Tariff in United States history

Tariffs have historically served a key role in the trade policy of the United States. Their purpose was to
generate revenue for the federal government and to allow for import substitution industrialization
(industrialization of a nation by replacing foreign imports with domestic production) by acting as a
protective barrier around infant industries.[1] They also aimed to reduce the trade deficit and the pressure of
foreign competition. Tariffs were one of the pillars of the American System that allowed the rapid
development and industrialization of the United States. The United States pursued a protectionist policy
from the beginning of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. Between 1861 and 1933, they
had one of the highest average tariff rates on manufactured imports in the world. However American
agricultural and industrial were cheaper than rival products and the tariff had an impact primarily on wool
products. After 1942 the U.S. promoted worldwide free trade.

According to Dartmouth economist Douglas Irwin, tariffs have serve three primary purposes: "to raise
revenue for the government, to restrict imports and protect domestic producers from foreign competition,
and to reach reciprocity agreements that reduce trade barriers."[2] From 1790 to 1860, average tariffs
increased from 20 percent to 60 percent before declining again to 20 percent.[2] From 1861 to 1933, which
Irwin characterizes as the "restriction period", the average tariffs increased to 50 percent and remained at
that level for several decades. From 1934 onwards, which Irwin characterizes as the "reciprocity period",
the average tariff declined substantially until it leveled off at 5 percent.[2]

Contents
Tariff revenues
Historical trends
Colonial Era to 1789
Early National period, 1789–1828
Second Party System, 1829–1859
Walker Tariff
Low tariff of 1857
Third Party System
1860–1912
Civil War
Reconstruction era
Politics of protection
Farmers and wool
U.S. industrial output
Cleveland tariff policy
McKinley tariff policy
Tariff with Canada
1913 to present
 Tariffs and the Great Depression
Trade liberalization
Post World War II
1980s to present
Deindustrialization
Smuggling and Coast Guard
Tariffs and historical American politicians
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Henry Clay
James Monroe
Abraham Lincoln
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Donald Trump
References
Further reading
External links

Tariff revenues
U.S. Historical Tariffs (Customs)
and Tax Collections by the Federal Government
(All dollar amounts are in millions of U.S. dollars)
Tariff
Budget Federal
Income Payroll
Average

Year
Income % Tariff Receipts Tax Tax Tariff
1792 $4.4 95.0% $4.6 $- $- 15.1%
1795 $5.6 91.6% $6.1 $- $- 8.0%
1800 $9.1 83.7% $10.8 $- $- 10.0%
1805 $12.9 95.4% $13.6 $- $- 10.7%
1810 $8.6 91.5% $9.4 $- $- 10.1%
1815 $7.3 46.4% $15.7 $- $- 6.5%
1820 $15.0 83.9% $17.9 $- $- 20.2%
1825 $20.1 97.9% $20.5 $- $- 22.3%
1830 $21.9 88.2% $24.8 $- $- 35.0%
1835 $19.4 54.1% $35.8 $- $- 14.2%
1840 $12.5 64.2% $19.5 $- $- 12.7%
1845 $27.5 91.9% $30.0 $- $- 24.3%
1850 $39.7 91.0% $43.6 $- $- 22.9%
1855 $53.0 81.2% $65.4 $- $- 20.6%
1860 $53.2 94.9% $56.1 $- $- 15.0%
1863 $63.0 55.9% $112.7 $- $- 25.9%
1864 $102.3 38.7% $264.6 $- $- 32.3%
1865 $84.9 25.4% $333.7 $61.0 $- 35.6%
1870 $194.5 47.3% $411.3 $37.8 $- 44.6%
1875 $157.2 54.6% $288.0 $- $- 36.1%
1880 $184.5 55.3% $333.5 $- $- 27.6%
 1885 $181.5 56.1% $323.7 $- $- 32.6%
1890 $229.7 57.0% $403.1 $- $- 27.6%
1900 $233.2 41.1% $567.2 $- $- 27.4%
1910 $233.7 34.6% $675.2 $- $- 15.0%
1913 $318.8 44.0% $724.1 $35.0 $- 17.6%
1915 $209.8 30.1% $697.9 $47.0 $- 12.5%
1916 $213.7 27.3% $782.5 $121.0 $- 8.9%
1917 $225.9 20.1% $1,124.3 $373.0 $- 7.7%
1918 $947.0 25.8% $3,664.6 $2,720.0 $- 31.2%
1920 $886.0 13.2% $6,694.6 $4,032.0 $- 16.8%
1925 $547.6 14.5% $3,780.1 $1,697.0 $- 13.0%
1928 $566.0 14.0% $4,042.3 $2,088.0 $- 13.8%
1930 $587.0 14.1% $4,177.9 $2,300.0 $- 19.2%
1935 $318.8 8.4% $3,800.5 $1,100.0 $- 15.6%
1940 $331.0 6.1% $5,387.1 $2,100.0 $800.0 12.6%
1942 $369.0 2.9% $12,799.1 $7,900.0 $1,200.0 13.4%
1944 $417.0 0.9% $44,148.9 $34,400.0 $1,900.0 10.6%
1946 $424.0 0.9% $46,400.0 $28,000.0 $1,900.0 7.7%
1948 $408.0 0.9% $47,300.0 $29,000.0 $2,500.0 5.5%
1950 $407.0 0.9% $43,800.0 $26,200.0 $3,000.0 4.5%
1951 $609.0 1.1% $56,700.0 $35,700.0 $4,100.0 5.5%
1955 $585.0 0.8% $71,900.0 $46,400.0 $6,100.0 5.1%
1960 $1,105.0 1.1% $99,800.0 $62,200.0 $12,200.0 7.3%
1965 $1,442.0 1.2% $116,800.0 $74,300.0 $22,200.0 6.7%
1970 $2,430.0 1.3% $192,800.0 $123,200.0 $44,400.0 6.0%
1975 $3,676.0 1.3% $279,100.0 $163,000.0 $84,500.0 3.7%
1980 $7,174.0 1.4% $517,100.0 $308,700.0 $157,800.0 2.9%
1985 $12,079.0 1.6% $734,000.0 $395,900.0 $255,200.0 3.6%
1990 $11,500.0 1.1% $1,032,000.0 $560,400.0 $380,000.0 2.8%
1995 $19,301.0 1.4% $1,361,000.0 $747,200.0 $484,500.0 2.6%
2000 $19,914.0 1.0% $2,025,200.0 $1,211,700.0 $652,900.0 1.6%
2005 $23,379.0 1.1% $2,153,600.0 $1,205,500.0 $794,100.0 1.4%
2010 $25,298.0 1.2% $2,162,700.0 $1,090,000.0 $864,800.0 1.3%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
All dollar amounts are in millions of U.S. dollars
Income taxes include Individual and Corporate taxes
Federal expenditures often exceed Revenue by temporary borrowings.
Initially the U.S. Federal Government was financed mainly by customs(tariffs
Average Tariff Rate % = Customs Revenue/ cost of Imports (goods).
Other taxes collected are: Income Tax, Corporate Income Tax, Inheritance,
Tariffs—often called Customs or duties on imports, etc.
Income Taxes began in 1913 with the passage of 16th Amendment.
Payroll taxes are Social Security and Medicare taxes
Payroll Taxes began in 1940.
Many Federal government Excise taxes are assigned to Trust Funds
and are collected for and “dedicated” to a particular Trust.
Sources:

Historical Statistics of the United States (Colonial Times to 1957)[3]

Historical Statistics of the United States (Colonial Times to 1970)[4]
Bicentennial Edition Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970[5]
 Historical Tables[6]
U.S. imports for consumption, duties collected, and ratio of duties to value, 1891–2016;
U.S. imports for consumption under tariff preference programs, 1976–2016[7]
U.S. Trade in Goods and Services-Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis, 1960–2010[8]

Tariffs were the greatest (approaching 95% at times) source of federal revenue until the federal income tax
began after 1913. For well over a century the federal government was largely financed by tariffs averaging
about 20% on foreign imports. At the end of the American Civil War in 1865 about 63% of Federal income
was generated by the excise taxes, which exceeded the 25.4% generated by tariffs. In 1915 during World
War I tariffs generated only 30.1% of revenues. Since 1935 tariff income has continued to be a declining
percentage of Federal tax income.

Historical trends
After the United States achieved independence in 1783, under the
Articles of Confederation, the U.S. federal government, could not
collect taxes directly but had to "request" money from each state—
an almost fatal flaw for a federal government. Lack of ability to tax
directly was one of several major flaws in the Articles of
Confederation. The ability to tax directly was addressed in the
drafting of the United States Constitution in May to September
1787 Constitutional Convention (United States) in Philadelphia. It
came into effect in 1789. It specified that the United States House
of Representatives has to originate all tax and tariff laws. The new
government needed a way to collect taxes from all the states that
were easy to enforce and had only a nominal cost to the average
citizen. They had just finished a war on "Taxation without Average tariff rates (France, UK, US)
Representation". The Tariff of 1789 was the second bill signed by
President George Washington imposing a tariff of about 5% on
nearly all imports, with a few exceptions. In 1790 the United States
Revenue Cutter Service was established to primarily enforce and
collect the import tariffs. This service later became the United
States Coast Guard.

