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Article: Tariff
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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TARIFF
TARIFF
is a schedule of import and export rates paid to a government, but a tariff can also be a duty imposed on a class of items or laws regulating duties used either to raise revenue for the government or protect internal industries and commerce. Tariffs go hand in hand with trade, both of which are subject to the ebb and flow of American social, political, and economic history. Scholars tend to divide the history of the tariff into three periods: the Early Republic to the Civil War (1789
–
1860), Civil War to the Great Depression (1861
–
1930s), and from the depression onward.
Colonial Era and the Early Republic
Much of the tariff's early history was colored by the ...