That's exactly the point, Walt. If the south enacts low tariffs and trade continues, the north's high tariffs are completely undermined.
President Lincoln never said anything as ridiculous as "what will become of my tariff?"
The historically documented reality of the situation says otherwise. To date you have yet to offer so much as one single piece of evidence refuting that record.
For one thing, it is totally out of character for the man.
Not so. Tariffs were the defining issue of Lincoln's political career. They are the one position that he ALWAYS adhered to, ALWAYS advocated, and ALWAYS pursued in every office he ever held or ran for. That he would speak on them in 1861 barely a month after publicly pledging to make them his top legislative priority is, if anything, completely within the sorry character of the man.
Not so. Tariffs were the defining issue of Lincoln's political career.
Of course that is nonsense. Lincoln found being a congressman to be something of a letdown, and he had withdrawn from politics. It was agitation for the spread of slavery that got him to get back into politics in 1854.
You know that.
Walt