Important legislation that provided revenue for the Northern
effort in the Civil War and expressed important principles of
Republican political economy.
In the spring of 1860, Justin Smith Morrill, Republican of
Vermont, proposed the tariff bill in the House of Representatives. Drafted to draw Northern industrial states to the Republican Party in that year’s election, Morrill’s bill was not an
ordinary protective tariff that placed import duties on finished industrial goods. The act attempted to protect and support many sectors of the economy and all the regions of the
country by placing tariff duties on agricultural, mining, fishing, and manufactured goods. Sugar, wool, flaxseed, hides,
beef, pork, corn, grain, lead, copper, coal, and zinc all received
protection by imposts, as did dried, pickled, and salted fish.
In general, the tariff increased duties 20 percent on certain
manufactured goods and 10 percent on specified raw materials. The bill reflected the Republican Party’s commitment to
general economic growth and expressed its belief that business interests interacted harmoniously and positively in the
economy.
The tariff also differed in that it distributed the burden of
protection across society rather than placing it on specific regions or poorer classes. Morrill instituted a graded system of
duties on a series of enumerated goods. The bill placed a 10
percent duty on goods considered necessities and a 20 percent impost on products that were less necessary. Congress
authorized a 30 percent tax on luxury items based on their
value. Morrill believed that this system did not gouge consumers but taxed their ability and willingness to pay.
The House passed the bill May 10, 1860, when Western
states rallied to it. However, Southern opposition defeated it
in the Senate. After December 1860 when South Carolina seceded from the Union, Congress passed the tariff bill on
March 2, 1861. The government enacted the tariff to raise
revenues during the Civil War.
—Peter S. Genovese
References
Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth:
Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.