Tariffs — Expert Groups

“It’s a condition that confronts us — not a theory” Grover Cleveland

Overview
Students look at the Missouri Compromise, the Tariff of 1828 and other historical tariffs to see the role these taxes played in causing the Civil War. They then work in groups to present “expert” information to the rest of the class on their topic.

Outcome
Students will gain an understanding of the history of tariffs in the United States.

Standards Addressed

Grade 8
Social Studies — Economics, Benchmark A
01. Explain how the uneven distribution of productive resources influenced historic events such as the Civil War.

Social Studies — Economics, Benchmark B
03. Explain the purpose and effects of trade barriers such as tariffs enacted before the Civil War.

 

Materials

• Access to information through textbooks or using the Internet

• Expert Groups handout

Procedure

1. Divide students into groups of three. Students then select one of the subtopic questions found in the Expert Groups handout.

2. Students will do research on the topic using their text books and the resources at www.pbs4549.org/economics/hotlist.htm. They will find five facts about their topic and then write a question for the class about each fact that they find.

3. The group will then make a presentation to the class about its topic, teaching the five facts that they think are important.

4. A test could be given using the questions the students made.

Subtopic Answers

1. How did the Missouri Compromise solve the problem of keeping the balance of power in the Senate between the free and the slave states?

In 1821, Missouri was admitted as a slave state after Maine was admitted as a free state in 1820.

The Missouri Compromise was the result of a battle in Congress to have an equal number of slave states and free states. It was a power struggle to get control
of Congress.

The Southern states lost control of the House of Representatives because the population growth of these states was slower than the growth of the Northern states. New territories in the North also gave an advantage to free states in the Senate.

Missouri asked to enter the Union as a slave state in 1819. A bitter debate arose that was not resolved until the following year when Maine requested entry as a free state. Senator Jesse B. Thomas offered an amendment that produced the Missouri Compromise.

2. Where was the line that separated the slave states and free states?

For the balance of the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30’ parallel (which ran along Missouri’s southern border), slavery would be “forever prohibited.”

The 1820 Compromise actually laid out the Mason-Dixon Line separating free and slave states.

3. What territories were added to the slave side? To the free side?

See map at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/neh/interactives/sectionalism/lesson1

4. What is the Tariff of 1828?

   From the beginning of the Union, individual states had conflicts with the federal government. Generally these were economic or philosophical in nature, where either the North or the South thought that the federal government was giving preference to the other side. The Tariff of 1828 was an example of this.

   The Northern states wanted Andrew Jackson to win the presidency in 1828 over the current president, John Quincy Adams. Democrats, including Southern Democrats, devised a scheme to discredit the Adams administration by raising the tariff rates very high. The plan backfired and Congress passed the bill. The Tariff of 1828 was also called the “Tariff of Abomination” and it was widely protested in the South

5. What were the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798?

The resolutions attacked the Federalists’ interpretation of the Constitution, which extended the powers of the federal government over the states. The resolutions declared that the United States Constitution only established an agreement between the central government and the states, and that the federal government had no right to exercise powers not specifically delegated to it. Should the federal government assume such powers, its acts under them would be void. It was the right of the states to decide as to the constitutionality of such acts.

6. What happened at the Hartford Convention (called in response to the War of 1812)?

Concern for states’ rights and thoughts of secession were not exclusive to the South. As early as December 1814, a gathering of New England Federalists met at Hartford, Conn., to call for states’ rights. The Constitutional amendments proposed there reflected the delegates’ hostility toward the South and West. The War of 1812 was very unpopular in commercial New England.

7. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts?

In 1798, the Federalist-controlled Congress passed a series of laws which, on the surface, were designed to control the activities of foreigners in the United States during a time of impending war. Beneath the surface, however, the real intent of these laws was to destroy Jeffersonian Republicans who placed their faith in an agrarian or farming society. The laws were known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts.

8. Why did the South protest the Tariff of 1828?

The South saw tariffs imposed by the national government on foreign imports not for general revenue purposes but to help domestic manufacturing industries located mainly in the North. At the same time, there were depressed cotton prices and a reduced demand for raw goods from the South.

Evaluation
Students should be evaluated on both the completion of the information on the worksheet and the quality of their presentation of the material.

Worksheet Rubric

Presentation Rubric

Extension

Students can also become an “expert” on the concept of free trade by answering the following questions using the Expert Groups handout.

Dictionary.com defines a tariff as “a system of duties imposed by a government on imported or exported goods.” When our country was new, there were few personal taxes like the income tax that we currently have. The revenue or money that the Union received was mainly from tariffs. Some groups supported and some vehemently opposed the implementation of tariffs.

Your group is to take a position for or against free trade. You need to answer the following questions:

1. What is free trade?

Barriers and taxes on trade have all been removed by the government

2. What are some reasons people support free trade?

   Competition keeps costs low

   Capitalism or individual endeavor necessary for a successful economy

3. What are some reasons people are against free trade?

Workers benefit from high wages and job stability

4. What is protectionism?

Policies or doctrines that “protect” businesses and living wages by restricting or regulating trade between foreign nations

5. What is the World Trade Organization and what is its role?

   The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations