(11-06-2018, 06:44 PM)mikesez Wrote: (11-06-2018, 04:22 PM)Byron LeftTown Wrote: I believe the Federal government was funded mostly with tariffs at the time, and the South had large exports of cotton and other crops to other countries.
Northerners and Southerners equally had to pay higher prices for imported goods due to the tariffs.
the tariffs were intended to make it more profitable to operate a factory within the US. The industries at this time relied on coal or Hydro power. The South did not have as much of either. But they did have some. And they did have some factories, like sugar Mills, sawmills, Cotton Gins, etc. Nonetheless the class of white people in the Antebellum South that controlled politics did feel like they were put at a disadvantage due to the system of tariffs and they felt like that from the very beginning of the country. Whether they were actually at any kind of disadvantage is unclear.
There was nothing equal about how the tariffs worked.
The initial idea was that the tariffs would create a self sufficient internal market that would be beneficial to both regions, but the reality turned out to be the north didn't have the industrial capacity to make this a mutually beneficial relationship. The truth is the motivation behind the tariffs changed from beneficial to exploitative.
Due to the fact that the north didn't have industrial capacity for the south's raw materials or to provide an adequate amount of manufactured goods, Britain remained the south's largest trading partner. Since the south was by far the largest importer and exporter of goods, they took on a very inequitable burden in regards to tariffs.
Over time, unscrupulous northern lawmakers learned that tariffs could be used artificially drive off international demand for the south's raw materials forcing them to sell to northern manufacturers at below international market prices and also to drive up the price of imported manufactured goods thus opening up the market for the north's higher priced goods. These tariffs also caused Britain to look for cheaper alternatives and was a factor in them taking over India for it's ability to grow cotton which further reduced demand and pushed down prices. Even after this inequity became apparent, northern lawmakers continued to push these tariffs and even reversed attempts to lower the tariff burden in order to line their and their constituency's pockets to the south's dismay.
Even though the bulk of the tariff income was earned in the south, the bulk of that income was spent developing the north. The need for water power, which is why early industrialization happened in northern cities, became a non factor with the development of steam power. Yet the northern controlled legislature continued to spend the bulk of the money developing industries and infrastructure benefiting solely the north leaving the south undeveloped and reliant on their antiquated slave economy further stirring animosity. So it can be said the north actually perpetuated the institution of slavery in the south.
As far as the whites who controlled politics being the only ones affected by tariffs could not be further from the truth. Most whites in the south were either non slave holding farmers, farm hands, or worked in raw material producing industries. These tariffs, by lowering the prices of what they produced, decreased the wages and earnings of the average southerner while increasing the cost of manufactured goods they needed at the same time. So in reality, the average white person in the south was hit hardest by the double whammy of tariffs and this fact was not lost on the average southerner.