Many American intellectuals and politicians during the country's

catching-up period felt that the free trade theory advocated by Average Tariff Rates in US (1821–
British classical economists was not suited to their country. They 2016)
argued that the country should develop manufacturing industries
and use government protection and subsidies for this purpose, as
Britain had done before them. Many of the great American
economists of the time, until the last quarter of the 19th century,
were strong advocates of industrial protection: Daniel Raymond
who influenced Friedrich List, Mathew Carey and his son Henry,
who was one of Lincoln's economic advisers. The intellectual
leader of this movement was Alexander Hamilton, the first
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States (1789-1795). Thus, it U.S. Trade Balance and Trade Policy
was against David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage that (1895–2015)
the United States protected its industry. They pursued a
protectionist policy from the beginning of the 19th century until the
middle of the 20th century, after the Second World War.[9][10]
In Report on Manufactures which is considered the first text to
express modern protectionist theory, Alexander Hamilton argued
that if a country wished to develop a new activity on its soil, it
would have to temporarily protect it. According to him, this
protection against foreign producers could take the form of import
duties or, in rare cases, prohibition of imports. He called for
customs barriers to allow American industrial development and to
Average Tariff Rates for Selected
help protect infant industries, including bounties (subsidies) derived
Countries (1913–2007)
in part from those tariffs. He also believed that duties on raw
materials should be generally low.[11] Hamilton argued that despite
an initial "increase of price" caused by regulations that control
foreign competition, once a "domestic manufacture has attained to
perfection… it invariably becomes cheaper".[10]

Alexander Hamilton and Daniel Raymond were among the first

theorists to present the infant industry argument. Hamilton was the
Average Tariff Rates on
first to use the term "infant industries" and to introduce it to the
manufactured products
forefront of economic thinking. He believed that political
independence was predicated upon economic independence.
Increasing the domestic supply of manufactured goods, particularly
war materials, was seen as an issue of national security. And he
feared that Britain's policy towards the colonies would condemn
the United States to be only producers of agricultural products and
raw materials.[9][10]

Britain initially did not want to industrialize the American colonies,

and implemented policies to that effect (for example, banning high
value-added manufacturing activities). Under British rule, America
was denied the use of tariffs to protect its new industries. Thus, the
American Revolution was, to some extent, a war against this
Average Levels of Duties (1875 and
policy, in which the commercial elite of the colonies rebelled
1913)
against being forced to play a lesser role in the emerging Atlantic
economy. This explains why, after independence, the Tariff Act of
1789 was the second bill of the Republic signed by President
Washington allowing Congress to impose a fixed tariff of 5% on all imports, with a few exceptions[12]

The Congress passed a tariff act (1789), imposing a 5% flat rate tariff on all imports.[13] Between 1792 and
the war with Britain in 1812, the average tariff level remained around 12.5%. In 1812 all tariffs were
doubled to an average of 25% in order to cope with the increase in public expenditure due to the war. A
significant shift in policy occurred in 1816, when a new law was introduced to keep the tariff level close to
the wartime level—especially protected were cotton, woolen, and iron goods.[14] The American industrial
interests that had blossomed because of the tariff lobbied to keep it, and had it raised to 35 percent in 1816.
The public approved, and by 1820, America's average tariff was up to 40 percent.

In the 19th century, statesmen such as Senator Henry Clay continued Hamilton's themes within the Whig
Party under the name "American System which consisted of protecting industries and developing
infrastructure in explicit opposition to the "British system" of free trade.[15]

The American Civil War (1861-1865) was partially fought over the issue of tariffs. The agrarian interests of
the South were opposed to any protection, while the manufacturing interests of the North wanted to
maintain it. The fledgling Republican Party led by Abraham Lincoln, who called himself a "Henry Clay
tariff Whig", strongly opposed free trade. Early in his political career, Lincoln was a member of the
protectionist Whig Party and a supporter of Henry Clay. In 1847, he declared: "Give us a protective tariff,
and we shall have the greatest nation on earth". He implemented a 44-percent tariff during the Civil War—
in part to pay for railroad subsidies and for the war effort, and to protect favored industries.[12] Tariffs
remained at this level even after the war, thus the victory of the North in the Civil War ensured that the
United States remained one of the greatest practitioners of tariff protection for industry.

From 1871 to 1913, "the average U.S. tariff on dutiable imports never fell below 38 percent [and] gross
national product (GNP) grew 4.3 percent annually, twice the pace in free trade Britain and well above the
U.S. average in the 20th century," notes Alfred Eckes Jr, chairman of the U.S. International Trade
Commission under President Reagan.[16]

In 1896, the GOP pledged platform pledged to "renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of
protection, as the bulwark of American industrial independence, and the foundation of development and
prosperity. This true American policy taxes foreign products and encourages home industry. It puts the
burden of revenue on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the American producer. It upholds
the American standard of wages for the American workingman".[17]

In 1913, following the electoral victory of the Democrats in 1912, there was a significant reduction in the
average tariff on manufactured goods from 44% to 25%. However, the First World War rendered this bill
ineffective, and new "emergency" tariff legislation was introduced in 1922, after the Republicans returned
to power in 1921.[10]

According to Ha-Joon Chang, the United States, while being protectionist, was the fastest growing
economy in the world throughout the 19th century and into the 1920s.[10] It was only after the Second
World War that the U.S. liberalized its trade (although not as unequivocally as Britain did in the mid-
nineteenth century).

Colonial Era to 1789

In the colonial era, before 1775, nearly every colony levied its own tariffs, usually with lower rates for
British products. There were taxes on ships (on a tonnage basis), import taxes on slaves, export taxes on
tobacco, and import taxes on alcoholic beverages.[18] The London government insisted on a policy of
mercantilism whereby only British ships could trade in the colonies. In defiance, some American merchants
engaged in smuggling.[19][20]

During the Revolution, the British blockade from 1775 to 1783 largely ended foreign trade. In the 1783–89
Confederation Period, each state set up its own trade rules, often imposing tariffs or restrictions on
neighboring states. The new Constitution, which went into effect in 1789, banned interstate tariffs or trade
restrictions, as well as state taxes on exports.[21]

Early National period, 1789–1828

The framers of the United States Constitution gave the federal government authority to tax, stating that
Congress has the power to "... lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, pay the debts and provide
for the common defense and general welfare of the United States." and also "To regulate Commerce with
foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes." Tariffs between states is
prohibited by the U.S. Constitution, and all domestically made products can be imported or shipped to
another state tax-free.
Responding to an urgent need for revenue and a trade imbalance with England that was fast destroying the
infant American industries and draining the nation of its currency, the First United States Congress passed,
and President George Washington signed, the Hamilton Tariff of 1789, which authorized the collection of
duties on imported goods. Customs duties as set by tariff rates up to 1860 were usually about 80–95% of all
federal revenue. Having just fought a war over taxation (among other things) the U.S. Congress wanted a
reliable source of income that was relatively unobtrusive and easy to collect. It also sought to protect the
infant industries that had developed during the war but which were now threatened by cheaper imports,
especially from England. Tariffs and excise taxes were authorized by the United States Constitution and
recommended by the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton in 1789 to tax
foreign imports and set up low excise taxes on whiskey and a few other products to provide the Federal
Government with enough money to pay its operating expenses and to redeem at full value U.S. Federal
debts and the debts the states had accumulated during the Revolutionary War. The Congress set low excise
taxes on only a few goods, such as, whiskey, rum, tobacco, snuff and refined sugar. The tax on whiskey
was highly controversial and set off massive protests by Western Farmers in the Whiskey Rebellion of
1794, which was suppressed by General Washington at the head of an army. The whiskey excise tax
collected so little and was so despised it was abolished by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802.[22]

All tariffs were on a long list of goods (dutiable goods) with different customs rates and some goods on a
"free" list. Books and publications were nearly always on the free list. Congress spent enormous amounts
of time figuring out these tariff import tax schedules.

With tariffs providing the basic federal revenue, an embargo on trade, or an enemy blockade, would
threaten havoc. This happened in connection with the American economic warfare against Britain in the
1807–15 period. In 1807 imports dropped by more than half and some products became much more
expensive or unobtainable. Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807 and the Non-Intercourse Act (1809)
to punish British and French governments for their actions; unfortunately their main effect was to reduce
imports even more. The War of 1812 brought a similar set of problems as U.S. trade was again restricted by
British naval blockades. The fiscal crisis was made much worse by the abolition of the First Bank of the
U.S., which was the national bank. It was reestablished right after the war.[23]

The lack of imported goods relatively quickly gave very strong incentives to start building several U.S.
industries in the Northeast. Textiles and machinery manufacturing plants especially grew. Many new
industries were set up and run profitably during the wars and about half of them failed after hostilities
ceased and normal import competition resumed. Industry in the U.S. was advancing up the skill set,
innovation knowledge and organization curve as they adapted to the Industrial Revolution's new machines
and techniques.

The Tariff Act of 1789 imposed the first national source of revenue for the newly formed United States.
The new U.S. Constitution ratified in 1789, allowed only the federal government to levy uniform tariffs.
Only the federal government could set tariff rates (customs), so the old system of separate state rates
disappeared. The new law taxed all imports at rates from 5 to 15 percent. These rates were primarily
designed to generate revenue to pay the annual expenses of the federal government and the national debt
and the debts the states had accumulated during the American War of Independence and to also promote
manufactures and independence from foreign nations, especially for defense needs. Hamilton believed that
all Revolutionary War debt should be paid in full to establish and keep U.S. financial credibility. In addition
to income in his Report on Manufactures Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton proposed a far-reaching
plan to use protective tariffs as a lever for rapid industrialization. In the late 18th century the industrial age
was just starting and the United States had little or no textile industry—the heart of the early Industrial
Revolution. The British government having just lost the Revolutionary War tried to maintain their near
monopoly on cheap and efficient textile manufacturing by prohibiting the export of textile machines,
machine models or the emigration of people familiar with these machines. Clothing in the early United
States was nearly all hand made by a very time consuming and expensive process—just like it had been
made for centuries before. The new textile manufacturing techniques in Britain were often over thirty times
cheaper as well as being easier to use, more efficient and productive. Hamilton believed that a stiff tariff on
imports would not only raise income but "protect" and help subsidize early efforts at setting up
manufacturing facilities that could compete with British products.[24]

Samuel Slater in 1789 emigrated (illegally since he was familiar with textile manufacturing) from Britain.
Looking for opportunities he heard of the failing attempts at making cotton mills in Pawtucket, Rhode
Island. Contacting the owners he promised to see if he could fix their mills—they offered him a full
partnership if he succeeded. Declaring their early attempts unworkable he proceeded from January 1790 to
December 1790 to build the first operational textile manufacturing facility in the United States. The
Industrial Revolution was off and running in the United States. Initially the cost of their textiles was slightly
higher than the cost of equivalent British goods but the tariff helped protect their early start-up industry.[25]

