American politicians have repeatedly turned to tariffs to generate wealth and protect local industries. However, they may have forgotten that tariffs have historically acted as a catalyst for revolution – whether it was the Boston Tea Party in 1773, which ignited the American Revolutionary War, or the "Tariff of Abominations" in 1828, which deepened the North-South divide and set the stage for the Civil War. As economist Steve Hanke explains, headline issues like slavery during the Civil War mas