Reasons for Tariff of 1828?

From what I understand about the various tariffs passed in early 19th century, particularly the 1828 tariff, were designed explicitly to protect American manufacturers from foreign competition.

My question is: why did the American manufacturers need the protection? What made the British manufacturers so much better that the Americans couldn't compete without a tariff to protect them?
 
Well lets see. Given that Britain was at that time both the worlds's leading industrial power, and the most economically dominate western nation, it had numerous advantages.

A: Britain's mercantile dominance gave it greater quantities of capital to invest in industrial enterprises.

B: Britain's colonial empire gave it enormous captive markets. These provided Britain with both cheaper raw materials, and more or less exclusive markets to for its industrial goods.

C: Britain had both a larger population, and a more urbanized population than America at that time. This allowed its manufacturers to take advantage of cheaper labor.

D: Britain, given it was the first nation to industrialize, had denser concentrations of industrial infrastructure, be they ports, canals, or railroads.

E: Britain's industry was at that time a great deal more sophisticated, which allowed for it to produce higher quality manufactured goods, at lower prices.

Given this, the use of Tariffs made perfect rational sense for the United States, and pretty much every other nation during the early industrial revolution.
 
My question is: why did the American manufacturers need the protection? What made the British manufacturers so much better that the Americans couldn't compete without a tariff to protect them?

All industries, particularly early industrial types have large economies of scale. A startup is necessarily less efficient, and needs protection from being priced out by established concerns. Plus, Britain had much cheaper labor due to its social structure and lack of a frontier. The U.S. economy remained labor starved until the late 19th Century.
 
The Tariff of 1828 was designed to fail; Calhoun admitted as much a few years later. The supporters of "democracy" and Jackson created a tariff bill that was supposed to be odious even to Northerners, because its highest duties were on the few materials that New England did import from Britain in significant quantities. The New Englanders were supposed to vote against it out of economic self-interest, Calhoun and friends were supposed to vote against it on "principle" and lo and behold, Jackson's supporters could cast themselves as the champions of free trade (and thus of the South).

Calhoun miscalculated. The Northerners wanted a tariff bill pretty badly, and were afraid if they killed that one they wouldn't get another one. So they allowed it to pass despite its many flaws (and Calhoun looked like an ineffective proponent of free trade).
 
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