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Coffee Shops for Studying
Studying in the library can get boring and tedious, so throughout the year you might need to change your study scene. Coffee shops are the perfect place to review your …
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Politics
Analysis: New Laws Could Mean New Lawsuits in Mississippi
Mississippi legislators are on track to produce dozens of new state laws. And, as in years past, they're probably creating plenty of work for attorneys.
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Clarion-Ledger Parent Co. Gannett Slashing News Staffs
Jim Romenesko is reporting about a Gannett plan that would involve staff cuts and require current newsroom employees to reapply for new jobs.
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Biz Roundup
Mentoring, Telemedicine and Home Health
Last week, St. Dominic’s announced an expanded partnership with REACH Health Inc. that will allow the hospital to connect lung specialists with acute care pulmonary patients.
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Education
Mississippi Special Education Bill Passes that Opponents Say Will Create 'Puppy Mills for Children'
A controversial bill that would use taxpayer funds to send students with disabilities to private schools advanced in the Mississippi legislature Wednesday.
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Politics
No Big Surprises in Certified Election Results, Runoffs Planned
Both political parties have certified their primary elections and sent the results to the Mississippi Secretary of State's office.
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Health Care
HHS Unveils Civil Rights Protections For Transgender Patients’ Health Services
The Obama administration has barred medical providers and insurers from discriminating based on gender in treatments or access to facilities or services.
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Person of the Day
Sam Beibers
Sam Beibers, the exhibits supervisor at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, has had a lifelong love of animals that he loves to share with others through his work in …
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Education
Cortez Bryant at JSU, USM Sweet Potato Drop and Belhaven Grant
Cortez Bryant, a Jackson State University alumnus and manager for Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj and other popular musical acts, will be the grand marshal for JSU's homecoming parade on …
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Education
New Endowment Scholarship at JSU, Belhaven Commencements and USM Service Learning Seminar
Jackson State University alumna Annie Rene Harris Slaughter recently established a $100,000 endowment at the university in honor of her late mother, who was also a JSU alum.
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City & County
JPS Set To Open, Mandate Masks as COVID-19, Variant Cases Skyrocket
The Jackson Public School system is set to begin the fall semester on Aug. 9, where almost 21,000 students will be required to attend full-time, traditional in-school curriculum.
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Education
New Master's Degrees and Pediatric Lab at MSU, USM Grant Funding
Two departments in Mississippi State University’s College of Forest Resources are adding new online master’s degrees, making online degree options available in all three of the college's departments.
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City & County
'Crazy Times': Mayor Lumumba Defends Vaccine Mandate for City Workers
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba signed an executive order Wednesday requiring all City workers to produce proof by Aug. 31 of receiving at least one vaccine dose or a negative …
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Education
JSU HBCU Technology Conference, MSU-SEAS Program and USM Gulf Park Pantry
Jackson State University is one of several historically Black colleges and universities convening with major corporations in September at the inaugural HBCU Technology Conference, which aims to address the racial …
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Education
JSU Real-Estate Scholarship and Case Western Partnership, MSU Museum Partnership
Commercial real-estate executives and business leaders John Michael Holtmann and John Crossman recently gifted Jackson State University an established real-estate scholarship.
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#FlagMyths: 'The Civil War Was Fought Over... Tariffs'
By Todd StaufferIn an occasional blog series I'm inaugurating here, I'd like to pull forward some debate that's happening in the comments and examine a variety of the myths and legends that surround the South's participation in the civil war.
From the comments section came this one from Claude Shannon:
The war was fought over money and power. In 1860, 80% of all federal taxes were paid for by the south. 95% of that money was spent on improving the north.
Now I'm not a history scholar, but I do get curious when things just kinda sound wrong.
First... even if we assume that's true (which, as you'll see later, I can't) I think the construct is disingenuous, as it suggests that "the South" had very little say in the matter and no recourse but secession given the rapacious chokehold that the North apparently had on the South in terms of political power and usurious taxation.
It's a dramatic picture, but there are a few caveats:
1.) Democrats (the party that included most all Southern politicians) controlled Congress leading up to the Civil War (they lost the House in 1859) and had a Democratic president in the "doughface" Buchanan. (The term being one that suggests a Northern with Southern sympathies.)
2.) The Tariff of 1857 was authored and supported by Southern legislators (the primary author was Virginia Senator Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter, who would later be pictured on the Confederate $10 bill) and it lowered tariffs to a level they hadn't hit in 50 years.
http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2015/jul/10/22076/
Remember that through most of 1800-1860 there was no income tax on individuals and businesses or other taxes (sales, property) as we define them today -- Federal taxes were almost exclusively tariffs on imports. (The Nullification Crisis had come when tariffs were considerably higher in order to pay down debts from the War of 1812.)
So, "taxes" were considerably lower leading up to the war.
But then... if there's evidence that "The South" paid "80 percent" of those tariffs they'd managed to lower, I can't find it.
As noted here, about 63% of Federal revenue was collected as tariffs on shipments that went through just the Port of New York alone. And those tariffs were collected from the merchants who imported them.
Aside from New York, there were certainly other ports in the North; so an argument that "The South" paid 80% of tariffs -- e.g. that 80% of imported and taxed goods went through Southern ports where the taxes were paid by Southern importers -- isn't correct.
(The tariffs were also protectionist in nature, and likely benefitted both the North and South as they made locally produced goods more attractive.)
If there's a more esoteric argument that says somehow the South ultimately bought 80% of those goods and therefore experienced the markup that came from them being taxes, I haven't seen it, but it would be interesting to read and parse.
One other point to make on tariffs -- the Southern states …
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Business
David Watkins Appeals Secretary of State Ruling Against Him
David Watkins has appealed a ruling that he violated state law in a bond money transfer from one development to another.
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JPS Accreditation Hearing Underway
Less than an hour after signing the contract to become Jackson Public Schools' next superintendent, Cedrick Gray was sitting in a hearing to determine whether or not the district will …
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Celebrating Excellence
I write this having just watched the swearing in of our new president, hearing his call to service and responsibility in his inaugural address. It will take some time to …
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There's Oil In Them Trees
In a special session Aug. 27, the Mississippi Legislature passed a $45 million bond issue that will allow the state to loan $75 million to KiOR, a Houston-based startup that …
