Editing Morrill Tariff (section)

==History==
[[File:Average Tariff Rates in USA (1821-2016).png|thumb|Average American tariff rates (1821–2016)]]

===Origins===
[[Tariff in United States history]] has often been made high to encourage the development of domestic industry, and had been advocated, especially by the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] and its longtime leader, [[Henry Clay]]. Such a tariff was enacted in 1842, but in 1846 the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] enacted the [[Walker Tariff]], which cut tariff rates substantially. The Democrats cut rates even further in the [[Tariff of 1857]], which was highly favorable to the South.

Meanwhile, the Whig Party collapsed, and tariffs were taken up by the new [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], which ran its first national ticket in 1856. Some former Whigs from the [[border states (American Civil War)|border states]] and the [[Upper South]] remained in Congress as "Opposition," "Unionist," or "American," ([[Know Nothing]]) members and supported higher tariffs.

The [[Panic of 1857]] led to calls for protectionist tariff revision. The famous economist [[Henry C. Carey]] blamed the panic on the new tariff. His opinion was widely circulated in the [[protectionist]] media for higher tariffs.

Efforts to raise the tariffs began in earnest in the [[35th United States Congress|35th Congress]] of 1857–1859. Two proposals were submitted in the [[US House of Representatives]].

[[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Ways and Means Committee]] Chairman [[John S. Phelps]], Democrat from [[Missouri]], wrote the Democrats' plan, which retained most of the low rates of the Tariff of 1857, with minor revisions to stimulate revenue.

Ways and Means members Morrill and [[Henry Winter Davis]], a [[Maryland]] "American," produced the Republican proposal to raise the tariffs. It replaced the existing ''[[ad valorem]]'' tariff schedule with specific duties and drastically increased tariff rates on goods that were produced by popular "protected" industries, such as iron, textiles, and other manufactured goods. The economic historian [[Frank Taussig]] argued that in many cases, the substitution of specific duties was used to disguise the extent of the rate increases.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} Supporters of the specific rates argued that they were necessary because European exporters routinely provided US customers with fake invoices showing lower prices for goods than were actually paid. Specific rates made such subterfuge pointless.

However, the House took no action on either tariff bill during the [[35th Congress]].

===House actions===
[[File:Justin Smith Morrill (cwpbh.04981) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Justin Smith Morrill]]]]
When the [[36th United States Congress|36th Congress]] met in 1859, action remained blocked by a dispute until 1860 over who would be elected the [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]]. In 1860, the Republican [[William Pennington]] of [[New Jersey]] was elected as speaker. Pennington appointed a pro-tariff Republican majority to the Ways and Means Committee, with [[John Sherman (politician)|John Sherman]] of [[Ohio]] its  chairman.

The Morrill bill was passed out of the Ways and Means Committee. Near the end of first session of the Congress (December 1859–June 1860), on May 10, 1860, the bill was brought up for a floor vote and passed 105–64.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/36-1/h151 |title = TO PASS H.R. 338. (p. 2056). – House Vote #151 – May 10, 1860}}</ref>

The vote was largely but not entirely sectional. Republicans, all from the northern states, voted 89–2 for the bill. They were joined by 7 northern Democrats from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Five of them were "anti-Lecompton Democrats," who opposed the pro-slavery [[Lecompton Constitution]] for [[Kansas]].

Also, 14 northern Democrats voted against the bill.

In the Border States, four  "Opposition" Representatives from Kentucky voted for it, as did its cosponsor, Winter of Maryland, a Maryland "Unionist," and a Democrat from Delaware. Eight Democrats from the Border States and a member of the American Party from [[Missouri]] voted against it.

Thirty-five southern Democrats and three  Oppositionists voted against it; one Oppositionist from Tennessee voted for it.

Thus the sectional breakdown was 96–15 in the North, 7–9 in the Border States, and 1–39 in the South.

There were 55 abstentions, including 13 Republicans, 12 northern Democrats, 13 southern Democrats, and 8 southern "Oppositionists" and "Americans." (The remaining Representatives were mostly "paired" with opposing Representatives who could not be present.<ref>''Congressional Globe'', 36th Congress, 1st Session, p. 2056</ref>

===Senate action===
The Morrill bill was sent on to the [[US Senate]]. However, the Senate was controlled by Democrats and so it was bottled up in the Finance Committee, chaired by [[Robert M. T. Hunter]] of [[Virginia]].

