You are no doubt well aware of how utterly the Union economy disintegrated between April, 1861 and July, 1863 when the Mississippi River was unavailable for shipping.
The industrial minerals needed in the factories would not come in
I'm curious. What raw materials of industry, mineral or otherwise, did the USA import through New Orleans?
But thanks for recognizing that shutting off a nation from its access to the sea has historically been recognized as a casus belli.
Lots of other pro-Confederates try to claim the South would never have tried to use its possession of the mouth of the Mississippi to interfere with the trade of the Midwest. In actual fact it most certainly would have. Had the CSA been allowed to secede peacefully, what do you think would have happened the first time the return of a fugitive slave was refused? Close the Mississippi, of course
You will find that in Taussig’s book that you quoted earlier.
It is also in the import charts in Buchanan’s State of the Union report of 1860.
Good luck in your research.
“But thanks for recognizing that shutting off a nation from its access to the sea has historically been recognized as a casus belli.”
Yes, as was conducted by the Harriet Lane on April 11, 1861 in Charleston Harbor.