I don't know what you mean by “owner” of the goods, but it is the one who “receives” the goods at the customs office who pays, typically a customs broker.
Now for the life of me, I can't understand why your wealthy southern plantation owner in say Charleston would have his silk shirts, Wedgwood China and French lace shipped to New York where the tariff was paid, and then have to pay again to have those same goods shipped to him in Charleston.
Can you inform me why this guy was so careless with his wealth? Why not have them shipped straight to Charleston? After all, if the tariff costs were enough to go to war over, well those unnecessary shipping costs were at least worth a few broken noses or something.
No. The owner of the goods pays. If Wal-Mart has a shipload of crap they bought in China land in the port of Long Beach, CA, the city doesn't pay. The state doesn't pay. Some broker doesn't pay. Wal-Mart pays.
Now for the life of me, I can't understand why your wealthy southern plantation owner in say Charleston would have his silk shirts, Wedgwood China and French lace shipped to New York where the tariff was paid, and then have to pay again to have those same goods shipped to him in Charleston.
That's not generally what they bought....ie personal luxury items. What they bought were things like textiles, farm equipment, metal wares, etc for general sale. The profit from these goods would help offset the cost of paying for the rental of ships and the crews' wages. As for the way shipping worked, they had "package lines" whereby shipping was often organized through a huge port like NYC and then shipped to various US cities very similar to the "hub and spoke" way that airlines are organized now. Its not at all surprising goods landed in NY first and then goods got sold locally as well as broken up into smaller packets and shipped to various US cities.
Can you inform me why this guy was so careless with his wealth? Why not have them shipped straight to Charleston? After all, if the tariff costs were enough to go to war over, well those unnecessary shipping costs were at least worth a few broken noses or something.
See above. It was more efficient to combine say, transatlantic cargoes from various smaller ports in a single place like NYC and then send them across the Atlantic than it would have been to ship directly from Charleston to Birmingham England, Savannah to Birmingham, England, Mobile to Birmingham etc etc. The return journey worked the same way.