Are you saying that ain't protectionism? ROTFLMAO.
If you're already the world's main EXPORTER of those very same goods than no. It isn't protectionism. Protectionism requires that you are protecting against somebody else importing from abroad. The south had no need to import cotton et al from abroad in 1860 because they were the main cotton producers for the world and could do so at the greatest comparative advantage in the world.
Put another way, a government could impose a 99% tariff on imported widgets that sell for $5 each before the tariff. But if that same country is the world's best widget producer and has a domestic price of $4 to begin with, nobody's gonna buy the imported widget, with or without the tariff.