Numbers regarding the value of Southern goods produced and exported have been thrown out without regard to accuracy. In order to fully appreciate the concern and apprehension of Northern business and the new President, the figures are presented from the original sources:
The US Treasury and Congressional Borrowing as reported to the US Congress in Dec. of 1859:
In preparation for the President’s state of the union report, Howell Cobb (of Georgia), the Secretary of the Treasury (Buchanan Administration), reported to Congress that based on projected spending, there would be dramatic increases in the debt of the government.
In his state of the Union report of December 5, 1859, President Buchanan’s Secretary of the United States Treasury issued his report stating that for fiscal year 1859, the total revenue of the US Treasury was $88,090,787. This was misleading, because $28,185,000 was ‘income’ from government borrowing. The actual total revenue from tariffs, and less the funds from the sale of public lands was $49,566,000. Tariff revenue contributed 92% of the total revenue of the country.
But the Congress spent $69,071,000, which was 29% more than it took in.
The value of total US exports for the year was $278,902,000. The value of the exports grown or produced in the South was 74% of the total. In order to understand the contribution of Southern agriculture to the trade, and thus tariff and taxation structure of the entire country, the following chart shows the percentage of the total value of exports contributed by the South for the year of 1859:
..................U. S. Department of Commerce
.................Agricultural Production of the South
........................Yearly Detail 1859
Value of : ......Cotton .........$161,434,000
.....................Tobacco ...........21,074,000
.....................Rice ....................2,207,000
.....................Naval stores........3,694,000
.....................Sugar.....................196,000
.....................Molasses.................75,699
......................Hemp.......................9,227
......................Other................8,108,000
__________________________
Total ...........................$196,797,926
Value of Southern manufactured
Cotton exports......................................... 4,989,000
Value of cotton component of Northern
Manufactured cotton exports (60%)..........3,669,000
_________________________
Total value of all Southern products.........................$205,455,926
Percentage of Southern Production to
the total US exports for 1859 of $278,392,000.
........................74%
PeaRidge:
"The value of total US exports for the year was $278,902,000.
The value of the exports grown or produced in the South was 74% of the total." False, a work of propaganda, not of fact.
That's because it's intended to argue that "Southern exports" paid for "74%" of Federal revenues, when the actual number, for cotton & rice, was around 50%.
The reason is: actual 1859 total exports, including specie, were $357 million, of which cotton was about half.
All other alleged "Southern exports" were, in fact, either relatively insignificant or also products of Union states & regions -- i.e., tobacco.
PeaRidge: "Total value of all Southern products.........................$205,455,926"
More careful analyses (page 605) showed total merchandise exports for 1859 were $293 million, plus $64 million in specie = $357 million.
Of that cotton & rice totaled only 45%, and even the alleged total of "Southern products" came to only 57%.
But most of those alleged non-cotton "Southern Products" actually came from Union states & regions.
Why is this important?
Because, based on PeaRidge-type numbers, Deep South secessionists claimed they were paying for "74%" of Federal revenues, when the actual number was about half.
Half is still a huge number, for such a small population, but not quite as important as was claimed.