Robert B. Ekelund Jr. - Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War

The American Crisis Series

Books on the Civil War Era

Steven E. Woodworth, Associate Professor of History, Texas Christian University

SERIES EDITOR

The Civil War was the crisis of the Republics first centurythe test, in Abraham Lincolns words, of whether any free government could long endure. It touched with fire the hearts of a generation, and its story has fired the imaginations of every generation since. This series offers to students of the Civil War, either those continuing or those just beginning their exciting journey into the past, concise overviews of important persons, events, and themes in that remarkable period of Americas history.

Volumes Published

James L. Abrahamson. The Men of Secession and Civil War, 18591861 (2000). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2818-8 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2819-6

Robert G. Tanner. Retreat to Victory? Confederate Strategy Reconsidered (2001). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2881-1 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2882-X

Stephen Davis. Atlanta Will Fall: Sherman, Joe Johnston, and the Yankee Heavy Battalions (2001). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2787-4 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2788-2

Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill. The Mosby Myth: A Confederate Hero in Life and Legend (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2928-1 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2929-X

Spencer C. Tucker. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2867-6 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2868-4

Richard Bruce Winders. Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle over Texas (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2800-5 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2801-3

Ethan S. Rafuse. A Single Grand Victory: The First Campaign and Battle of Manassas (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2875-7 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2876-5

John G. Selby. Virginians at War: The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-5054-X Paper ISBN 0-8420-5055-8

Edward K. Spann. Gotham at War: New York City, 18601865 (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-5056-6 Paper ISBN 0-8420-5057-4

Anne J. Bailey. War and Ruin: William T. Sherman and the Savannah Campaign (2002). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2850-1 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2851-X

Gary Dillard Joiner. One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864 (2003). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2936-2 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2937-0

Steven E. Woodworth. Beneath a Northern Sky: A Short History of the Gettysburg Campaign (2003). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2932-X Paper ISBN 0-8420-2933-8

John C. Waugh. On the Brink of Civil War: The Compromise of 1850 and How It Changed the Course of American History (2003). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2944-3 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2945-1

Eric H. Walther. The Shattering of the Union: America in the 1850s (2004). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2798-X Paper ISBN 0-8420-2799-8

Mark Thornton and Robert B. Ekelund Jr. Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War (2004). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2960-5 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2961-3

Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill. The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest (2004). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-5066-3 Paper ISBN 0-8420-5067-1

Michael B. Ballard. U. S. Grant: The Making of a General, 18611863 (2004). Cloth ISBN 0-8420-2934-6 Paper ISBN 0-8420-2935-4

The Economics of
the Civil War

The American Crisis Series

BOOKS ON THE CIVIL WAR ERA

NO. 15

Mark Thornton
and
Robert B. Ekelund Jr.

2004 by Scholarly Resources Inc.

All rights reserved

First published 2004

Printed and bound in the United States of America

Scholarly Resources Inc.

104 Greenhill Avenue

Wilmington, DE 19805-1897

www.scholarly.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thornton, Mark.

Tariffs, blockades, and inflation : the economics of the Civil War / Mark Thornton and Robert B. Ekelund Jr.

p. cm. (The American crisis series ; no. 15)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-0-8420-2961-2

1. United StatesHistoryCivil War, 18611865Economic aspects. I. Ekelund, Robert B. (Robert Burton), 1940 II. Title. III. Series.

HC105.6 .T48 2004

973.7'1dc21

2003014564

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for permanence of paper for printed library materials, Z39.48, 1984.

To the memory of
David Saurman, a superior economist
and teacher and the best friend
in the world

Mark Thornton received his Ph.D. in economics from Auburn University. He has contributed many articles to academic journals and books and is the author of The Economics of Prohibition (1991). He has served as the Assistant Superintendent of Banking in Alabama and has taught economics at Auburn University and Columbus State University. Currently he is a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and Book Review Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.

Robert B. Ekelund Jr. received his Ph.D. in economics from Louisiana State University. He has contributed many articles to leading academic journals. The coauthor of numerous books including Secret Origins of Microeconomics: Dupuit and the Engineers (1999), Politicized Economies: Monarchy, Monopoly, and Mercantilism (1997), Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as Economic Firm (1996), and A History of Economic Theory and Method (1996), he was the editor of The Foundations of Regulatory Economics (1998). He is currently the Edward K. and Catherine L. Lowder Eminent Scholar at Auburn University and Vernon F. Taylor Visiting Distinguished Professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

The authors have collaborated on articles on the American Civil War era in Social Science Quarterly, Atlantic Economic Journal, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, and International Review of Economics and Business.

The authors would like to thank their respective institutions (Ludwig von Mises Institute, Columbus State University, Auburn University, and Trinity University) for financial and institutional support of this book. Over the last decade of research and writing, numerous colleagues, coauthors, editors, and referees have helped us craft our ideas concerning an economic understanding of the American Civil War and have contributed directly to improving this manuscript. In particular we would like to thank Mary Jane Roper, Oscar and Joyce Ekelund, Macy Finck, and John Sophocleus for their input and encouragement. In addition, we would like to thank Matthew Hershey at Scholarly Resources as well as the Series Editor, Steven Woodworth.

Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar