Protective tariff

Tariffs are also imposed in order to raise government revenue, or to reduce an undesirable activity (sin tax).

Hamilton thought that a tariff on textile imports would subsidize American efforts to establish manufacturing facilities to eventually compete with those of the British.

[4] Heeding Hamilton's advice, president George Washington signed the Tariff Act of 1790 into law, as America's second piece of legislation.

He stated tariffs were necessary for national security reasons: A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.

[5]After the War of 1812, cheap British products flooded the American market, which undercut and threatened the infantile industry of the United States.

[6] President John Quincy Adams approved the Tariff of Abominations after it received a majority vote in the House of Representatives.

In addition to artificially elevating import costs, the so-called "Tariff of Abominations" afflicted the South by hampering its cotton trade to England, the region's primary source of income.