Posted on 10/29/2001 11:26:49 AM PST by aomagrat
False.
Tariff revenue during 1859 in all southern ports combined was less than that of Philadelphia.
Walt
Not my speculation.....it was what was being said in the Spring of 1861 by your people.
A free trade south would have had to come up with other ideas to fund the government. I wondered what they were.
Read the Confederate Constitution.
From an American Heritage article on the National Debt:
After the Mexican War, the peace and prosperity of the early 1850s allowed the debt to be cut in half. Then a new depression struck in 1857, and the debt moved back up until, at the end of 1860, it amounted to $64,844,000. Only one year later it reached $524,178,000 and was rising at a rate of well over a million dollars a day.
The Civil War was by far the largest war fought in the Western world between the end of the Napoleonic era and World War I, and its cost was wholly without precedent. To pay for it, the federal government moved to tax nearly everything. Annual revenues, which had never exceeded $74 million before the war, were $558 million by 1866 and would never again drop below $250 million.
But revenues did not come anywhere near to matching outlays, especially in the early years of the war. In fact, 1862 would be the worst year ever -- so far -- for spending in excess of income. The deficit amounted to an awesome 813 percent of revenues (almost four times the worst year of World War II).
Now, the question, not speculation please, is who was lending this money to the Treasury?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States..." Big deal. My question is where from? You take a newspaper editorial and make an economy out of it. If all the gloom and doom that poured out of the New York Times editorial pages came true we would have been destroyed years ago. All I'm asking is for you to flesh your position out somewhat. Fess up. The whole free trade south never occured to any of the southern leadership at the time, did it? They would have enacted duties and tariffs and taxes, the same as the Federal government would have. They would have had to in order to pay for the army they authorized and all the infrastructure necessary for a government. The south was decades away from being a serious economic threat to the North.
Obviously nobody who was inclined to lend money to the south. The northern economy during and after the war was as sound and robust as before. Sure it went through cycles of growth and depression but it did that before the war. The union currency was sound and treasury bonds were a good investment. Otherwise it wouldn't have stayed afloat. The confederacy, on the other hand, had a government who fought against taxed even in their 'countries' darkest hour. If they wouldn't vote to tax themselves to save their country then why should we assume they would have in time of peace?
"Out of ports throughout the South flowed all sorts of goods, primarially cotton and tobacco. The federal government kept track of the value of goods flowing out. 35% of South Carolina's exports in 1860 were shipped out of Charleston directly to Europe. 15% of the returning goods came directly back. All the rest was transhipped through Northern ports." exerpt from 'Charleston, A Maritime History'.
And this:
Tariffs were assigned and collected at the port-of-entry, unless perishible goods required immediate shipment. In this example, the owners paid their tax on the perishibles where they took delivery. 'Historical Statistics of the US', Dept. of Commerce.
That then leads to this:
The total revenue of the US Treasury in 1860 was $56,065,000. Revenue from tariffs was $53,188,000. Value of total exports in 1860 was $270,000,000. Cotton and tobacco valued at $208,000,000 or 77% of the money to buy European goods.
So in 1860 77% of the imports were paid for with Southern goods.
Who would pick up the tab of government in 1861?
Well, I am not sure what newspaper report you are discussing, but you are aware that after secession, most articles were concilatory. But after the Confederacy announced its low tariff, all the newspapers, especially the ones in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia became hostile to the South, calling for war.
It is not my opinion, but theirs, that the low tariff of the South was a threat. That is not being said in 2001, but 1861.
I would tend to believe the people and their actions of the time
Two questions:
1.How much of that was spent on military, necessary infrastructure?
2. How much do you think it would take to run the Confederacy?
Economic wizard number one says check your figures. That is 97%. Repeat. 97% Again. 97%.
Got it yet?
Well, actually it did. Read the Confederate Constitution again. They were very much aware of free trade.
They enacted some taxiation, but the South was still motivated by individual responsibility and initiative. Therefore, central taxiation was against their philosophy.
In order to accomodate deep draft ocean going trade vessels, Charleston initiated a major dredging project that culminated in 1860. Who do you think paid for this?
Please answer the question.
The following (from your post 264) is an assertion, not a question:
" The South was decades away from being an economic threat to the North."
WRONG
Please reread my post 266.
When you start answering mine.
Since it ended before the Civil War my guess would be the Federal government. But you prove my point. As opposed as they were to most forms of taxation the confederate government would have had no choice but to turn to tariffs to fund the government whcih would have put a crimp in the free trade business.
Sure you do. You and Adams both. You believe the editorials of the time. Do you believe every word in the New York Times editorials today?
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