revenue by force but was assured the war would only last a couple months.
He also said he'd deliver the mail. Maybe that was more threatening?