| BTW, the fact that the "Civil War" was fought over tariffs, not slavery, can be seen if you look into the facts leading up to the war.
War almost broke out in 1832 when South Carolina threated to seceed at that time. What was going on is, the South was paying most of the taxes (75%), but most of the tax money was spent in the North.
The North was a manufacturing economy while the South was agricultural. The South was dependen t on buying machinery. They could buy it from the North or Europe. But the importation tariffs from Europe were high. Why? Because the North had majority vote in Congress and they controlled both the tariff taxation rates and the spending.
The northern manufactureres priced their goods just under the cost of the total costs that the South would pay for European goods (price of goods, transporation costs, and tariff taxes). The northern manufacturing companies got windfall profits. The northern states got all the government spending for infrastructure. The South paid the bill. It was a wealth transfer from the South to the North.
War nearly broke out over this in 1832, when South Carolina threatened to seceed. The Compromise of 1850 attempted to solve this by having reasonable tariffs. But it didn't last.
The Republican Party put in its platform a plank for a new, high tariff (but not any abolition of slavery -- Lincoln wanted to protect slavery where it existed already). In 1861, the Morrill Tariff put a tax of 47% on imported goods, the highest tax in US history to that point. The South realized they could never be on equal footing. They would always be at the mercy of the North.
On March 4, 1861, Lincoln stated that he had no intention of intefering with slavery where it existed (he supported a proposed constitutional amendment to that effect). However, he would use force to collect the tariffs and hold the forts (the means to collect the taxes), if necessary.
Ft. Sumter, South Carolina, was a tax collection office, as well as a fort. Lincoln was told by his generals that the threat of force was useless because they would not be able to hold the forts. They could be taken over by the southern states, if it came down to it. Lincoln sent delegates to South Carolina and they told him that even so much as sending food to Ft Sumter as reinforcement would cause the South to fire as they would see it as an attempt to extract from them a tax they could not pay. Lincoln told the South he would not go to Sumter, but then he renegged and sent warships.
He baited the South into firing on Ft. Sumter and that sparked the war. It was about the tariffs.
~ zynner |