Concise Tariff History
Tariff
Date Name
President
1789
Washington
1816
Madison
Provisions
Tariff in imports solely for revenue purposes. Congress rejected
Hamilton's proposal for a protective tariff; but it raised rates slightly for revenue
purposes.
First protective tariff in U.S. History; a strongly protective trend was started by
this tariff and appetites of war stimulated.
Calhoun supported this tariff with the hope that the South would gain in
manufacturing; Webster opposed highly protective duties as manufacturing in
New England had not yet pushed shipping into a back seat; he feared a
yet pushed shipping into a back seat; a direct tariff would interfere with
shipping.
In the early 1820s Henry Clay proposed the American System which called for a
protective tariff; the revenues from which provide funds for internal improvements
improvements such as roads and canals
1824
1828
Monroe
Tariff
of
Abominatio
ns
John Q. Adams
Increased the protective tariff of 1816 to 37% of the value of dutiable goods.
dutiable goods Supporters of Jackson
rigged up a tariff bill more concerned
with manufacturing a president than with protecting manufacturing. Duties of
45% were levied on certain manufactured items
and a heavy tariff was placed on wool. It was assumed New England would
reject the tariff because of the duties on wool.
The plan backfired.
The over cropped lands of the Old South were petering out at the time and the price of
cotton was falling sharply. It was the Old South which most vigorously protested the
tariff he South Carolina Exposition and Protest was written by Calhoun in
response to the Tariff of Abominations. Calhoun said that the tariff as unjust and
unconstitutional and proposed that the states should nullify it.
1832
1833
Compromis
e
Tariff
1842
1846
Walker
Tariff
1857
Jackson
Reduced tariffs to 35%
Jackson
Reduced tariff of 1832 by 10% over a period of 8 years. By 1842 rates would
be about
20-25% of the value of dutiable goods. Henry Clay engineered the compromise
Tyler
Tyler had no fondness for a protective tariff but realizing the need for additional
revenue he reluctantly signed the bill. The pressure for additional revenue and
higher tariffs lessened as the country worked itself out of the
Panic and Depression of 1837
Polk
Lowering the tariff was one of Polk's 4 major objectives as President.
excellent revenue producer because its
its passage was followed by boom times
and heavy imports.
This tariff was passes several months before the Panic and Depression of 1857.
Responding to pressure from the South the
new law reduced duties to about 20% of dutiable goods- -the lowest point since
the
War of 1812.
Buchanan
Northern manufacturers blamed all their misfortune on the low tariff. The tariff of 1857 gave
the new Republican Party one of two sure fire issues for the election of 1860 "protection and
unprotected" and "farms for the farmers".
1861
Morill Tariff
Act
Lincoln
Superseding the Tariff of 1857, the Morill Act increased existing customs duties
5-10%; however, the duties were soon pushed sharply upward by the war
The increases were designed partly
to raise additional revenue and partly to provide protection to manufacturers
who
had been hurt by the Tariff of 1857. Duties
were raised as high as 48.33 %
From this point forward, the protective tariff became identified with the Republican Party
1872
Grant
Reduced high Civil War duties to 45.1%
By 1881 the treasury's annual income was $145 million in excess of expenditures. Most of
the government's revenue came from the tariff. Cleveland wanted a reduction of the
tariff to more manageable levels. When he lost, the high protectionist Republicans prepared
to push the tariff schedules higher. The idea of keeping protection high brought new
problems to the
farmers.
1890
McKinley
Tariff
Harrison
Raised rates to 48.4% and paid bounties to sugar producers
Since 1833 the administration in Washington has rarely survived a major tariff overhauling except where was has
intervened. In 1892 Cleveland was re-elected. Malcontents among
laborers and agrarians were aroused by this bill and merged into the Populist Party.
Wilson1894 Gorman Bill
Cleveland
Lowered tariff of 1890, but only to 41.3%. This tariff included a 2% tax on
incomes
over $4,000.00. Cleveland regarded the tariff as a gross betrayal of Democratic
campaign pledges and he let
the bill become law without his signature.
In 1895 the Supreme Court in a 5- 4 decision struck down the income tax provision of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff. This
tariff which had blasted the Republicans out of the House of
Representatives in 1890, now dislodged the Democrats with help from the Panic and
Depression of
1893
1897
Dingley
Tariff
McKinley
Because the Wilson-Gorman Tariff was not raising enough revenue to cover the
annual treasury deficits, this tariff raised rates to 46.5% over 850 amendments
were tacked on to the bill
Agitation for sharp reduction on the Dingley Tariff gained momentum during the Roosevelt
administration. The clamor for tariff reform was part of the Progressive Movement. Taft
called Congress into special session in 1909 to reduce the tariff.
1909
PayneAldich
Tariff
Taft
Duties were reduced from 46.5% to 40.8%' Bob LaFollette led the fight against
the
bill which he thought was still too high; the bill also contained a 1% tax on
corporation profits.
This bill seemed like a betrayal of Taft's promise to substantially reduce the tariff, but instead
of condemning the bill, Taft vigorously defended it.
Underwood
-Simmons
Tariff
Wilson
Fordney1922 McCumber
Tariff
Harding
1913
Reduced rates from 40.8% to 27% and reduced duties on more than 900 items
Though still protective, it achieved the first genuine tariff reduction since the
Civil War
This tariff accelerated the trend toward high protection. Duties on farm products
were increased. The president was authorized to reduce or increase
duties by as much as 50%.
In 6 years Harding and Coolidge authorized 32 upward changes including dairy products,
chemicals, and pig iron. There were only 5 reductions. American tariff walls also prolonged
post war confusion in Europe and forced Europeans to raise their tariffs.
1930
1934
HawleySmoot
Tariff
Reciprocal
Trade
Agreements
Act
1953
1955
1962
Hoover
Roosevelt
Eisenhower
Eisenhower
Trade
Expansion
Act
Kennedy
Began as a measure to help farmers but turned out after 1,000 amendments to
be the highest protective tariff in peacetime history.
Duties were raised from 38.5% to 55.3%. Hoover signed and defended the
bill, reversing a trend toward reasonable rates
Empowered the president to lower duties by as much as 50%; by 1939, 21
countries
countries agreed to the reciprocity agreement
Renewed a limited Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
Signed into law a 3 year extension of the Reciprocal Trade
Agreements Act
Gave the President new powers to reduce tariff rates on imports to the U.S.This
authority was granted by Congress in order to provide the President with a
bargaining
lever for mutual tariff concessions by
members of the European Common Market and other free nations of the world,
The act also provide for financial trade
adjustment assistance to American companies and workers injured by
increased imports of competitive products resulting from tariff reductions.