Southern Comfort
[Document subtitle]

The United States Federal Government guides the overall pace of economic activity within its borders, attempting to maintain steady growth and price stability. By adjusting fiscal policy or managing the money supply and controlling the use of credit, it can slow down or speed up the economy's rate of growth. Through these processes the Government affects the level of prices and employment. In attempts to achieve these goals during a time of great internal conflict the country is forced into one of the most senseless wastes of human life that the world has ever seen. The time between the Civil War and the preceding war for independence is rife with divisive and controversial disagreements between the Northern and Southern states of the Union. From slavery to tariffs and transportation the divide between the North and South dug itself ever deeper. But how could these things have led to such discontent and disdain among brothers? Slavery, though efficient under the plantation system, saw little utility elsewhere. It always proved more profitable to put a man to work immediately in the fields as opposed to training him in any particular craft or skilled labor. As a result the South saw little industrial activity and development. Despite this obvious non-progressive stance the South continued to see substantial returns; as well as a large spike in the value of their slaves as the emancipation movement grew. Total value of slaves in the United States increased from $316 million dollars in 1810 to $3.059 billion in 1860. A hefty sum to be compensated to the Southern growers by the Federal Government if they were to free the South’s so called property. Not only were the southerners concerned over the loss of 44% of their capital wealth, the approximate value of the slave population, but also the following decrease in real estate value that would follow; as was seen in the British West Indies after swift independence was granted to the slaves of that region. Over specialization in support of the slave trade left little reasonable options for competitive methods and an overall undiversified economy. Government of the time was focus on slavery’s containment more so than its elimination. Article 6 of the Northwest Ordinance made concessions in that the territory would remain free of slavery and involuntary servitude but would return any slaves attempting to escape from the southern owners. This would help to further the divide between the north and south and as western expansion continued bring the issue of Senatorial majority to question. The Missouri Compromise saw to it that states would be allowed in the union in pairs, one would become a slave state and the other a free state. But this could only go so far as the northern politician were willing to work with the southern representatives. Increasing political pressure from the abolitionists and other antislavery interest groups. After the end of the War of 1812 an increase in English manufactured goods spurred American protectionist values in the Northeast. The Tariff Act of 1816 passed in congress after support from the West and South was heard. These tariffs were meant to protect the growing American industrial complex, but at the same time not prevent businesses from acquiring their needed materials, until such a time that American products could be competitive. As more fervorous protectionist views surfaced the North and Mid-Atlantic States came out in favor of the higher duties while the Southern consumers of foreign products had very different opinions. The unreasonably high tariff of 1828 or the “Tariff of Abominations” as it was referred to in the South, gave rise to the Ordinance of Nullification, which declared the Tariff of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of South Carolina. This thereby necessitated the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which promised to reduce duties to a 20% max over ten years. Though by that