[fightu4it]

Charleston could have operated as a duty free port AND given out lollypops to the crews of the ships that called there and that would not have had any affect on the traffic in and out of the Northern ports at all.

I think a basic understanding of economics would argue to the contrary.

If I was in the market for steel rails for my new railroad I would order a superior product from London and take shipment in Charlston. Thereby receiving the best product at the best price.

[fightu4it]

If I was in the market for steel rails for my new railroad I would order a superior product from London and take shipment in Charlston. Thereby receiving the best product at the best price. A local business group from my area did just that, pre-war. The wanted, and tried first, to purchase it in this Country; but the price was too high and the quality to poor and they wound up purchasing it from England.

[Non-Sequitur]

If I was in the market for steel rails for my new railroad I would order a superior product from London and take shipment in Charlston. Thereby receiving the best product at the best price.

Assuming that you were a southern railroad and the London product was superior and cheaper than the Northern rails then you would be right. And since there was no rail manufacturing down south then you would have no choice but to order them from abroad. However, I still fail to see how a southern free port would affect Northern imports.