W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…

“Slavery – the one cause of the Civil War.” – John Stuart Mill, 1862

Can there be a doubt about this topic? Certainly the American Civil War was about the slavery issue… wasn’t it? Well actually, one of the greatest popular myths in American history is that the Civil War was started because of slavery and that Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, fueled a bloody war to break the chains of bondage that enslaved over three million black Americans. Just prior to the war, the South had all it could have wanted.

In 1860, the South controlled the Supreme Court and Lincoln and Congress were beginning the process of passing a constitutional amendment to protect slavery for all time! What happened?

We should rewind the time back to the year 1832. By 1832 the national debt left from the War of 1812 had been paid and the South didn’t see a need to continue the exorbitant import taxes that seemed to only raise prices for the South’s consumers. Either the South paid high import taxes on imported goods or it bought Northern manufactured goods at terribly overpriced prices. In either case, Southern funds transferred to the North. To say the least, the South was not happy with this arrangement. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a CPA for Tax Preparation in Raleigh, NC for all your tax-related needs!

Consequently, in 1832 a convention was held in South Carolina to get rid of these federal import taxes. The convention declared the tax was unconstitutional and authorized the governor to defy the enforcing of the import taxes instituted by the federal government. It seemed like a civil war was in the making. Mild tempers prevailed, however, and the Great Compromise of 1833 lowered import taxes over the next few years to an area the South would tolerate. Go here if you want help with a modern-day Tax Return in Raleigh, NC.

Over the ensuing years, however, Northern corporate and manufacturing companies bullied through Congress new taxes that again stressed Southern planters and made Northern manufacturers become rich. In 1850, John C. Calhoun, the South’s most exceptional spokesman, delivered a speech to Congress. His speech spoke of three wrongs done to the South that could lead to secession from the Union and war. The first two had to do with fears concerning the erosion of power of the South in general and the the power of state government as well.

The third, and only concrete grievance, concerned taxation. In Calhoun’s view, national import taxes was a targeted legislation against the South. Huge amounts of taxation on the South raised money that was spent in the North. The center of economic life in the country was shifting strongly to the North. Calhoun spoke of secession if the taxes weren’t reduced. But what of the slaves? Well, during his run for the presidency in 1860, Lincoln repeatedly said he would not interfere with slavery in the South. Actually, the vast majority of Northerners did not really care about black men in bondage, any more than they cared about the Native-American in the West or impoverished illiterate workers in factories. The majority of black slaves received better treatment and more compassion than their counterparts in the North. Lincoln, in fact, assured Southern slave-owners that fugitive slaves would be returned. The Congress and subsequently the Supreme Court (Dred Scott decision) further affirmed that slavery wasn’t going anywhere.

However, as soon as Lincoln was elected and Congress assembled in 1861, they enacted new high import tariffs. Slavery was not the issue – higher import taxes were. In his inaugural address Lincoln said he would go get the customs in the South even if there was a secession!

Fort Sumter, at the entrance of the Charleston Harbor, began filling with Union soldiers to enforce the collection of the new taxes. The Civil War began in 1861 when South Carolinians shot at the federal garrison at Fort Sumter. The conflict had been stewing for years – but it was not over the slaves. It was about taxes.

2 years later, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and then only following several military battles, as a last resort to rally the North to a noble cause. To address the slave issue – the majority of the North did not care much about black people in bondage, any more than they cared about Indians in the west or poor uneducated peasants in the factories. For the most part, most black slaves received better treatment and greater compassion than their impoverished counterparts in the North.

That’s it for the History of Taxes Series! .

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