Smoot-Hawley was being debated throughout 1929 and wasn't enacted until after the stock market had already collapsed. Moreover, it wasn't much different from other tariff bills that had been passed in previous years. There had been the Fordney-McComber Tariff of 1922, and that certainly didn't slow things down. International trade accounted for only about 5% of the US GNP in those years, we were virtually self sufficient.
Tariffs were the primary means of financing the government prior to the widespread use of the income tax during WWII. One of the greatest eras of American industrial expansion occurred in the period of high tariffs after the Civil War. In my opinion, the Smoot Hawley Tariff is more boogey man than explanation for the Great Depression. BWDIK
More interesting tariffs are the ones which helped cause the Civil War. Andrew Jackson's 1832 'Tariff of Abominations' provoked the Nullification controversy and nearly resulted in South Carolina's secession- South Carolina "nullified" the tax, refusing to pay it, and President Jackson sought a 'force bill', probably with the intention of sending in the army. The bill was repealed before the issue got any hotter, and the issues of secession, and whether it was legal for a President to use the army against a State, were never settled. The Morrill Tariff of 1861 combined with the abolition movement in the North to once again light the fuse of secession in South Carolina. Fort Sumter was the tariff collection point in Charleston harbor, and Lincoln intended to continue to extract taxes whether or not South Carolina was still in the Union. The fire eaters of Charleston weren't about to let Lincoln continue to collect taxes, so when Lincoln attempted to reinforce the Fort they opened fire. |
