Tariffs (taxes on imported goods) have been an issue of contention since the earliest days of the United States. The issue was particularly controversial during the nineteenth century. Tariffs are used to raise tax revenue for the government and to protect domestic businesses from foreign competition. Some nations can afford to manufacture products more cheaply than others, or have greater access to resources or materials. The products, resources, or materials sell at lower costs than those of other nations. In such cases, a nation like the United States imposes tariffs on lower-cost, imported goods, making them less attractive to consumers, who then buy similar goods produced in their own country.

During the 1820s and 1830s, the government imposed tariffs to help protect emerging American industries. Those tariffs were generally beneficial to the more industrialized North. People living in rural areas, especially in...