Ashley notes that:

From 1790 onwards there were constant alterations in the tariff between 1792 and 1816
there were some twenty-five Tariff Acts passed, all modifying the customs duties in one
way or another. But Hamilton's Report, and the ideas it embodied, do not seem to have
exercised any special influence on the legislation of this period; the motives were always
financial.[26]

Higher tariffs were adopted during and after the War of 1812, when nationalists such as Henry Clay and
John C. Calhoun saw the need for more federal income and more industry. In wartime, they declared,
having a home industry was a necessity to avoid shortages. Likewise owners of the small new factories that
were springing up in the northeast to mass-produce boots, hats, nails and other common items wanted
higher tariffs that would significantly protect them when the more efficient British producers returned after
the war ended. A 10% discount on the customs tax was offered on items imported in American ships, so
that the American merchant marine would be supported.[27]

Once industrialization and mass production started, the demand for higher and higher tariffs came from
manufacturers and factory workers. They believed that their businesses should be protected from the lower
wages and more efficient factories of Britain and the rest of Europe. Nearly every northern Congressman
was eager to logroll a higher tariff rate for his local industry. Senator Daniel Webster, formerly a
spokesperson for Boston's merchants who imported goods (and wanted low tariffs), switched dramatically
to represent the manufacturing interests in the Tariff of 1824. Rates were especially high for bolts of cloth
and for bar iron, of which Britain was a low-cost producer. The culmination came in the Tariff of 1828,
ridiculed by free traders as the "Tariff of Abominations", with import custom duties averaging over 25
percent. Intense political opposition to higher tariffs came from Southern Democrats and plantation owners
in South Carolina who had little manufacturing industry and imported some products with high tariffs.
They would have to pay more for imports. They claimed their economic interest was being unfairly injured.
They attempted to "nullify" the federal tariff and spoke of secession from the Union (see the Nullification
Crisis). President Andrew Jackson let it be known he would use the U.S. Army to enforce the law, and no
state supported the South Carolina call for nullification. A compromise ended the crisis included a lowering
of the average tariff rate over ten years to a rate of 15% to 20%.[28][29]

Second Party System, 1829–1859

The Democrats dominated the Second Party System and set low tariffs designed to pay for the government
but not protect industry. Their opponents the Whigs wanted high protective tariffs but usually were
outvoted in Congress. Tariffs soon became a major political issue as the Whigs (1832–1852) and (after
1854) the Republicans wanted to protect their mostly northern industries and constituents by voting for
higher tariffs and the Southern Democrats, which had very little industry but imported many goods voted
for lower tariffs. Each party as it came into power voted to raise or lower tariffs under the constraints that
the Federal Government always needed a certain level of revenues. The United States public debt was paid
off in 1834 and President Andrew Jackson, a strong Southern Democrat, oversaw the cutting of the tariff
rates roughly in half and eliminating nearly all federal excise taxes in about 1835.

Henry Clay and his Whig Party, envisioning a rapid modernization based on highly productive factories,
sought a high tariff. Their key argument was that startup factories, or "infant industries", would at first be
less efficient than European (British) producers. Furthermore, American factory workers were paid higher
wages than their European competitors. The arguments proved highly persuasive in industrial districts.
Clay's position was adopted in the 1828 and 1832 Tariff Acts. The Nullification Crisis forced a partial
abandonment of the Whig position. When the Whigs won victories in the 1840 and 1842 elections, taking
control of Congress, they re-instituted higher tariffs with the Tariff of 1842.[30] In examining these debates
Moore finds that they were not precursors to Civil War. Instead they looked backward and continued the
old debate whether foreign trade policy should embrace free trade or protectionism.[31]

Walker Tariff

The Democrats won in 1845, electing James K. Polk as president. Polk succeeded in passing the Walker
tariff of 1846 by uniting the rural and agricultural factions of the entire country for lower tariffs. They
sought a level of a "tariff for revenue only" that would pay the cost of government but not show favoritism
to one section or economic sector at the expense of another. The Walker Tariff actually increased trade with
Britain and others and brought in more revenue to the federal treasury than the higher tariff. The average
tariff on the Walker Tariff was about 25%. While protectionists in Pennsylvania and neighboring states
were angered, the South achieved its goal of setting low tariff rates before the Civil War.[32]

Low tariff of 1857

The Walker Tariff remained in place until 1857, when a nonpartisan coalition lowered them again with the
Tariff of 1857 to 18%. This was in response to the British repeal of their protectionist "Corn Laws".[33]

The Democrats in Congress, dominated by Southern Democrats, wrote and passed the tariff laws in the
1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, and kept reducing rates, so that the 1857 rates were down to about 15%, a move
that boosted trade so overwhelmingly that revenues actually increased, from just over $20 million in 1840
($0.5 billion in 2019 dollars), to more than $80 million by 1856 ($1.8 billion).[34] The South had almost no
complaints but the low rates angered many Northern industrialists and factory workers, especially in
Pennsylvania, who demanded protection for their growing iron industry. The Republican Party replaced the
Whigs in 1854 and also favored high tariffs to stimulate industrial growth; it was part of the 1860
Republican platform.[35]

Third Party System

After the Second Party System ended in 1854 the Democrats lost control and the new Republican Party
had its opportunity to raise rates. The Morrill Tariff significantly raising tariff rates became possible only
after the Southern Senators walked out of Congress when their states left the Union, leaving a Republican
majority. It was signed by Democratic President James Buchanan in early March 1861 shortly before
President Abraham Lincoln took office. Pennsylvania iron mills and New England woolen mills mobilized
businessmen and workers to call for high tariffs, but Republican merchants wanted low tariffs. The high
tariff advocates lost in 1857, but stepped up their campaign by blaming the economic recession of 1857 on
the lower rates. Economist Henry Charles Carey of Philadelphia was the most outspoken advocate, along
with Horace Greeley and his influential newspaper, the New York Tribune. Increases were finally enacted
in February 1861 after Southerners resigned their seats in Congress on the eve of the Civil War.[36][37]

Some historians in recent decades have minimized the tariff issue as a cause of the war, noting that few
people in 1860–61 said it was of central importance to them. Compromises were proposed in 1860–61 to
save the Union, but they did not involve the tariff.[38] Arguably, the effects of a tariff enacted in March
1861 could have made little effect upon any delegation which met prior to its signing. It is indicative of the
Northern industrial supported and anti-agrarian position of the 1861 Republican-controlled congress. Some
secessionist documents do mention a tariff issue, though not nearly as often as the preservation of the
institution of slavery. However, a few libertarian economists place more importance on the tariff issue.[39]
The arguments that tariffs were a major cause of the Civil War have become a staple of the Lost Cause of
the Confederacy.

1860–1912

Civil War

During the war far more revenue was needed, so the rates were raised again and again, along with many
other taxes such as excise taxes on luxuries and income taxes on the rich.[40] By far most of the wartime
government revenue came from bonds and loans ($2.6 billion), not taxes ($357 million) or tariffs ($305
million).[41]

The Morrill Tariff took effect a few weeks before the war began on April 12, 1861, and was not collected
in the South. The Confederate States of America (CSA) passed its own tariff of about 15% on most items,
including many items that previously were duty-free from the North. Previously tariffs between states were
prohibited. The Confederates believed that they could finance their government by tariffs. The anticipated
tariff revenue never appeared as the Union Navy blockaded their ports and the Union army restricted their
trade with the Northern states. The Confederacy collected a mere $3.5 million in tariff revenue from the
Civil War start to end and had to resort to inflation and confiscation instead for revenue.[42]

Reconstruction era

Historian Howard K. Beale argued that high tariffs were needed during the Civil War, but were retained
after the war for the benefit of Northern industrialists, who would otherwise lose markets and profits. To
keep political control of Congress, Beale argued, Northern Industrialists worked through the Republican
Party and supported Reconstruction policies that kept low-tariff Southern whites out of power. The Beale
thesis was widely disseminated by the influential survey of Charles A. Beard, The Rise of American
Civilization (1927).[43][44]

In the late 1950s historians rejected the Beale–Beard thesis by showing that Northern businessmen were
evenly divided on the tariff, and were not using Reconstruction policies to support it.[45][46]

Politics of protection

The iron and steel industry, and the wool industry, were the well-organized interests groups that demanded
(and usually obtained) high tariffs through support of the Republican Party. Industrial workers had much
higher wages than their European counterparts, and they credited it to the tariff and voted Republican.[47]
Democrats were divided on the issue, in large part because of pro-tariff elements in the Pennsylvania party
who wanted to protect the growing iron industry, as well as pockets of high tariff support in nearby
industrializing states.[48] However President Grover Cleveland made low tariffs the centerpiece of
Democratic Party policies in the late 1880s. His argument is that high tariffs were an unnecessary and
unfair tax on consumers. The South and West generally supported low tariffs, and the industrial East high
tariffs.[49] Republican William McKinley was the outstanding spokesman for high tariffs, promising it
would bring prosperity for all groups.[50][51]

After the Civil War, high tariffs remained as the Republican Party remained in office and the Southern
Democrats were restricted from office. Advocates insisted that tariffs brought prosperity to the nation as a
whole and no one was really injured. As industrialization proceeded apace throughout the Northeast, some
Democrats, especially Pennsylvanians, became high tariff advocates.

