Fletcher W. Hewes & Henry Gannett, Balance of Trade and Tariffs (1883)

This data visualization was included in Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States, published in 1883 by Fletcher W. Hewes and Henry Gannett using 1880 U.S. Census data. Based on reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, the graph illustrates the balance of trade and tariffs in the United States from 1790 to 1880. The y-axis shows profits the United States made or lost from exports and imports, while the x-axis shows each year between 1790 and 1880. The graph provides historical context by denoting significant military conflicts, including the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the Civil War. Prior to 1821, official reports did not separate merchandise from specie (physical coins) when accounting for trade, therefore only the total is shown prior to that date. Hewes and Gannett point out that, “the balance of trade, including merchandise, coin and bullion has been against the United States during most of its history. Prior to 1874 it was in favor…only ten out of seventy-nine years. Since 1874, however, it has been continuously and very largely in this country’s favor” (p. lxxx). The ratio of duties to net dutiable imports varied across the years, with its all-time low happening at the beginning of the Civil War, then bouncing back through the Reconstruction period.