[Paul Ross]

The USA did not "get rich" in that period by assessing tariffs on imports -- it got rich by taking advantage of an "accident of history" (the settlement of the frontier) that allowed us to secure land and resources at costs far below what First World nations would have had to pay.

Actually, yours is the seriously mistaken notion. The huge industrialization advantages that the U.S. realized were not just from the plentiful resources here (witness Japan becoming a manufacturing collossus without ANY indigenous resources other than labor) ..but from a protected environment fostered by U.S. protections of its capital formation...i.e., manufacturing industries.

[Alberta's Child]

Japan would never have become a manufacturing colossus without a trading partner (the U.S.) that was immensely wealthy and enjoyed a much higher standard of living than Japan. All the tariff protection in the world hasn't kept Japan from bleeding manufacturing jobs to places like Malaysia, China, and India.