Farmers and wool

The Republican high-tariff advocates appealed to farmers with the theme that high-wage factory workers
would pay premium prices for foodstuffs. This was the "home market" idea, and it won over most farmers
in the Northeast, but it had little relevance to the southern and western farmers who exported most of their
cotton, tobacco and wheat. In the late 1860s the wool manufacturers (based near Boston and Philadelphia)
formed the first national lobby, and cut deals with wool-growing farmers in several states. Their challenge
was that fastidious wool producers in Britain and Australia marketed a higher quality fleece than the
Americans, and that British manufacturers had costs as low as the American mills. The result was a wool
tariff that helped the farmers by a high tariff rate on imported wool—a tariff the American manufacturers
had to pay—together with a high tariff on finished woolens and worsted goods.[52]

U.S. industrial output

Apart from wool and woolens, American industry and agriculture—and industrial workers—had become
the most efficient in the world in most industries by the 1880s as they took the lead in the Industrial
Revolution. No other country had the industrial capacity, large market, high efficiency and low costs, or the
complex distribution system needed to compete in most markets in the vast American market. Most imports
were a few "luxury" goods. Indeed, it was the British who watched cheaper American products flooded
their home islands. The London Daily Mail in 1900 complained:

We have lost to the American manufacturer electrical machinery, locomotives, steel rails,
sugar-producing and agricultural machinery, and latterly even stationary engines, the pride and
backbone of the British engineering industry.

Nevertheless, some American manufacturers and union workers demanded the high tariff be maintained.
The tariff represented a complex balance of forces. Railroads, for example, consumed vast quantities of
steel. To the extent tariffs raised steel prices, they paid much more making possible the U.S steel industry's
massive investment to expand capacity and switch to the Bessemer process and later to the open hearth
furnace. Between 1867 and 1900 U.S. steel production increased more than 500 times from 22,000 tons to
11,400,000 tons and Bessemer steel rails, first made in the U.S that would last 18 years under heavy traffic,
would come to replace the old wrought iron rail that could only endure two years under light service.[53]
Taussig says that in 1881, British steel rails sold for $31 a ton, and if Americans imported them they paid a
$28/ton tariff, giving $59/ton for an imported ton of rails. American mills charged $61/ton and made a good
profit, which was then reinvested into increased capacity, higher quality steels, higher wages and benefits
and more efficient production.[54] By 1897 the American steel rail price had dropped to $19.60 per ton
compared to the British price at $21.00—not including the $7.84 duty charge—demonstrating that the tariff
had performed its purpose of giving the industry time to become competitive.[55] Then the U.S. steel
industry became an exporter of steel rail to England selling below the British price and during WW I would
become the largest supplier of steel to the allies. From 1915 through 1918, the largest American steel
company, U.S. Steel, alone delivered more steel each year than Germany and Austria-Hungary combined,
totaling 99,700,000 tons during WW I.[56] The Republicans became masters of negotiating exceedingly
complex arrangements so that inside each of their congressional districts there were more satisfied
"winners" than disgruntled "losers". The tariff after 1880 was an ideological relic with no longer any
economic rationale.[52]

Cleveland tariff policy

Democratic President Grover Cleveland redefined the issue in 1887, with his stunning attack on the tariff as
inherently corrupt, opposed to true republicanism, and inefficient to boot: "When we consider that the
theory of our institutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his industry and
enterprise... it is plain that the exaction of more than [minimal taxes] is indefensible extortion and a culpable
betrayal of American fairness and justice."[57] The election of 1888 was fought primarily over the tariff
issue, and Cleveland lost.[58] Republican Congressman William McKinley argued,

Free foreign trade gives our money, our manufactures, and our markets to other nations to the
injury of our labor, our tradespeople, and our farmers. Protection keeps money, markets, and
manufactures at home for the benefit of our own people.

Democrats campaigned energetically against the high McKinley tariff of 1890, and scored sweeping gains
that year; they restored Cleveland to the White House in 1892. The severe depression that started in 1893
ripped apart the Democratic party. Cleveland and the pro-business Bourbon Democrats insisted on a much
lower tariff. His problem was that Democratic electoral successes had brought in Democratic congressmen
from industrial districts who were willing to raise rates to benefit their constituents. The Wilson–Gorman
Tariff Act of 1894 did lower overall rates from 50 percent to 42 percent, but contained so many
concessions to protectionism that Cleveland refused to sign it (it became law anyway).[59]

McKinley tariff policy

McKinley campaigned heavily in 1896 on the high tariff as a positive solution to depression. Promising
protection and prosperity to every economic sector, he won a smashing victory. The Republicans rushed
through the Dingley tariff in 1897, boosting rates back to the 50 percent level. Democrats responded that
the high rates created government sponsored "trusts" (monopolies) and led to higher consumer prices.
McKinley won reelection by an even bigger landslide and started talking about a post-tariff era of
reciprocal trade agreements. Reciprocity went nowhere; McKinley's vision was a half century too early.[60]
The Republicans split bitterly on the Payne–Aldrich Tariff of 1909. Republican President Theodore
Roosevelt (1901–1909) saw the tariff issue was ripping his party apart, so he postponed any consideration
of it. The delicate balance flew apart on under Republican William Howard Taft. He campaigned for
president in 1908 for tariff "reform", which everyone assumed meant lower rates. The House lowered rates
with the Payne Bill, then sent it to the Senate where Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich mobilized high-rate Senators.
Aldrich was a New England businessman and a master of the complexities of the tariff, the Midwestern
Republican insurgents were rhetoricians and lawyers who distrusted the special interests and assumed the
tariff was "sheer robbery" at the expense of the ordinary consumer. Rural America believed that its superior
morality deserved special protection, while the dastardly immorality of the trusts—and cities generally—
merited financial punishment. Aldrich baited them. Did the
insurgents want lower tariffs? His wickedly clever Payne–Aldrich
Tariff Act of 1909 lowered the protection on Midwestern farm
products, while raising rates favorable to his Northeast.[61][62]

By 1913 with the new income tax generating revenue, the

Democrats in Congress were able to reduce rates with the
Underwood Tariff. The outbreak of war in 1914 made the impact
of tariffs of much less importance compared to war contracts. When
the Republicans returned to power they returned the rates to a high
level in the Fordney–McCumber Tariff of 1922. The next raise
came with the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 at the start of the
Great Depression.

Tariff with Canada President Teddy Roosevelt watches

GOP team pull apart on tariff issue
The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty increased trade
between 1855 and its ending in 1866. When it ended Canada
turned to tariffs. The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A.
Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1879 after it returned to power. It had been an official policy, however,
since 1876. It was based on high tariffs to protect Canada's manufacturing industry. Macdonald
campaigned on the policy in the 1878 election, and handily beat the Liberal Party, which supported free
trade.

Efforts to restore free trade with Canada collapsed when Canada rejected a proposed reciprocity treaty in
fear of American imperialism in the 1911 federal election. Taft negotiated a reciprocity agreement with
Canada, that had the effect of sharply lowering tariffs. Democrats supported the plan but Midwestern
Republicans bitterly opposed it. Barnstorming the country for his agreement, Taft undiplomatically pointed
to the inevitable integration of the North American economy, and suggested that Canada should come to a
"parting of the ways" with Britain. Canada's Conservative Party, under the leadership of Robert Borden,
now had an issue to regain power from the low-tariff Liberals; after a surge of pro-imperial anti-
Americanism, the Conservatives won. Ottawa rejected reciprocity, reasserted the National Policy and went
to London first for new financial and trade deals. The Payne Aldrich Tariff of 1909 actually changed little
and had slight economic impact one way or the other, but the political impact was enormous. The
insurgents felt tricked and defeated and swore vengeance against Wall Street and its minions Taft and
Aldrich. The insurgency led to a fatal split down the middle in 1912 as the GOP lost its balance wheel.[63]

1913 to present
Starting in the Civil War, protection was the ideological cement holding the Republican coalition together.
High tariffs were used to promise higher sales to business, higher wages to industrial workers, and higher
demand for their crops to farmers. Democrats said it was a tax on the little man. After 1900 Progressive
insurgents said it promoted monopoly. It had greatest support in the Northeast, and greatest opposition in
the South and West. The Midwest was the battle ground.[64] The tariff issue was pulling the GOP apart.
Roosevelt tried to postpone the issue, but Taft had to meet it head on in 1909 with the Payne–Aldrich Tariff
Act. Eastern conservatives led by Nelson W. Aldrich wanted high tariffs on manufactured goods
(especially woolens), while Midwesterners called for low tariffs. Aldrich outmaneuvered them by lowering
the tariff on farm products, which outraged the farmers. The great battle over the high Payne–Aldrich Tariff
Act in 1910 ripped the Republicans apart and set up the realignment in favor of the Democrats.[65]
Woodrow Wilson made a drastic lowering of tariff rates a major priority for his presidency. The 1913
Underwood Tariff cut rates, but the coming of World War I in 1914 radically revised trade patterns.
Reduced trade and, especially, the new revenues generated by the federal income tax made tariffs much less
important in terms of economic impact and political rhetoric. The Wilson administration desired a
'revamping' of the current banking system, "... so that the banks may be the instruments, not the masters, of
business and of individual enterprise and initiative.".[66] President Wilson achieved this in the Federal
Reserve Act of 1913. Working with the bullish Senator Aldrich and former presidential candidate William
Jennings Bryan, he perfected a way to centralize the banking system to allow Congress to closely allocate
paper money production.[67] The Federal Reserve Act, with the Sixteenth Amendment of the Constitution,
would create a trend of new forms of government funding.
Ihe Democrats lowered the tariff in 1913 but the
economic dislocations of the First World War made it irrelevant. When the Republicans returned to power
in 1921 they again imposed a protective tariff. They raised it again with the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of
1930 to meet the Great Depression in the United States. But that made the depression worse. This time it
backfired, as Canada, Britain, Germany, France and other industrial countries retaliated with their own
tariffs and special, bilateral trade deals. American imports and exports both went into a tailspin.[68] The
Democrats promised an end to protection on a reciprocal country-by-country basis (which they did), hoping
this would expand foreign trade (which it did not). By 1936 the tariff issue had faded from politics, and the
revenue it raised was small. In World War II, both tariffs and reciprocity were insignificant compared to
trade channeled through Lend-Lease.[69] Low rates dominated the debate for the rest of the 20th
century.[70] In 2017 Donald Trump promised to use protective tariffs as a weapon to restore greatness to the
economy.[71]

