Why did the North and the South have different attitudes toward higher tariffs?

1 Answer
Mar 13, 2017

Higher tariffs benefited the industrial North, but they were detrimental to the agricultural South.

Explanation:

The North had become industrialized, so having high tariffs on foreign products meant that people had to buy domestically, i.e. from the North.

The South, on the other hand, was still agricultural. This meant they had to buy any and all manufactured goods. Implementing a high tariff meant that the things they needed to buy were more expensive than before. The South also exported a lot of their crops, so having a high tariff would also mean less profit.