History lesson. Smoot Hawley was signed into law in 1930 and didn’t really take effect until the next year, 1931 almost 2 years AFTER the start of the Great Depression.
Another history lesson. In 1865 the United States was devastated by four years of Civil War. Great Britain was the world’s premier military and economic power.
Thirty-five years later, in 1900, the United States was the greatest industrial power on the planet. It was also arguably the most innovative and creative economy whose inventors and companies were leading technological revolutions in many industries and would create an entire new industry (aerospace) in the next decade. It also had an emerging middle class, driving domestic demand for the stream of innovative new products flowing from America’s factories.
During that thirty five year period the US intentionally had the highest tariffs in its history. The purpose of the tariffs was to protect growth of manufacturing from predatory European firms seeking to export their wares to the fast growing U.S. market. In addition the federal government was fully funded by tariffs and duties. There was no individual or corporate income tax.
Military spending was also high during the 3 1/2 decades after the Civil War. The US government funded a military occupation of the southern states until 1876, fought successive wars with Native American nations during that period and maintained a string of military bases throughout the west to protect settlers, subdue native populations, and secure the southern border from invasion. The tariffs also supported the building of a great navy which allowed the U.S. to defeat a European power (Spain) in a global war and acquire the Philippines.
Academics and politicians conveniently overlook the economic policies in place when the U.S. emerged as the greatest economic power on the planet. They ignore sound money, backed by gold. They ignore fiscal responsibility by government. They ignore light regulation and the absence of the Federal Reserve. They also ignore the tax structure and the limited powers of the federal government. The federal government was not micromanaging the economy or the lives of people at the local level nor was it actively using punitive taxes on wealth creation to redistribute wealth.