My thinking is that New York was exercising a great deal of influence on the direction of the country at this time. If I am getting the gist of your point correctly, you are saying that they didn't feel as though they were exercising enough.
From the New York Herald of March 2, 1861 [my bold emphasis below]:
There has been a great deal of flurry in business circles in this city for a few days past, sending off goods to the South purchased before the 1st of March, on which day the new tariff takes effect. The Congress of the Confederated States have adopted a tariff similar to the United States, imposing the same duties on goods coming from the Northern States as we now pay on those imported from Europe. South Carolina wanted to establish free trade, but she could not have her way in that respect; so that in the future the products and manufactures of the North will have to enter the Southern market subject to the same impost as foreign goods. The new tariff adopted by the Congress at Washington [rb note: the Morrill tariff], if it should become law -- which it will unless Mr. Buchanan keeps it in his breeches pocket -- will surround our commerce with Europe with so many obstructions and difficulties that in conjunction with the disadvantages of the Southern tariff, New York will receive a blow more severe than any it has experienced within fifty years.
The trade of the Southern States, and of the cotton States especially, is of more importance to New York, and indirectly to Boston and Philadelphia also, than the whole trade of the West put together. And for the reason that it is more safe and reliable; because the Southern planter has a fixed locality and a certain property; he has his plantations and his negroes; he is always to be found, and he has on the spot a security for his indebtedness. Hence his pay is always prompt. But in the Northwest, on the other hand, society is like a quicksand; it is continually shifting and changing, rising and falling. There is nothing persistent about it. Its ability to pay is dependent on uncertain crops; there is very little money there; and it is extremely difficult to collect accounts in that section, as many of our merchants know.
The effect of these two tariffs, then, upon our trade with the best, and most reliable part of the country will most disastrously be felt in all the Northern cities. We learn that even now some of the largest houses in the Southern trade in this city, who have not already failed, are preparing to wind up their affairs and abandon business entirely. The result of this as regards the value of property, rents, and real estate, can be readily seen. Within two months from this time it will probably be depreciated from twenty to forty percent.
From the New Orleans Daily Crescent newspaper of May 15, 1861 quoting the New York Day Book newspaper [again, my emphasis below]:
All New York is failing. The suspensions and failures of the past few days have been fearful, and the war promises to bankrupt every merchant in New York. The retail business is as bad off as the wholesale. Nobody is purchasing anything, and trade is killed.
The foreign bill market continues very dull and heavy.
The following is a comparative statement of the imports of foreign dry goods at the port of New York for the week ending April 27:
For the week. 1860 1861
Entered at the port, $1,503,483 $393,061
Thrown on the market, $1,650,790 $396,992
The imports of dry goods are very small this week, probably the least reported for many years.
Well may Mr. Lincoln ask, "What will become of my revenue?"
They also quote the Day Book as saying:
[There] "have been over 200 failures in New York since the 22d April, and within the last month not less than 300. Real estate has no sale at any price and rents are comparatively normal. Total bankruptcy stares all in the face, and starvation will become a daily visitor to the abode of the poor."
The New Orleans paper continues with:
"We of the South knew, months ago, what would come to pass in the North, within a given period after our withdrawal from a union that had become as odious to us as it was oppressive. But we did not expect to see quite so speedy an exhibition of utter insolvency."
Think also about the effect of all this on the Northern shipping industry. Foreign ships would no longer be prohibited from the intercoastal trade in the South. They could drop off cargo in New York, then continue on to Southern ports with the rest of their cargo instead of having to offload the Southern part of cargo in New York to be carried South on American ships.
I have a copy of the original Baltimore Sun article that reported the meeting of a Baltimore delegation with Lincoln where he was reported by a witness as saying, "And what is to become of the revenue? I shall have no government -- no resources." It is no wonder that Lincoln instigated war with the South and blockaded Southern ports.