That ensured that the Senate vote would be put off until the second session in December 1860 and meant that the tariff would be a prominent issue in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1860|1860 election]].<ref>Allan Nevins, ''Ordeal of the Union; Vol. IV: The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War, 1859–1861'' (1950).</ref>

===1860 election===
The Republican Party included a strong pro-tariff plank in its 1860 platform and sent prominent tariff advocates touting the bill, such as Morrill and Sherman, to campaign in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where the tariff was popular. Both Democratic candidates, [[John C. Breckinridge]] and [[Stephen Douglas]], opposed all high tariffs and protectionism in general.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cwcrossroads.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/tariffs-government-policy-and-secession |title=Tariffs, Government Policy, and Secession|date=25 January 2011}}</ref>

The historian Reinhard H. Luthin documents the importance of the Morrill Tariff to the Republicans in the 1860 presidential election.<ref>Luthin, p. 622</ref> Lincoln's record as a protectionist and support for the Morrill bill, he notes, helped him to secure support in the important state of Pennsylvania and neighboring New Jersey. Lincoln carried Pennsylvania handily in November, as part of his sweep of the North.

On February 14, 1861, President-elect Lincoln told an audience in [[Pittsburgh]] that he would make a new tariff his priority in the next session if the bill did not pass by his inauguration, on March 4.

===Renewed Senate action===
The second session of the 36th Congress began in December 1860. At first, it appeared that Hunter would keep the Morrill bill tabled until the end of the term in March.

However, in December 1860 and January 1861, seven southern states seceded, and their low-tariff senators withdrew. Republicans took control of the Senate in February, and Hunter lost his hold on the Finance Committee.

Meanwhile, the Treasury was in financial crisis, with less than $500,000 on hand and millions in unpaid bills. The Union urgently needed new revenue. A recent historian concludes that "the impetus for revising the tariff arose as an attempt to augment revenue, stave off 'ruin,'<!-- ', instead?--> and address the accumulating debt."<ref>Jane Flaherty, "'The Exhausted Condition of the Treasury' on the Eve of the Civil War," ''Civil War History'' (2009) Volume: 55#2  pp 244 ff. The historian [[Bray Hammond]] emphasizes the Treasury's "empty purse." Bray Hammond, ''Sovereignty and the Empty Purse: Banks and Politics in the Civil War'' (1970)</ref>

The Morrill bill was brought to the Senate floor for a vote on February 20 and passed 25 to 14. The vote was split almost completely down party lines. It was supported by 24 Republicans and the Democrat [[William Bigler]] of Pennsylvania. It was opposed by 10 Southern Democrats, 2 Northern Democrats, and 2 Far West Democrats. Twelve Senators abstained, including 3 Northern Democrats, 1 California Democrat, 5 Southern Democrats, 2 Republicans, and 1 Unionist from Maryland.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/36-2/s512 |title = To Pass H.R. 338. (P. 1065-2). – Senate Vote #512 – Feb 20, 1861}}</ref>

There were some minor amendments related to the tariffs on tea and coffee, which required a conference committee with the House, but they were resolved, and the final bill was approved by unanimous consent on March 2.

Though a Democrat himself, President [[James Buchanan]] favored the bill because of the interests of his home state, Pennsylvania. He signed the bill into law as one of his last acts in office.

===Adoption and amendments===
The tariff took effect one month after it was signed into law. Besides setting tariff rates, the bill altered and restricted the [[Warehousing Act]] of 1846.

The tariff was drafted and passed the House before the Civil War began or was expected, and it was passed by the Senate after seven States had seceded.

At least one author has argued that the first Morrill should not be considered "Civil War" legislation.<ref>Taussig wrote, "It is clear that the Morrill tariff was carried in the House before any serious expectation of war was entertained; and it was accepted by the Senate in the session of 1861 without material change. It therefore forms no part of the financial legislation of the war, which gave rise in time to a series of measures that entirely superseded the Morrill tariff." [https://www.mises.org/etexts/taussig.pdf ''The Tariff History of the United States'']</ref>

In fact, the tariff proved to be too low for the revenue needs of the Civil War and was quickly raised by the Second Morrill Tariff, or Revenue Act of 1861, later that Fall.<ref>Taussig</ref>