To: Non-Sequitur
The Confederate Constitution didn't abolish tariffs, it simply said they couldn't be raised for some nebulous "general welfare of the state" as per the US Constiution (read: Pork). Ahem:
The Confederate Constitution gave Congress the power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, for revenue necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States..."
The Southern drafters thought the general welfare clause was an open door for any type of government intervention. They were, of course, right.
Immediately following that clause in the Confederate Constitution is a clause that has no parallel in the U.S. Constitution. It affirms strong support for free trade and opposition to protectionism: "but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importation from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry."
The use of tariffs to shelter domestic industries from foreign competition had been an important issue since tariffs were first adopted in 1816. Southern states had borne heavy costs since tariffs protected northern manufacturing at the expense of Southern imports. The South exported agricultural commodities and imported almost all the goods it consumed, either from abroad or from Northern states. Tariffs drastically raised the cost of goods in the Southern states, while most of the tariff revenue was spent in the North.
The Confederate Constitution prevents Congress from appropriating money "for any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce" except for improvement to facilitate waterway navigation. But "in all such cases, such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby, as may be necessary to pay for the costs and expenses thereof..."
"Internal improvements" were pork-barrel public works projects. Thus the Southern Founders sought to prohibit general revenues from being used for the benefit of special interests. Tax revenues were to be spent for programs that benefited everyone, not a specific segment of the population.
https://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=353&sortorder=articledate
To: spacecowboynj
Immediately following that clause in the Confederate Constitution is a clause that has no parallel in the U.S. Constitution. It affirms strong support for free trade and opposition to protectionism: "but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importation from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry." Yeah, that lasted all of three months. In May 1861 the confederate congress passed a tariff legislation that placed a 25% tariff on tobacco and tobacco products. Tobacco, as you may remember, was an important crop in Virginia and North Carolina. It placed a 20% duty on sugar, coincidentally raised in Louisiana. It placed a 20% duty on molasses, produced in several of the deep south states. It placed a 2 cent tariff on each bushel of salt, another southern product. Apparently tariffs weren't all that bad after all, and protectionism not that evil when it protected southern producers.
But then again history has shown that the confederacy paid lip service to the constitution time and again, ignoring it when convenient.
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