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To: sphinx
The pro-slavery radicals in the South had become convinced that slavery could not survive much longer in the Union because growth in the North was far outstripping growth in the South, which meant that the South would eventually be outvoted in Congress on the slavery question.

By that time the North was already outvoting the South on every issue. Slavery could not be outlawed by Congress anyway. What could be done by congress was the creation of laws like the "Navigation act of 1817" and the "Warehousing act of 1846", which greatly favored Northern interests, and then set tariffs High because most of these were paid by the South.

By the 1860s, the game had been rigged so that virtually all the Southern produced wealth was funneled through New York, with Washington DC taking it's huge cut.

The debate about "expansion of slavery" had little to do with actually expanding slavery into the territories, because it was economically unfeasible to do any such thing. The debate was really about the North keeping control of the Congress to keep this sweet deal going. They had the votes and they used them to keep Southern money flowing into the pockets of the movers and shakers in what we nowadays know as the Washington-Boston corridor.

66 posted on 05/03/2019 9:49:42 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: DiogenesLamp
The debate about "expansion of slavery" had little to do with actually expanding slavery into the territories, because it was economically unfeasible to do any such thing.

Sleight of hand. Whether it was economically feasible or not wasn't the point, control was. The secessionists are quite clear, you just have to read their own words. Control of the west was the key sticking factor, which is why they could not accept any compromise from Lincoln.

70 posted on 05/03/2019 9:53:51 AM PDT by marron
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To: DiogenesLamp
What could be done by congress was the creation of laws like the "Navigation act of 1817" and the "Warehousing act of 1846", which greatly favored Northern interests

They only favored northern interests because southerners couldn't be bothered to build and operate ships and warehouses for themselves. There's nothing in those laws that says "only northern ships can carry goods" or "only northern warehouses can store items without paying tariffs until they are sold."

86 posted on 05/03/2019 10:20:35 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("The rat always knows when he's in with weasels."--Tom Waits)
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To: DiogenesLamp
...and then set tariffs High because most of these were paid by the South.

If the Southern plantation owner sold his crop to a Northern cotton broker who financed the purchase from a Northern bank, insured it with a Northern insurance firm, then exported it from Charleston on a British ship who paid the tariff? The Northerner or the Southerner?

139 posted on 05/03/2019 1:35:56 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
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