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"This speech doesn't even come close to suggesting that the the "tariff" (actually an import duty) played any significant role in secession or the Civil..."

The speech does imply this but you have to put your thinking cap on to grasp the full implication. In 1860, the Cofederate Sates were the predominant exporters to Europe. Europe, by and large, did not buy North American manufactured goods as they were considered inferior to their European counterparts.

Southern exports earned precious foreign exchange that facilitated international trade. In point of fact the Southern secession did cause a Northern financial crisis with North American and European trade sinking dramatically.

Lincoln solved the financial crisis by printing "Greenbacks" out of thin air. The foreign exchange value of the Dollar sunk to 30% of its pre-war value. Lincoln's debt monetization scheme caused an inflationary crisis and later a crash under the Grant administration.

It is also worth remembering that the Dollar was not the World's reserve currency in 1860, Pound Sterling was. Anything purchased from abroad had to be paid for directly from reserves earned from exporting. The "tariff issue", broadly understood, was at the heart of the Civil War conflict; slavery was an issue of secondary importance.

In point of fact the Southern secession did cause a Northern financial crisis with North American and European trade sinking dramatically.

And yet President Lincoln could say in 1864:

"Our resources are unexhausted, and are as we think, inexhaustible."

Lee's army was on half rations.

Walt

It is also worth remembering that the Dollar was not the World's reserve currency in 1860, Pound Sterling was.

A silver dollar contained exactly 3/4 troy oz. of silver, minted at .900 fine. This down from pre-1838 standard, which IIRC would have been .925 fine (sterling), and equal to the Austrian thaler/Polish talara/Spanish dollar of .77~ troy oz.

A British sovereign (one pound in gold coin) was worth US$6.00 even. Therefore the dollar was worth 40d. in British coin, or 3s. 4d. A U.S. nickel was worth tuppence. But you're right, British or French or Austrian money -- not "currency" -- would have been the reserve standard. British currency circulated freely for several years after the Revolution, and Spanish currency ("bits") for some time after that.