“I went back and tried to find where you said “New Orleans shipbuilders built hundreds of ships”, but I didn’t see it. Perhaps you could provide a link to where you said it?”
Here it is:
“A thriving coasting trade existed along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico...it appears that in Louisiana the two-masted schooner was built and used at a ratio of 5:1 over all other self-propelled craft.”
Later in post 1019:
“Several hundred schooners, most in the forty-fifty foot range, were constructed in antebellum Louisiana, with peaks of building activity from 1811 to 1820 and from 1831 to 1840...a high percentage of these saw maritime use.”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3979429/posts?page=1019#1019
From 1811 to 1840?
To analyze this data in light of the larger picture, how many of these were ocean going trade ships, how many ships were built elsewhere, and did the construction stop after 1840?
What percentage of the overall picture does this represent? As i've said, the letters from Union soldiers saying they couldn't wait to get into the fight so that they could free slaves do exist, but weren't really representative of all the letters sent back home from Union soldiers during the war.
To highlight them and claim they are representative of the larger picture is an effort to deceive.
How do these New Orleans ships fit into the larger picture?
And I will grant you that of all the Southern ports, New Orleans demonstrates the greatest quantity of trade as shown by that tariff map. So that's your best case for your argument. The other ports are not likely to look so good for your point.