Tariffs and the Great Depression

The years 1920 to 1929 are generally misdescribed as years in which protectionism increased in Europe. In
fact, from a general point of view, the crisis was preceded in Europe by trade liberalisation. The weighted
average of tariffs remained tendentially the same as in the years preceding the First World War: 24.6% in
1913, as against 24.9% in 1927. In 1928 and 1929, tariffs were lowered in almost all developed
countries.[72] In addition, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act was signed by Hoover on June 17, 1930, while the
Wall Street crash took place in the fall of 1929. Most of the trade contraction occurred between January
1930 and July 1932, before most protectionist measures were introduced (except for the limited measures
applied by the United States in the summer of 1930). In the view of Maurice Allais, it was therefore the
collapse of international liquidity that caused the contraction of trade, not customs tariffs.[73]

Milton Friedman also held the opinion that the Smoot–Hawley tariff of 1930 did not cause the Great
Depression. Douglas A. Irwin writes : "most economists, both liberal and conservative, doubt that Smoot
Hawley played much of a role in the subsequent contraction."[74]

Peter Temin, explains a tariff is an expansionary policy, like a devaluation as it diverts demand from foreign
to home producers. He notes that exports were 7 percent of GNP in 1929, they fell by 1.5 percent of 1929
GNP in the next two years and the fall was offset by the increase in domestic demand from tariff. He
concludes that contrary the popular argument, contractionary effect of the tariff was small. (Temin, P. 1989.
Lessons from the Great Depression, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass)[75]

William J. Bernstein wrote:

Between 1929 and 1932, real GDP fell 17 percent worldwide, and by 26 percent in the United
States, but most economic historians now believe that only a minuscule part of that huge loss
of both world GDP and the United States’ GDP can be ascribed to the tariff wars. .. At the
time of Smoot-Hawley's passage, trade volume accounted for only about 9 percent of world
 economic output. Had all international trade been eliminated, and had no domestic use for the
previously exported goods been found, world GDP would have fallen by the same amount —
9 percent. Between 1930 and 1933, worldwide trade volume fell off by one-third to one-half.
Depending on how the falloff is measured, this computes to 3 to 5 percent of world GDP, and
these losses were partially made up by more expensive domestic goods. Thus, the damage
done could not possibly have exceeded 1 or 2 percent of world GDP — nowhere near the 17
percent falloff seen during the Great Depression... The inescapable conclusion: contrary to
public perception, Smoot-Hawley did not cause, or even significantly deepen, the Great
Depression.[76]

Paul Krugman writes that protectionism does not lead to recessions. According to him, the decrease in
imports (which can be obtained by the introduction of tariffs) has an expansionary effect, i.e. favourable to
growth. Thus in a trade war, since exports and imports will decrease equally, for the whole world, the
negative effect of a decrease in exports will be compensated by the expansionary effect of a decrease in
imports. A trade war therefore does not cause a recession. Furthermore, he notes that the Smoot-Hawley
tariff did not cause the Great Depression. The decline in trade between 1929 and 1933 "was almost entirely
a consequence of the Depression, not a cause. Trade barriers were a response to the Depression, in part a
consequence of deflation."[77]

Trade liberalization

Tariffs up to the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, were set by Congress after many months of testimony
and negotiations. In 1934, the U.S. Congress, in a rare delegation of authority, passed the Reciprocal Tariff
Act of 1934, which authorized the executive branch to negotiate bilateral tariff reduction agreements with
other countries. The prevailing view then was that trade liberalization may help stimulate economic growth.
However, no one country was willing to liberalize unilaterally. Between 1934 and 1945, the executive
branch negotiated over 32 bilateral trade liberalization agreements with other countries. The belief that low
tariffs led to a more prosperous country are now the predominant belief with some exceptions.
Multilateralism is embodied in the seven tariff reduction rounds that occurred between 1948 and 1994. In
each of these "rounds", all General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) members came together to
negotiate mutually agreeable trade liberalization packages and reciprocal tariff rates. In the Uruguay round
in 1994, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established to help establish uniform tariff rates.

Currently only about 30% of all import goods are subject to tariffs in the United States, the rest are on the
free list. The "average" tariffs now charged by the United States are at a historic low. The list of negotiated
tariffs are listed on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule as put out by the United States International Trade
Commission.[78]

Post World War II

After the war the U.S. promoted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in 1947,
to minimize tariffs and other restrictions, and to liberalize trade among all capitalist countries. In 1995
GATT became the World Trade Organization (WTO); with the collapse of Communism its open
markets/low tariff ideology became dominant worldwide in the 1990s.

American industry and labor prospered after World War II, but hard times set in after 1970. For the first
time there was stiff competition from low-cost producers around the globe. Many rust belt industries faded
or collapsed, especially the manufacture of steel, TV sets, shoes, toys, textiles and clothing. Toyota and
Nissan threatened the giant domestic auto industry. In the late 1970s Detroit and the auto workers union
combined to fight for protection. They obtained not high tariffs, but a voluntary restriction of imports from
the Japanese government. Quotas were two-country diplomatic agreements that had the same protective
effect as high tariffs, but did not invite retaliation from third countries. By limiting the number of Japanese
automobiles that could be imported, quotas inadvertently helped Japanese companies push into larger, and
more expensive market segments. The Japanese producers, limited by the number of cars they could export
to America, opted to increase the value of their exports to maintain revenue growth. This action threatened
the American producers' historical hold on the mid- and large-size car markets.[79]

The Chicken tax was a 1964 response by President Lyndon B. Johnson to tariffs placed by Germany (then
West Germany) on importation of US chicken. Beginning in 1962, during the President Kennedy
administration, the US accused Europe of unfairly restricting imports of American poultry at the request of
West German chicken farmers. Diplomacy failed, and in January 1964, two months after taking office,
President Johnson retaliated by imposing a 25 percent tax on all imported light trucks. This directly affected
the German built Volkswagen vans. Officially it was explained that the light trucks tax would offset the
dollar amount of imports of Volkswagen vans from West Germany with the lost American sales of chickens
to Europe. But audio tapes from the Johnson White House reveal that in January 1964, President Johnson
was attempting to convince United Auto Workers's president Walter Reuther, not to initiate a strike just
prior the 1964 election and to support the president's civil rights platform. Reuther in turn wanted Johnson
to respond to Volkswagen's increased shipments to the United States.[80]

1980s to present

During the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations

Republicans abandoned protectionist policies, and came out against
quotas and in favor of the GATT/WTO policy of minimal
economic barriers to global trade. Free trade with Canada came
about as a result of the Canada–U.S. Free Trade Agreement of
1987, which led in 1994 to the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). It was based on Reagan's plan to enlarge the
scope of the market for American firms to include Canada and
Mexico. President Bill Clinton, with strong Republican support in
1993, pushed NAFTA through Congress over the vehement China gained entry to the WTO as
objection of labor unions.[81][82] Most favoured nation in early 2000s.

Likewise, in 2000 Clinton worked with Republicans to give China

entry into WTO and "most favored nation" trading status (i.e., the same low tariffs promised to any other
WTO member). NAFTA and WTO advocates promoted an optimistic vision of the future, with prosperity
to be based on intellectuals skills and managerial know-how more than on routine hand labor. They
promised that free trade meant lower prices for consumers. Opposition to liberalized trade came
increasingly from labor unions, who argued that this system also meant lower wages and fewer jobs for
American workers who could not compete against wages of less than a dollar an hour. The shrinking size
and diminished political clout of these unions repeatedly left them on the losing side.[83]

Despite overall decreases in international tariffs, some tariffs have been more resistant to change. For
example, due partially to tariff pressure from the European Common Agricultural Policy, US agricultural
subsidies have seen little decrease over the past few decades, even in the face of recent pressure from the
WTO during the latest Doha talks.[84]

On March 5, 2002, President George W. Bush placed tariffs on imported steel.

Deindustrialization
According to the Economic Policy Institute, free trade has created a large trade deficit in the United States
for decades, leading to the closure of many factories and cost the United States millions of jobs in the
manufacturing sector. Trade deficits replaces well-paying manufacturing jobs with low-wage service jobs.
Moreover, trade deficits lead to significant wage losses, not only for workers in the manufacturing sector,
but also for all workers throughout the economy who do not have a university degree. For example, in
2011, 100 million full-time, full-year workers without a university degree suffered an average loss of
$1,800 on their annual salary.[85]
[86]

Indeed, these workers who have lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector and who have to accept a
reduction in their wages to find work in other sectors, are creating competition that reduces the wages of
workers already employed in these other sectors. In addition, the threat of relocation of production facilities
leads workers to accept wage cuts to keep their jobs.[86]

According to the EPI, trade agreements have not reduced trade deficits but rather increased them. The
growing trade deficit with China comes from China's manipulation of its currency, dumping policies,
subsidies, trade barriers that give it a very important advantage in international trade. In addition, industrial
jobs lost by imports from China are significantly better paid than jobs created by exports to China. So even
if imports were equal to exports, workers would still lose out on their wages.[87]

The manufacturing sector is a sector with very high productivity growth, which promotes high wages and
good benefits for its workers. Indeed, this sector accounts for more than two thirds of private sector
research and development and employs more than twice as many scientists and engineers as the rest of the
economy. The manufacturing sector therefore provides a very important stimulus to overall economic
growth. Manufacturing is also associated with well-paid service jobs such as accounting, business
management, research and development and legal services. Deindustrialisation is therefore also leading to a
significant loss of these service jobs. Deindustrialization thus means the disappearance of a very important
driver of economic growth.[87]

Smuggling and Coast Guard

Historically, high tariffs have led to high rates of smuggling. The United States Revenue Cutter Service was
established by Secretary Hamilton in 1790 as an armed maritime law and custom enforcement service.
Today it remains the primary maritime law enforcement force in the United States.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States
Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting
customs (import duties or tariffs approved by the U.S. Congress), and enforcing U.S. regulations, including
trade, customs and immigration. They man most border crossing stations and ports. When shipments of
goods arrive at a border crossing or port, customs officers inspect the contents and charge a tax according to
the tariff formula for that product. Usually the goods cannot continue on their way until the custom duty is
paid. Custom duties are one of the easiest taxes to collect, and the cost of collection is small.

