[Comus]

The Federal Government levied huge tariffs on manufactured goods imported into the US to protect Northern interests. Cotton producers were not protected. If some Yankee mill owner could get cotton from Egypt cheaper than he could from Georgia, he could buy it with no tariff.

If Vermont 'rebels' we can invade them, steal everything that is not nailed down and burn the rest, then turn it into an agricultural colony.

[bcsco]

If some Yankee mill owner could get cotton from Egypt cheaper than he could from Georgia, he could buy it with no tariff.

One of the problems the north had was with cotton traders (and the policies that sustained them). Cotton form the south was cheap. And the north imorted its share. This contradicted Lincoln's plan of starving the south but was a fact of the war.

Grant fought this problem from Fort Donelson on. It was something he couldn't overcome.