What was The Lincoln's top legislative priority in Congress per his own words at Pittsburgh in February 1861? Taxes.
What was The Lincoln's overriding concern in his private correspondence over Fort Sumter? Taxes.
What did The Lincoln claim as his reason for instigating at Fort Sumter? Taxes.
What did The Lincoln pledge to collect by force above all else in his inaugural address? Taxes.
What did The Lincoln use as his reason to blockade the south? Taxes.
There were no federal taxes in 1860. None.
As for -tariffs- that was the one tangible evidence of the power of the federal government that most people were cognizant of. Lincoln definitely planned to maintain that concrete evidence of the power of the government. But the reason for that, as he said on 7/4/61, was to prove that a government of free men -can- govern itself despite the dissatisfaction of a minority. The great mass of loyal Union thought that too.
The reason the minority was dissatified is that the government was no longer willing enough to help them get their bread from the sweat of other men's faces.
and the war came.
Walt
The records of congress indicate that the federal government adopted a tariff of about 17% average rate in 1857. That tariff was in place through 1860. So yes, Walt. There were federal taxes in 1860.
But the reason for that, as he said on 7/4/61, was to prove that a government of free men -can- govern itself despite the dissatisfaction of a minority.
Which is a load of nonsense if one accepts it as the very premise on which The Lincoln waged his war to prevent free men from governing themselves. In other words, if that was The Lincoln's true motive, it was a weak and self-contradicted one making his entire war effort a sham. If it was not his true motive, then something else, likely possessing less flowery language and less than respectable undercurrents, must have been.