Tariffs and historical American politicians

In 1896, the GOP platform pledged to "renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of protection, as
the bulwark of American industrial independence, and the foundation of development and prosperity. This
true American policy taxes foreign products and encourages home industry. It puts the burden of revenue
on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the American producer. It upholds the American
standard of wages for the American workingman."[17]
George Washington

"I use no porter or cheese in my family, but such as is made in America," the inaugural President George
Washington wrote, boasting that these domestic products are "of an excellent quality." One of the first acts
of Congress Washington signed was a tariff among whose stated purpose was "the encouragement and
protection of manufactures."[88] In his 1790 State of the Union Address, Washington justified his tariff
policy for national security reasons:

A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-
digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such
manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military,
supplies[89]

Thomas Jefferson

As President Thomas Jefferson wrote in explaining why his views had evolved to favor more protectionist
policies: "In so complicated a science as political economy, no one axiom can be laid down as wise and
expedient for all times and circumstances, and for their contraries."[90]

After the War of 1812, Jefferson's position began to resemble that of Washington, some level of protection
was necessary to secure the nation's political independence. He said:[90]

experience has taught me that manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as to
our comfort: and if those who quote me as of a different opinion will keep pace with me in
purchasing nothing foreign where an equivalent of domestic fabric can be obtained, without
regard to difference of price[91]

Henry Clay

In 1832, then the United States Senator from Kentucky, Henry Clay said about his disdain for "free
traders" that "it is not free trade that they are recommending to our acceptance. It is in effect, the British
colonial system that we are invited to adopt; and, if their policy prevail, it will lead substantially to the re-
colonization of these States, under the commercial dominion of Great Britain."[92] Clay said:

When gentlemen have succeeded in their design of an immediate or gradual destruction of the
American System, what is their substitute? Free trade! Free trade! The call for free trade is as
unavailing as the cry of a spoiled child, in its nurse's arms, for the moon, or the stars that glitter
in the firmament of heaven. It never has existed; it never will exist. Trade implies, at least two
parties. To be free, it should be fair, equal and reciprocal.[92]

Clay explained that "equal and reciprocal" free trade "never has existed; [and] it never will exist." He
warned against practicing "romantic trade philanthropy… which invokes us to continue to purchase the
produce of foreign industry, without regard to the state or prosperity of our own." Clay that he was "utterly
and irreconcilably opposed" to trade which would "throw wide open our ports to foreign productions"
without reciprocation.[93]
James Monroe

In 1822, President James Monroe observed that "whatever may be the abstract doctrine in favor of
unrestricted commerce," the conditions necessary for its success—reciprocity and international peace—"has
never occurred and can not be expected." Monroe said, "strong reasons… impose on us the obligation to
cherish and sustain our manufactures."[94]

Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln declared, "Give us a protective tariff and we will have the greatest nation on
earth." Lincoln warned that "the abandonment of the protective policy by the American Government…
must produce want and ruin among our people."[95]

Lincoln similarly said that, "if a duty amount to full protection be levied upon an article" that could be
produced domestically, "at no distant day, in consequence of such duty," the domestic article "will be sold
to our people cheaper than before."[95]

Additionally, Lincoln argued that based on economies of scale, any temporary increase in costs resulting
from a tariff would eventually decrease as the domestic manufacturer produced more.
Lincoln did not see a
tariff as a tax on low-income Americans because it would only burden the consumer according to the
amount the consumer consumed.
By the tariff system, the whole revenue is paid by the consumers of
foreign goods… the burthen of revenue falls almost entirely on the wealthy and luxurious few, while the
substantial and laboring many who live at home, and upon home products, go entirely free.[96]

Lincoln argued that a tariff system was less intrusive than domestic taxation: The tariff is the cheaper
system, because the duties, being collected in large parcels at a few commercial points, will require
comparatively few officers in their collection; while by the direct tax system, the land must be literally
covered with assessors and collectors, going forth like swarms of Egyptian locusts, devouring every blade
of grass and other green thing.[97]

William McKinley

President William McKinley stated the United States' stance under the Republican Party as:

Under free trade the trader is the master and the producer the slave. Protection is but the law of
nature, the law of self-preservation, of self-development, of securing the highest and best
destiny of the race of man.[98] [It is said] that protection is immoral.... Why, if protection builds
up and elevates 63,000,000 [the U.S. population] of people, the influence of those 63,000,000
of people elevates the rest of the world. We cannot take a step in the pathway of progress
without benefiting mankind everywhere[99]

[Free trade] destroys the dignity and independence of American labor… It will take away from
the people of this country who work for a living—and the majority of them live by the sweat
of their faces—it will take from them heart and home and hope. It will be self-destruction.[100]

He also categorically rejected the "cheaper is better" argument:

 They [free traders] say, 'Buy where you can buy the cheapest.' That is one of their maxims…
Of course, that applies to labor as to everything else. Let me give you a maxim that is a
thousand times better than that, and it is the protection maxim: 'Buy where you can pay the
easiest.' And that spot of earth is where labor wins its highest rewards.[101]

They say, if you had not the Protective Tariff things would be a little cheaper. Well, whether a
thing is cheap or whether it is dear depends on what we can earn by our daily labor. Free trade
cheapens the product by cheapening the producer. Protection cheapens the product by
elevating the producer.[101]

The protective tariff policy of the Republicans… has made the lives of the masses of our
countrymen sweeter and brighter, and has entered the homes of America carrying comfort and
cheer and courage. It gives a premium to human energy, and awakens the noblest aspiration in
the breasts of men. Our own experience shows that it is the best for our citizenship and our
civilization and that it opens up a higher and better destiny for our people.[102]

Theodore Roosevelt

President Theodore Roosevelt believed that America's economic growth was due to the protective tariffs,
which helped her industrialize. He acknowledged this in his State of the Union address from 1902:

The country has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is exceedingly
undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that there should be violent and radical
changes therein. Our past experience shows that great prosperity in this country has always
come under a protective tariff.[103]

Donald Trump

The Trump tariffs were imposed by executive order (not by act of Congress) during the presidency of
Donald Trump as part of his economic policy. In January 2018, Trump imposed tariffs on solar panels and
washing machines of 30 to 50 percent.[104] He soon imposed tariffs on steel (25%) and aluminum (10%)
from most countries.[105][106] On June 1, 2018, this was extended on the European Union, Canada, and
Mexico.[106] Separately, on May 10, the Trump administration set a tariff of 25% on 818 categories of
goods imported from China worth $50 billion.[107] The only country which remained exempt from the steel
and aluminum tariffs was Australia. Argentinan and Brazilian aluminium tariffs were started on December
2, 2019 in reaction to currency manipulation[108]

