“Morrill tariff was about to double the tariffs.”
Had the Senators from the seceding Southern States remained in Congress, along with some of the Northern Democrat Senators, they would have been able to block the Morrill tariff legislation.
In 1860 Howell Cobb, the Secretary of Treasury, reported the U.S. Treasury had only 500,000 dollars. With several million dollars of debts to be paid, the U.S. was technically bankrupt. This was the impetus for the Morrill tariff legislation.
That is simply a fabrication and misrepresentation. In other words, a lot of BULL.
The Morrill Tariff passed the House with ease in May of 1860 despite virtually unanimous opposition by every southern member.
Senator Hunter exerted every bit of parliamentary strength he could to delay the vote in the Senate until after the election hoping for the slim chance that enough votes would emerge to block it.
They did not and had every single southern member stayed in the Senate and voted against the Morrill Tariff, the best case scenario they could have hoped for was a tie, in which case Vice President Hamlin would cast the deciding vote in favor.
Why stay in a union that was slowly strangling your ability to survive?