[DiogenesLamp]

Other way around. The North had something like three times the income of the South.

Were the Europeans buying cattle? How much of any of that stuff was the Europeans buying?

I happen to know the primary exports to Europe from the North was Wood, Leather, Fish, grains, and not a whole lot else.

We are talking specifically about EUROPEAN export products, not how much gold is in California or Silver in Nevada in 1860.

If you can show me how any of the stuff you mentioned somehow turned into European currency with which to buy European products, you might have a point, but other than that, they are irrelevant to who was paying the import taxes.

[x]

Look at the figure for GNP. It doesn't matter that the South got a lot of foreign money from cotton exports. The North had more money and could buy more imports.

It wasn't like Southern slaveowners hoarded all their pounds and francs in their mattresses. They exchanged that money for dollars that they could use or invest, and then other people could exchange dollars for foreign currency to buy exports.