References
1. Kennedy, David M.; Cohen, Lizabeth; Piehl, Mel (2017). The Brief American Pageant: A
History of the Republic, Volume I: To 1877 (9th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage
Learning. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-285-19330-4.
2. Irwin, Douglas A. (August 2, 2020). "Trade Policy in American Economic History" (https://ww
w.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-economics-070119-024409). Annual Review
of Economics. 12 (1): 23–44. doi:10.1146/annurev-economics-070119-024409 (https://doi.or
g/10.1146%2Fannurev-economics-070119-024409). ISSN 1941-1383 (https://www.worldca
t.org/issn/1941-1383).
 3. Historical Statistics of the United States (Colonial Times to 1957); Value of Exports and
Imports: 1790 to 1957, pp. 537–38; Value of Merchandise Imports and Duties: 1821 to 1957,
p. 539; Indexes of Quantity and Unit Value of Exports and Imports: 1879 to 1957, pp. 540–
41; Value of Merchandise Exports and Imports, by Groups of Customs Districts: 1860 to
1954, pp. 542–43; Value of Merchandise Exports and Imports, by Economic Classes: 1820
to 1957, pp. 544–45; Exports of Selected U. S. Merchandise: 1790 to 1957, pp. 546–47;
Imports of Selected Products: 1790 to 1957, pp. 548–49; Value of General Imports, by
Country of Origin: 1790 to 1957, pp. 552–53 [1] (https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publica
tions/histstatus/hstat_1957_cen_1957.pdf)
4. Historical Statistics of the United States (Colonial Times to 1970) {Part 2 Zip file: CT1970p2-
12;} Series Y 343–51 (1940–1970) Customs, Tot. Receipts, Income taxes; Payroll taxes,
Excise; Y342 339 (1940 1970) Receipts; Y-352 357 (1789–1939) Government Receipts:
Total (1789–1970), Customs (1789–1970), Y 358 373 Excise tax (1863–1970) Income Tax
(1916–1970); Series U 1–25 Balance of International Payments Imports (1790–1970) [6]
Accessed 5 Aug 2011 [2] (https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/237)
5. Bicentennial Edition Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 [3] (htt
ps://www.census.gov/library/publications/1975/compendia/hist_stats_colonial-1970.html)
6. Whitehouse Historical Tables 1940–2016; Table 1.1 Tot. Receipts (1901–2010); Table 2-1,
2–4 Excise Tax (1934–2010); Table 2-5 Customs (1940–2010) [4] (https://trumpwhitehouse.a
rchives.gov/omb/budget/Historicals) Accessed 5 Aug 2011
7. U.S. imports for consumption, duties collected, and ratio of duties to value, 1891–2016; U.S.
imports for consumption under tariff preference programs, 1976–2016 [5] (https://www.usitc.g
ov/documents/dataweb/ave_table_1891_2016.pdf)
8. U.S. Trade in Goods and Services – Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis, 1960–2010 [6] (http
s://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.pdf) Accessed 5 Aug 2011
9. "Kicking Away the Ladder: The "Real" History of Free Trade" (https://ips-dc.org/kicking_awa
y_the_ladder_the_real_history_of_free_trade/). Institute for Policy Studies. December 30,
2003. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
10. "Infant Industry Promotion in Historical Perspective– A Rope to Hang Oneself or a Ladder to
Climb With?" (https://www.cepal.org/prensa/noticias/comunicados/8/7598/chang.pdf) (PDF).
www.cepal.org. 2001. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
11. Dorfman & Tugwell (1960). Early American Policy.
12. Ha-Joon Chang. Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective.
13. Bairoch. Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes (https://archive.org/details/eco
nomicsworldhi00bair).
14. Thomas C. Cochran, William Miller (1942). The Age of Enterprise: A Social History of
Industrial America.
15. R. Luthin (1944). Abraham Lincoln and the Tariff.
16. Eckes, Alfred E. (1995). Opening America's Market: U.S. Foreign Trade Policy Since 1776
(https://archive.org/details/openingamericasm00alfr). ISBN 0807848115.
17. "Republican Party Platform of 1896 | The American Presidency Project" (http://www.preside
ncy.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29629).
18. William Hill, "Colonial Tariffs," Quarterly Journal of Economics (1892) 7#1 pp. 78–100 in
JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1883762)
19. William Smith McClellan (1912). Smuggling in the American colonies at the outbreak of the
Revolution: with special reference to the West Indies trade (https://archive.org/details/smuggl
inginamer00mcclgoog). Department of Political Science of Williams College. pp. full text
online.
20. John W. Tyler, Smugglers and Patriots: Boston Merchants and the Advent of the American
Revolution (1986) online review (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1939677)
21. Dewey, Financial History of the United States (5th ed. 1915) ch. 1–3
22. Dewey, Financial History of the United States (5th ed. 1915) ch. 4–5
23. Dewey, Financial History of the United States (5th ed. 1915) ch. 6–7
24. Douglas A. Irwin, "The Aftermath of Hamilton's 'Report on Manufactures'", Journal of
Economic History, Sept 2004, Vol. 64, Issue 3, pp. 800–21
25. Barbara M. Tucker, and Kenneth H. Tucker, Industrializing Antebellum America: The Rise of
Manufacturing Entrepreneurs in the Early Republic (2008)
26. Percy Ashley, Modern Tariff History (1920) p 138, citing Edward Stanwood. American tariff
controversies in the nineteenth century (1904) 1:111 and Taussig, Tariff History p 16.
27. Taussig, The Tariff History of the United States (8th edition (1931), ch. 1
28. Taussig, The Tariff History of the United States (8th edition (1931), ch. 2
29. Robert V. Remini, "Martin Van Buren and the Tariff of Abominations." American Historical
Review 63.4 (1958): 903-917.
30. Taussig, Tariff History pp. 109–24
31. John A. Moore, "The Grossest and Most Unjust Species of Favoritism: Competing Views of
Republican Political Economy: The Tariff Debates of 1841 and 1842", Essays in Economic
& Business History (2011) 29: 59–73.
32. Taussig, Tariff History pp. 124–54
33. Scott C. James and David E. Lake, "The second face of hegemony: Britain's repeal of the
Corn Laws and the American Walker Tariff of 1846", International Organization, Winter 1989,
Vol. 43, Issue 1, pp. 1–28
34. "Government Tax and Revenue Chart: United States 1840-1861 - Federal State Local Data"
(https://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com/revenue_chart_1840_1861USm_16s1li111mcn_F
0f). www.usgovernmentrevenue.com.
35. Republican Party National Platform, 1860 (http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republic
an_Platform_1860.html) Reported from the Platform Committee by Judge Jessup of
Pennsylvania and adopted unanimously by the Republican National Convention held at
Chicago on May 17, 1860. Broadside printing by The Chicago Press & Tribune, May, 1860
36. Taussig, The Tariff History of the United States (1931), pp. 123–61
37. Richard Hofstadter, "The Tariff Issue on the Eve of the Civil War", The American Historical
Review (1938) 44#1 pp. 50–55 full text in JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/pss/1840850)
38. Robert Gray Gunderson, Old Gentlemen's Convention: The Washington Peace Conference
of 1861 (1961)
39. Mark Thornton and Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics
of the Civil War (2004)
40. Taussig, The Tariff History of the United States (1931), pp. 155–70
41. Dewey, Financial History (1915) p. 299
42. Paul Studenski; Herman Edward Krooss (2003). Financial History of the United States (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=_0UqxH-5fdkC&pg=PA157). Beard Books. p. 157.
ISBN 9781587981753.
43. Howard K. Beale "The Tariff and Reconstruction," American Historical Review (1930) 35#2
pp. 276–94 in JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1837439)
44. Hugh Tulloch (1999). The Debate On the American Civil War Era (https://books.google.com/
books?id=AVD1-qcknywC&pg=PA226). Manchester UP. p. 226. ISBN 9780719049385.
45. Stanley Coben, "Northeastern Business and Radical Reconstruction: A Re-Examination."
Mississippi Valley Historical Review (1959): 67–90. in JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1
892388)
46. Thomas J. Pressly, "Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction (review)" Civil War History (1961)
7#1
pp. 91–92 online (http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/civil_
war_history/v007/7.1.pressly.pdf)
47. Paul H. Tedesco, Patriotism, Protection, and Prosperity: James Moore Swank, the American
Iron and Steel Association, and the Tariff, 1873–1913 (Garland, 1985.)
48. John Ashworth (1987). 'Agrarians' and 'Aristocrats': Party Political Ideology in the United
States, 1837–1846 (https://books.google.com/books?id=jqg7pIezRMAC&pg=PA252).
Cambridge University Press. p. 252. ISBN 9780521335676.
49. Joanne R. Reitano, The Tariff Question in the Gilded Age: The Great Debate of 1888 (Penn
State Press, 1994)
50. H. Wayne Morgan, William McKinley and His America (1965)
51. F. W. Taussig, "The McKinley Tariff Act." The Economic Journal (1891) 1#2 pp: 326–50. in
JSTOR
52. Tom E. Terrill, The Tariff, Politics, and American Foreign Policy 1874–1901 (1973)
53. Douglas A. Fisher, Steel Serves the Nation, U.S. Steel, 1951, p. 15
54. Frank William Taussig (1931). The Tariff History of the United States (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=MyqgiptJzfwC&pg=PA192). pp. 192, 293. ISBN 9781610163309.
55. F. W. Taussig, The Tariff History Of The United States, 1909 edition, p. 259
56. Douglas A. Fisher, Steel Serves the Nation, U.S. Steel, 1951, p. 48
57. Springer, William M., ed. (1892). Tariff reform, the paramount issue: Speeches and writings
on the questions involved in the presidential contest of 1892 (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=Hd01AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA391). p. 391.
58. H. Wayne Morgan, From Hayes to McKinley: National Party Politics, 1877–1896 (1969)
59. Festus P. Summers, William L. Wilson and Tariff Reform, a Biography (1953)
60. Harold U. Faulkner, Politics, Reform, and Expansion, 1890–1900 (1959)
61. David W. Detzer, "Businessmen, Reformers, and Tariff Revision: The Payne–Aldrich Tariff of
1909", Historian, (1973) 35#2 pp. 196–204, online
62. Stanley D. Solvick, "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff," Mississippi Valley
Historical Review (1963) 50#3 pp. 424–42 in JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902605)
63. Paolo Enrico Coletta, The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973)
64. Howard R. Smith, and John Fraser Hart, "The American tariff map." Geographical Review
45.3 (1955): 327-346 online (https://www.jstor.org/stable/211807).
65. Stanley D. Solvick, "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff." Mississippi Valley
Historical Review 50.3 (1963): 424-442 online (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902605)
66. Woodrow Wilson: "Address to a Joint Session of Congress on the Banking System," June
23, 1913. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65369.
67. Broz, J.L. (1999). "Origins of the Federal Reserve System: International Incentives and the
Domestic Free-rider Problem". International Organization. 5353 (1): 39–46.
doi:10.1162/002081899550805 (https://doi.org/10.1162%2F002081899550805).
68. Anthony O’Brien, "Smoot-Hawley Tariff." EH. Net Encyclopedia (2001) online (https://www.e
h.net/page/4/?s=crash).
69. Edward S. Kaplan, American Trade Policy: 1923–1995 (1996)
70. Douglas A. Irwin, Clashing over commerce: A history of US trade policy (2017).
71. Jean-Christophe Boucher, and Cameron G. Thies. "'I Am a Tariff Man': The Power of
Populist Foreign Policy Rhetoric under President Trump." Journal of Politics 81.2 (2019):
712-722 online (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/702229).
72. Bairoch. Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes (https://archive.org/details/eco
nomicsworldhi00bair).
73. Maurice Allais (December 5–11, 2009). "Lettre aux français : contre les tabous indiscutés" (h
ttp://www.soyons-lucides.fr/documents/maurice_allais-contre_les_tabous_indiscutes.pdf)
(PDF). Marianne (in French). p. 38.
74. Irwin, Douglas A. (October 24, 2017). Peddling Protectionism: Smoot-Hawley and the Great
Depression (https://books.google.com/books?id=oz_BDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA116).
ISBN 9781400888429.
75. Temin, Peter (October 8, 1991). Lessons from the Great Depression (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=squLnSDrJ4EC&q=peter+temin+smoot+hawley+Lessons+from+the+Great+De
pression&pg=PA46). ISBN 9780262261197.
76. William Bernstein. A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World. p. 116.
77. "Archived copy" (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/the-mitt-hawley-fallacy/).
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20171003075844/https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
2016/03/04/the-mitt-hawley-fallacy/) from the original on October 3, 2017. Retrieved April 23,
2019.
78. Harmonized Tariff Schedule [7] (http://hts.usitc.gov/) Accessed 12 Jul 2011
79. John H. Barton, Judith L. Goldstein, Timothy E. Josling, and Richard H. Steinberg, The
Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO
(2008)
80. "Light Trucks Increase Profits But Foul Air More than Cars" (https://www.nytimes.com/1997/1
1/30/business/license-pollute-special-report-light-trucks-increase-profits-but-foul-air-more.ht
ml?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all). The New York Times, Keith Bradsher, November 30,
1997. November 30, 1997.
81. Gary Chaison (2005). Unions in America (https://books.google.com/books?id=DxJZxwyMH
HYC&pg=PT151). SAGE. p. 151. ISBN 9781452239477.
82. Kenneth F. Warren (2008). Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral
Behavior (https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4wDcT3PeQC&pg=PA358). Sage
Publications. p. 358. ISBN 9781412954891.
83. Barton, et al. The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT
and the WTO (2008)
84. Congressional Research Service report [8] (https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/703
32.pdf)
85. "The China toll deepens: Growth in the bilateral trade deficit between 2001 and 2017 cost
3.4 million U.S. jobs, with losses in every state and congressional district" (https://www.epi.o
rg/publication/the-china-toll-deepens-growth-in-the-bilateral-trade-deficit-between-2001-and-
2017-cost-3-4-million-u-s-jobs-with-losses-in-every-state-and-congressional-district/).
86. "Using standard models to benchmark the costs of globalization for American workers
without a college degree" (https://www.epi.org/publication/standard-models-benchmark-cost
s-globalization/).
87. "Trading away the manufacturing advantage: China trade drives down U.S. wages and
benefits and eliminates good jobs for U.S. workers | Economic Policy Institute" (https://www.
epi.org/publication/trading-manufacturing-advantage-china-trade/). Epi.org. Retrieved
October 7, 2019.
88. "Letter to Marquis de LaFayette" (https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-
to-marquis-de-lafayette-10/). Teaching American History.
 89. "George Washington: First Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union" (http://w
ww.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29431). www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved
January 4, 2017.
90. "Founders Online: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Austin, 9 January 1816" (https://founders.
archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-09-02-0213). founders.archives.gov.
91. Jefferson, Thomas (January 9, 1816). "Letter to Benjamin Austin, Jan 9, 1816". Boston
Independent Chronicle.
92. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/AmericanSystem.pdf
93. Clay, Henry. The Papers of Henry Clay: The Whig Leader, January 1, 1837-December
31,1843 (https://books.google.com/books?id=gID5RTGOEWQC). p. 843.
ISBN 0813130514.
94. "Sixth Annual Message (December 3, 1822)—Miller Center" (https://web.archive.org/web/20
141025021431/http://millercenter.org/president/monroe/speeches/speech-3603). Archived
from the original (http://millercenter.org/president/monroe/speeches/speech-3603) on
October 25, 2014.
95. "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1" (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/
1:423?rgn=div1;view=fulltext). U-M Library Digital Collections. Retrieved December 18,
2020.
96. "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1" (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/
1:325?rgn=div1;view=fulltext). U-M Library Digital Collections. Retrieved December 18,
2020.
97. "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 1" (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln1/
1:325?rgn=div1;view=fulltext). quod.lib.umich.edu. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
98. Halstead, Murat; Munson, Augustus J. (January 1, 1901). Life and distinguished services of
William McKinley: our martyr President (https://archive.org/details/lifedistinguishe01hals).
Memorial Association.
99. William McKinley speech, Oct. 4, 1892 in Boston, MA William McKinley Papers (Library of
Congress)
100. McKinley, William (January 1, 1893). Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From
His Election to Congress to the Present Time (https://archive.org/details/speechesandaddr0
1mckigoog). D. Appleton.
101. Halstead, Murat; Munson, Augustus J. (1901). Life and distinguished services of William
McKinley: Our martyr President (https://archive.org/details/lifedistinguishe01hals). Memorial
Association.
102. McKinley, William (1893). Speeches and Addresses of William McKinley: From His Election
to Congress to the Present Time (https://archive.org/details/speechesandaddr01mckigoog).
D. Appleton.
103. "Almanac of Theodore Roosevelt – Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt – Teddy Roosevelt" (h
ttp://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trspeeches.html). www.theodore-roosevelt.com. Retrieved
January 4, 2017.
104. Richard Gonzales (January 22, 2018). "Trump Slaps Tariffs On Imported Solar Panels and
Washing Machines" (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/22/579848409/trump-
slaps-tariffs-on-imported-solar-panels-and-washing-machines). NPR.
105. Horsley, Scott (March 8, 2018). "Trump Formally Orders Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum Imports"
(https://www.npr.org/2018/03/08/591744195/trump-expected-to-formally-order-tariffs-on-steel
-aluminum-imports). NPR.
106. Long, Heather (May 31, 2018). "Trump has officially put more tariffs on U.S. allies than on
China" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/31/trump-has-officially-put
-more-tariffs-on-u-s-allies-than-on-china/). The Washington Post.
107. Lawder, David. "Trump sets tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods; Beijing strikes..." (https://
www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-ministry/trump-sets-tariffs-on-50-billion-in-chines
e-goods-beijing-strikes-back-idUSKBN1JB0KC) U.S. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
108. "Trump reinstates tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina" (https://www.nbcn
ews.com/business/economy/trump-reinstates-tariffs-steel-aluminum-brazil-argentina-n10939
76).

