so are you "honored" to stand with hamilton and other "great American liberals" on the idea of a protective tariff or not?
Protective Tariffs
iberia.vassar.edu
Tariffs had been a key political issue throughout the nineteenth century, with industrial and Northeastern interests generally in favor, farmers usually opposed. The principles involved had been established by Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury. High import tariffs, paid by overseas manufacturers who wanted access to U.S. markets for such products as textiles, tin plate, china, and sugar, gave an advantage to U.S. manufacturers and provided revenue for the federal Treasury. Critics argued that American consumers paid higher prices for the necessities of life, because tariffs established a high "floor" price and enhanced industrialists' profit, rather than helping workers.
Tariff
myhistory.org
On December 5, 1791, Hamilton submitted to Congress his Report on Manufactures in which he set forth his systematic vision of how the country should develop economically. In it he called for protective tariffs to foster American industry. Although this report, in retrospect, was the work of a man who saw the economic future more clearly than any of his contemporaries, Congress ignored it at the time and continued to set tariffs based solely upon the ebb and flow of political pressure. |