Further reading
Bils, Mark. "Tariff protection and production in the early US cotton textile industry." Journal of
Economic History (1984) 44#4 pp. 1033–45.
Bolt, William K. Tariff Wars and the Politics of Jacksonian America (2017) covers 1816 to
1861. PhD dissertation version (https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http
s://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1027&context=utk_graddiss)
Cohen, Andrew Wender. Contraband: Smuggling and the Birth of the American Century.
WW Norton & Company, 2015.
Dewey, Davis Rich. Financial History of the United States (5th ed. 1915) online full text (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=l3oaAAAAMAAJ)
Doran, Charles F. and Gregory P. Marchildon. The NAFTA Puzzle: Political Parties and
Trade in North America (1994)
Eckes, Alfred. Opening America's Market: U.S. Foreign Trade Policy since 1776 (1995)
Elliott, Orrin Leslie. The Tariff Controversy in the United States 1789–1833: With a Summary
of the Period Before the Adoption of the Constitution (1892) online (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=eS3GAAAAMAAJ)
Gingrich, Newt. "Trump's America: The Truth about Our Nation's Great Comeback" (2018)
Goodman, Matthew P and Ratner, Ely "A Better Way to Challenge China on Trade" Foreign
Affairs, March 22, 2018
Hawke, Gary R. "The United States tariff and industrial protection in the late nineteenth
century." Economic History Review (1975) 28#1 pp. 84–99.
Solomon, Miriam (1997). "Reviewed work: Cognition in the Wild, Edwin Hutchins".
Philosophy of Science. 64 (1): 181–182. doi:10.1086/392542 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F39
2542). JSTOR 188376 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/188376).
Hofstadter, Richard (1938). "The Tariff Issue on the Eve of the Civil War". The American
Historical Review. 44 (1): 50–55. doi:10.2307/1840850 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F184085
0). JSTOR 1840850 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1840850).
Irwin, Douglas A. "Antebellum Tariff Politics: Regional Coalitions and Shifting Economic
Interests", Journal of Law and Economics, 51 (Nov. 2008), 715–42.
Lake, David A. "International economic structures and American foreign economic policy,
1887–1934." World Politics (1983) 35#4 pp. 517–43. online (http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dlake/R
eprints/Structures%20WP%2035,%204%20(1983).pdf)
Kaplan, Edward S.; Prelude to Trade Wars: American Tariff Policy, 1890–1922 Greenwood
Press 1994
Kaplan, Edward S. American Trade Policy: 1923–1995 (1996), online review (http://www.eh.
net/bookreviews/library/0038.shtml)
Narton, John H. Judith L. Goldstein, Timothy E. Josling, and Richard H. Steinberg, The
Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO
(2008)
Schattsneider, E. E. Politics, Pressures and the Tariff (1935). Passage of Hawley-Smoot
tariff
 Smith, Mark A. The Tariff on Wool 1926
Stanwood, Edward (1903). American tariff controversies in the nineteenth century (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=oGkpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1). Houghton, Mifflin. detailed political
narrative; full text online
Studenski, Paul & Herman Edward Krooss (2003). Financial History of the United States (htt
ps://books.google.com/books?id=_0UqxH-5fdkC). Beard Books. ISBN 9781587981753.
Summers; Festus P. William L. Wilson and Tariff Reform, a Biography (1953) on 1890s
Taussig, F. W. The Tariff History of the United States. 8th edition (1931); 5th edition 1910 is
online (https://books.google.com/books?id=MyqgiptJzfwC), the standard scholarly history; it
collects articles he wrote in the journals
Taussig, Frank William. The history of the present tariff, 1860–1883 (1885) online (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=v80OAAAAYAAJ)
Taussig, F. W. (1888). "The Tariff, 1830-1860". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2 (3):
314–346. doi:10.2307/1879417 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1879417). JSTOR 1879417 (htt
ps://www.jstor.org/stable/1879417).
Taylor, George Rogers, ed. The Great Tariff Debate, 1820–1830 (1953), excerpts from
primary and secondary sources
Terrill, Tom E. The Tariff, Politics, and American Foreign Policy 1874–1901 (1973).
Turney, Elaine C. Prange, and Cynthia Clark Northrup. Tariffs and Trade in U.S. History: An
Encyclopedia (3 vol 2003); primary sources in vol 3
Wolman, Paul. Most Favored Nation: The Republican Revisionists and U.S. Tariff Policy,
1897–1912 (1992)

External links
Lesson plan on tariffs in US history (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/teachers/tariff-lesson.htm
l) from Northern Illinois University
Campaign Songs as Propaganda: Free Trade vs. Protectionism – In Whose Interest? (http://
dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage/teachers/tariff-songlesson.html) from Northern Illinois University

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tariff_in_United_States_history&oldid=1068639807"

This page was last edited on 29 January 2022, at 15:17 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;

additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.